Articles for Teachers

7 Essential Student Motivation Techniques That You Must Use By:Honey Krumholz As a teacher one of your top priorities is to be able to motivate your students. It's the key to drive them to reach their potential and achieve their future dreams and goals. Student motivation is a necessity so that the learning becomes a continuing, improving, interesting and hopefully en oyable process. !otivation to learn should be encouraged and developed from an early age. "oung children have a natural curiosity to e#plore and learn about ne$ things. As they gro$ older their motivation to learn may diminish %if not properly nourished&, so you as a teacher, have a responsibility, to find $ays to motivate your students. 'here are so many $ays for you to motivate your students but here are my top (. ). *evelop a trusting relationship $ith your students. Sho$ then that you care and you $ill create a genuine bond $ith them. +ain your students' respect and in most cases they $ill reciprocate. 'his is vital in establishing an atmosphere $here learning is a positive, meaningful and valuable e#perience. ,. -veryone likes to make their o$n decisions, create their o$n personal choices, and have control of their lives. Students are no e#ception. So, as much as possible, give students more control. Allo$ students to choose their o$n $ays of completing assignments, learning ne$ or comple# tasks, etc. Having control of your o$n rights, is a very resourceful motivational techni.ue. /. 0elate assignments and class pro ects to real life situations. A common complaint of students is 12hat good is learning this, I'll never use this again31. So as they say 1Keep it 0eal1. In today's $orld, $ith all sorts of technology available, computers, the Internet, 4 'ube and other forms of video that can be brought into the classroom, it's easier and easier to put some e#citement into your lessons and pro ect assignments and keep your students interested and motivated. 5. Implement a re$ard system. 'eaching strategies that offer praise and involve a re$ard system have proved to be e#tremely beneficial in motivating students. 'eaching in primary grades is .uite different than in unior grades and the re$ard system and prizes $ill differ, but for e#ample, points can be a$arded for achieving different tasks and a$ards such as free time, parties, educational books or other simple prizes are great motivational tools. 6ust make sure that your students realize that the re$ard system is a re$ard for finishing a task not for ust participating7 8. 9lassroom games and class meetings to discuss personal topics like hobbies are fabulous for motivating students and team building. It's amazing ho$ it does $onders for students' self esteem and camaraderie. +ames and team building activities may also attract the unmotivated students you have in your class.

:. Having students help $ith some of the many obs that need to be done in the classroom, $ill not only make your life as a teacher easier but classroom obs are also a great student motivational tool. (. 9lassroom displays help to make your classroom a stimulating and motivating environment in $hich to learn7 *isplaying their $ork for others to see, motivates students to learn, $ork and produce good .uality results. 0emember too, that it is important that students play a important part in decorating the classroom. 2hen students feel o$nership of their classroom, it motivates them and creates a positive learning environment. '$o important thoughts to keep in mind as you finish reading this article. Al$ays display care, concern and encouragement for your students, and never give up on any unmotivated students or they $ill give up on themselves. Honey Krumholz has taught elementary school for // years. She is presently a college supervisor and mentor to student teachers. She presents seminars on teaching strategies at "ork 4niversity in 'oronto. ;isit her $ebsite and get her effective teaching strategies on a $ide variety of topics, for e#ample, different games for classroom http<==$$$.priceless>teaching> strategies.com=classroom?games.html motivation.