Reminder: Attend your follow-up session at CTE. Questions about it? Check here.

The task of the excellent teacher is to stimulate "apparently ordinary" people to unusual effort. The tough problem is not in identifying winners. It is in making winners out of ordinary people.
--Patricia Cross

Motivating Students; Keeping a Teaching Log

1. The reality of the semester sets in

Capturing motivation before interest flags: The start of a semester brings a buzz of enthusiasm, but as the semester progresses, the everyday routine of college can begin to wear down that initial student interest. Now’s a good time to examine ideas to spark motivation. You don’t have to put on a show: instead, work on a course design that will lead students to achieve the course goals.

Capturing and directing the motivation to learn

1. Define course goals and help students think about personal learning goals.
   Teachers often assume that students understand the importance of learning the course basics. However, that may not be so: overtly state what’s important to learn and why. Show a realistic and clear path that they can follow to gain that knowledge.

2. Make use of students’ interests and background knowledge.
   Help students become reflective about what they bring to this class. By tapping into their natural strengths, they will be more likely to deeply process what they learn.

3. Show the relevance of material.
   Foreground what is going on in lectures and discussions. Help students apply these underlying principles to a larger realm in order to demonstrate its importance.

4. Teach students skills for independent learning.
   Break down the tasks into manageable segments, and then show students how that can be used to master larger assignments—and their own creative scholarship.

5. Give helpful and frequent feedback.
   Acknowledge the effort students put into their outside work. The more immediate your response, the more likely it will increase their knowledge of the material. The more comments you give, the more you help them improve their skills. When you point out what is wrong, give specific ideas on how to change it.

Adapted from "Capturing and Directing the Motivation to Learn," n.a. Speaking of Teaching, Stanford University. Fall 1998.

Motivating students

• Motivation is not fixed, but won’t change drastically in a short period of time. Even if students experience a downslide in interest, they will remember their initial interest.

• Motivation comes from a combination of forces, both within and outside of the individual’s mind.

• Within an individual: More positively motivated students are aware of the past, present, and future when deciding on actions. Those who are not motivated to learn in school tend to avoid certain aspects of their experience—they resist new information, tend to make snap decisions, use binary reasoning, and freeze their judgment even when new information suggests revision.

• Outside of an individual: The teacher’s attitude (including enthusiasm, expressiveness, interest in helpfulness, availability, humor) and the teaching approach were the items most like to motivate students after their initial desire to take the course.

• Making the teaching overt correlates highly with motivation: Explain course material clearly and succinctly, how each topic fits into the course, and the reasons behind criticism and grades; clearly state the objectives; summarize material to aid retention; and demonstrate the importance and significance of the subject matter.

Eighteen ways to stimulate student motivation:

1. Capitalize on students’ interests and relate the course to that when possible.

2. Use questions, problems, case studies, etc. to demonstrate relevance.

3. Include optional or alternative units.

4. Vary learning methods

5. Include a range of difficulty in assignments so all students have a chance at successes and challenges.

6. Use assessments to discover what students have learned, not just what they don’t know.

7. Be supportive, not threatening: "Here’s what you need to learn. How can I help?"

8. Give feedback as soon as possible.

9. Make comments on performances, not on the individual. Include both positive and negative.

10. Help students focus on their continued improvement and realistic goals, not just a final grade.

11. Use their curiosity. Pose questions; encourage them to solve problems, to propose theories, and to guess results.

12. Stress understanding more than facts.

13. Provide some direction, but don’t make it excessive—that can lead to defiance or blind conformance

14. Help students evaluate their own progress. They need to understand their own strengths and weaknesses.

15. Learning means that students need to be involved, so ask for and use their feedback.

16. Learning provides enough difficulties—don’t try to foster their dislike.

17. Change up your roles from active direction to reflective support.

18. Allow both yourself and the students the grace to make mistakes.

Adapted from Cashin, William. "Motivating Students." Idea Paper No. 1. Manhattan, KS: Center for Faculty Evaluation and Development, August 1979.

2. What’s working, what isn’t: Keep a log for next semester

Assess instructional strategies

Use a teaching log to keep track of what worked and what didn’t. When you prepare to teach again, you’ll have an authentic review that can help you make changes in course objectives and methods. Try this adaptable form, which can be implemented for individual activities or larger teaching units.

Intended Purpose/Outcome
_____ What was the intended purpose of the activity? (May be more than one purpose.)
_____ How did you weigh the purpose and its outcome?
_____ Did the activity achieve the desired outcome?

Implementation
_____ When was this strategy implemented, both in the session and the semester?
_____ How long did it take to complete this activity?

Student Reactions
_____ How did students react to the activity? Interested? Indifferent?
_____ Was this activity seen as useful in meeting course goals?
_____ Did the student response vary depending on conditions? What were those?
_____ Was this geared to the interest and skills of the class, or did you have to adapt it to fit their needs?

Teacher Reaction
_____ Was this activity compatible with your teaching style?
_____ Do you anticipate that you can comfortably use it again?

Upgrading/Revision
_____ Has material been added or deleted to improve quality and relevancy?
_____ Have student guidelines been reworked?
_____ What’s left to be done? Is it a "go" or a "shelf" strategy?

Adapted from Moorman, Richard. "Assessing Instructional Strategies." Innovation Abstracts. Austin: National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development. XVI. 15.