I really enjoyed reading anything dealing with motivation, considering I'm teaching summer school. The article talked about e-learning, and I was thinking the entire time about summer learning.
The fact the article title included the word magic was actually intersting or rather funny.
Despite "leaving the classroom" as teacher in December, I have returned to teaching math for the summer. I had a class of 31 9th graders for 12 days who had failed their Algebra course as well as the NC EOC twice many of them.
On the first day were they motivated to be at school during the summer? Most of them no! Motivated to do math from 8am -2pm with only a 20 minute lunch break? The answer again is NO! So, I knew I had an uphill battle before me, since I knew they would retake the test on day 12.
I didn't see a classroom full of motivated students on day 12 so I began to compare what I've done for the past 12 days to what this author suggests....
Maintaining their attention was a key. If they were bored, I knew they weren't motivated to re-try the same math they hadn't been succesful at during the school year. If they weren't motivated to do it, just like the writer said, they wouldn't be successful this time. That one made sense.
Relevance.... I think this one was right on it. Numerous goals from the NCSCOS is what I taught. The EOC is a test of the NCSCOS. There was no room to not meet this one.
Maybe conifence and satisfation is where they missed out. Since most of them had failed the EOC twice AND their Algebra class they weren't confident that they could be successful this time. For a few of them they gained some confidence over the 12 days as they mastered different topics. Satisfied.... well if they passed this time I guess they will be satisfied with their experience. I can't say they were at all satisfied to be at summer school otherwise.....
So, I have another group of 20 starting on Tuesday. Maybe I'll have these factors in the back of my mind as I deal with them! And we'll see how much magic I have!
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2 comments:
I guess we have all wondered a lots of times when dealing with students who are having difficulty, where is the magic? The nice folks from NCLB seem to feel that if I were a good teacher, I would know how to motivate these students.
The solution seems to be that we are always working on making me a better teacher. We look at my 6 point lesson plan, and study my objectives to make sure that they correspond with the dpi goals and objectives for the course of study, and consult with me regarding the school’s discipline program to make sure that I am saying the correct words and following the right procedures.
Despite all of this working to get me straight, the same students from the same backgrounds are having the same problems. And, even I know what the solution is. Somehow I need to make it fun for them to learn. I can think of no greater motivation. I just cannot do it on a consistent enough basis.
Sometimes, I wonder if we have it backwards. Perhaps, the answer is for teachers to be people who don’t like learning and hate the subject matter. Perhaps, they could do a better job of reaching the children that I am not reaching.
My only consolation comes from a teacher who retired a few years back. She told me, “if you find the answer to the problem, you won't be teaching. You will be living on your own island.”
So, I say to you good luck with the students, I know that you will try your hardest. And, when you have that magic breakthrough please throw a few of your billions my way.
Bless your heart! I cannot even tell you how my heart goes out to you for having to teach summer school. If there is any one place I can assure you they do not want to be, it is summer school. In 7th grade, my parents made me attend because they didn't feel I had learned the material as well as thought I should. I was miserable and hated every moment of it. So good luck and I hope you can motivate the snot out of them!
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