Motivation in Class as it is

According to the Cambridge dictionary, motivation is the need or reason for doing something. Motivation is a way to get somebody to complete something that they might not aspire to execute on his or her own. Teachers have been using different forms of motivation in the classroom for years, which has been positive and negative. My parents used to tell me stories about their school time when the teachers would smack their hands with rulers if they didn’t do their homework. They would also use the same rulers to smack the students’ buttocks when they were misbehaving. When I was in school our motivation to perform satisfactorily in the class was to get decent grades.

This post was written by our TEFL certification graduate Reiniery A. Please note that this blog post might not necessarily represent the beliefs or opinions of ITTT.

Personal Story

There were also times when my classmates would be sent to the principal for issues and afterward would return with stories of having been spanked by the principal. This was a motivation for me to behave because I did not want to get a spanking from the principal, as I knew that as soon as I get home, I would be getting one from my parents as well. Motivation has turned into more of a positive aspect in the classrooms in the 21st century. A large number of teachers use positive support to motivate students to want to learn and complete assigned tasks. For motivation sometimes teachers will give students different kinds of goodies, or other rewards if the desired outcome has been achieved by the student.

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Key to Perfect Lessons

I personally believe that motivation in the classroom happens to be a key component to have a class run smoothly. However, I do not believe that students need those perks as motivation. When a student walks into the classroom on Monday after an awful weekend at home, they might not care too much about learning. His or her head might not be into the lesson, yet the student still needs to learn what is being taught.

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Teacher’s Responsibilities

It is the job of the teacher to figure out that the student might be having a difficult time. If the teacher can assist the student to get his or her mind off the issues long enough to get through the day that would be excellent. This student who has had these issues still might not want to learn for the day and the teacher will need to use a type of motivation to get the student to accomplish what is needed to get through the lesson. The teacher could tell the students that if everybody finishes by a certain time the class can go home earlier. The teacher might also tell the students that whoever is not finished by the time frame will have more homework.

I feel that the motivation for learning is controlled by the teacher. A student cannot be into learning the lesson, and it is the teacher’s job to get the student motivated to want to learn. This might require that the teacher alter the way he or she is teaching the lesson to give the student incentives so that he or she wants to attempt his or her very best.

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The reason that I feel that a teacher is responsible for the successes and failures of his or her students is for the reason that, even though not all students want to learn, it is the responsibility of the teacher to make an effort to get all the students to attempt his or her best and succeed to the student’s full potential. It is the teacher’s job to confirm that the students are learning even if that involves that the teacher is using positive or negative motivation. Nonetheless, the teacher should not be cruel towards the students. I believe motivation in the classroom should not offer any praise or awards for doing work and only remove privileges for work not being done or students not staying on task.

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