Academic Motivation In Education

Engaging students in the classroom can be a difficult task. Understanding the process of how students learn can help a teacher adapt the lesson to meet the needs of all students. I will encounter students that are not intrinsically motivated so I will need to find different ways to motivate each and every student. Understanding how my students learn can provide me with insights as to how to help each student learn which will minimize classroom management problems.

One of the most essential aspects of the educational process is to know how to motivate students for learning. A challenging part of being a teacher is to know and learn how to motivate students. First of all, a good definition for motivation is as Byrnes quote “Motivation is construct

at a young age in schools, children are told to “stop using their imagination, all the answers are in the text book”, i was expected to receive grades of a certain merit, and that was final. Ninth grade was a hard year; i didn't process most types motivation. i did what was expected, nothing more and nothing less. i became a mechanized student, which is the key to a proper education until college level learning. confusing, but the level of motivation for a child through the different ranges of high school learning is based on prizes or a reward that

It is imperative to explore these questions because it is important to learn about student motivation and engagement. As teachers, learning strategies for motivation is important in order to be able to captivate students and create well-rounded students. Looking at teacher strategies for motivation

What makes us learn? Some of us may be motivated by tradition and others by incentives to name a few. Motivation is a key player in what keeps students alert. As educators, we must use motivation to our best advantage to achieve the best results. Take literature for example which many students may not enjoy reading. So how do we keep the students engaged in reading which will greatly increase their comprehension? We may choose a reading topic that may be of interest to the students or allow them to pick their own books. In the end, we want our students to walk away with the best education possible. It is not only for the sense of raising our self-esteem as educators, but raises the student’s level of self-efficacy which may lead to success.

The importance of motivation for learning has been a focus of education psychologists for decades. Guay et.al., (2010) defines motivation as “the reasons underlying behaviour”. Currently the focus in research about motivation for learning, is on why there are some students who perform well in school and others who struggle to meet the academic expectations and lack the motivation. According to Omrod (2014) learning is affected by motivation and behaviour and how motivation directs behaviour towards a particular goal. How determined students are to strive for their goals with regards to their learning, are driven by their level of motivation (Maehr & Meyer, 1997). A student’s motivation is also a determining factor in how much effort they put into completing tasks and what they hope to achieve at the end. Their mindset in completing the tasks are also determined by their motivation for learning. Some students make be very enthusiastic to complete the task set whilst others may be lacking interest. When students are motivated they have a greater interest in activities and are more determined to complete the activities and have improved cognitive processes. They also have the ability to determine if the consequences of their actions are reinforcing or punishing and performances are improved.

The best way to incorporate differentiated instruction in the classroom is to discover what motivates a student in the classroom. We need to know our students and what motivates them (Tomlinson, 2012). Motivation will be the determination for success in education. When we think about differentiated instruction and incorporating motivation this is just common sense (Tomlinson, 2013). The very existence of learning depends on motivation. It is our job as teachers to meet the needs of our diverse learners (Schmitges, 2014). A little bit of motivation is like a candle in the darkness. It just takes one person to step out and light the candle and the whole room will be filled. To understand how important motivation is to differentiated instruction, three case studies were looked at.

Motivation affects many different areas for students in education. Areas include how the student feels about school, teacher relationships, testing performance, and time and effort spent on academics. Without motivation, academic engagement is almost impossible to achieve. However, research has shown that highly motivated students perform better academically, have a better self-esteem, and tend to complete high school. As a student progresses through school, motivation tends to decline. According to a 2004 analysis by the National Research Council, approximately 40 percent of high school students report being disengaged from learning. In addition, a similar survey showed that 70 percent of students who dropped out of school stated that being unmotivated was a key factor (Kober and Usher, 2012).

Improving student performance has long been an issue contemplated and researched by educational professionals and psychologists. Nowadays, an even greater burden has been placed on the shoulders of teachers, whose livelihoods are being determined by how well their students perform on standardized tests and other academic evaluations. With this increased amount of pressure, teachers are desperate to find ways to improve student success. As Hidi and Harackiewicz point out, the aspect of student learning that teachers have the most influence over is the amount of effort put in by students (Hidi & Harackiewicz, 2000). Research has shown that students’ motivation to meet these academic demands begins steadily declining around the third grade (Anderman & Maehr, 1987; Harter, 1981) which means teachers must take proactive approaches in their classrooms to stimulate and maintain the motivation of their students.

Motivation is the driving force to the will and desire to be successful or to achieve something. Motivation can also be said as to the success of a stimulus or stimuli to avoid failure. People with motivation means he has acquired the strength to excel in life either in the world or the hereafter or both.

There are a myriad of reasons why a student may become unmotivated in their studies—but whatever the reason, an unmotivated student becomes an unmotivated member of society, and possibly an unmotivated parent or teacher themselves. It is therefore a societal necessity that teachers, parents, and anyone else involved in the education of the youth in this world are informed about how to best motivate their students to understand and internalize what they are learning, so that they can pass the skills and information on to the next generation. Possible methods that could be utilized to enhance motivation are: encouraging internal motivation and decreasing dependence on external rewards, creating mastery-oriented as opposed to performance-oriented classrooms, and focusing on attribution as opposed to persuasion as a means

Determining what motivates individual students and engages them in a classroom, is as essential as it is challenging. In a classroom setting, faculty must know how to use motivation and engagement together to enhance students’ learning outcomes (Woolfolk & Margetts, 2007). Although student engagement is seen as a necessary element for learning, it needs the support of motivation to serve as a prerequisite. Furthermore, motivation sets the foundation for implementing learner-centered approaches to learning. Unfortunately today’s teachers are confronted by larger class sizes, fast-paced academic calendars, and standardized assessments that force them to lump all students together (Toshalis & Michael, 2012).

Classroom reductions help promote individual learning environments for students; theses environments will allow children to learn at their own pace, learn in a non- stressful environment, and in their own way. Granting learners, the ability to advance in the subject as they see fit helps students understand the information and rises their drive to learn (“Why It”). According to a study done at the University of Illinois, students that learned at their own pace enhanced their

One of the greatest struggles educators face is poor student attitudes. Behavior problems and lack of motivation manifest in education when students have misconceptions and poor attitudes about education. Many graduates of an educational program will enter the world with the ability to regurgitate information, but they lack the skills needed for innovation and problem-solving in their careers and daily lives. To assist in creating classrooms that foster motivation for learning, educators must be willing to self-assess their teaching methods and styles to gauge if their classroom mechanisms are engaging the students. As scripted and standardized lessons have become the expectation and educational norm, teachers must be willing to step off the beaten path to spark a deeper connection to the material for the students.

There is a large amount of research regarding how to motivate students in the classroom. The ways in which students are motivated varies greatly from student to student depending on outside factors such as socioeconomic status, cultural identity, learning disabilities and exceptionalities, and home life. Learning how to best motivate any particular type of student is something that teachers are continuously researching and attempting. There is new and exciting research being released each year for teachers to read up on and experiment with in their classrooms.