One of the most important things in teaching is having students who are motivated. If your students are unmotivated, it makes your job 20 hundred times harder. While extrinsic motivation seems the easy route in the moment to get the students to do what you desire of them, intrinsic motivation is what will last through the year and make them the best students that they can be. Intrinsic motivation is so much harder to instill in a child though. While you can try many different theories to help motivate, at some point the motivation is going to have to come from inside of them.
One of the theories that excites me is the expectancy theory. This is the idea that if from the beginning you believe that you can accomplish the task then you will be more likely to give it a try. I don't know about you but the idea of not doing something well doesn't really give me too much desire to complete the task. Urban youth have been told by the world that they will not succeed and that the extent of their education will just end up at McDonalds. I want to make sure that my students can succeed in college, that they are smart enough to be teachers, doctors, and accountants. They have the possibility to change the world. They may motivate a few of them to get through ninth grade algebra!
Hand in hand with this is the goal theory! I hope to understand my students and their goals for life. I can use that to encourage them to keep working hard to achieve whatever that may be. They may only care about sports so use that to encourage them to finish their english paper so that they can even get into college! Do whatever it takes using what you know about your kids to help them learn!
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