A large problem in schools faced by educators is motivating their students. Motivating, meaning, giving their students a reason for the work they must complete. Working without a purpose can be very challenging for students and will keep them from appreciating and taking care of their work in a satisfactory approach. In the Problem Problem by Gerald Graff he expresses his feelings towards the motivation of students. He discusses how students don’t appreciate the work they do and how they should. Graff believes that most students have a negative attitude towards their work and they simply wonder why they are doing certain assignments. The three main topics Graff breaches is the students’ ability to write an analytical paper, an argumentative paper, and a persuasion paper.
In class when students receive an analysis assignment, not all but most of them frown. Analysis is a very pitied assignment due to the feelings and attitudes students have towards them. Students merely don’t understand the point in why they are analyzing a topic they do not care for. In Graff’s essay he gives an example from a student by the name of Karen. Her attitude toward analyzing topics is incredibly poor and from the tone in the essay she wrote it is extremely noticeable that she believes writing an analysis is stupid. For example she writes, "It seems to me that we analyzed things that didn’t seem to have much to analyze….Another reason I do not like to analyze, though this may sound arrogant, is because it is not important to me(Gerald et al, p.2b, 2003)." Karen has no care for analyzing any sort of literature or event that happens in her life, which makes her come off as a disinteresting person. Karen is one of many students who share the same or a si...
... middle of paper ...
...nment to be successful and well done the student needs a purpose that they believe in or know of. Simply writing an essay because a teacher assigned it is not viable in the eyes of Gerald. There needs to be a purpose for quality writing and expression.
Gerald’s ideas are exceptionally easy to agree with. His points are all valid and reasonable. He makes no false statements about the avid student and he understands the incapability of student to write without purpose. It would be preposterous to disagree with a written document such as this one because of the easily identified problems he shares and the quality of the content he shares. Problem Problem is incredibly accurate and adequately shows the views of the well certified author, Gerald Graff.
Works Cited
Gerald, G. (2003). Clueless in academia. New Haven, CT: Yale.
In the essay, “Other Voices, Other Rooms” from Inquiry to Academic Writing, Gerald Graff argues that students learn things differently from class to class and are not taught to use information from one class in another. This is a problem especially in higher education today because there is such a large gap from professor to professor. Although the disagreement from one subject to the next may seem like a problem to some, if there were no disagreements, nothing would be worth learning. While these problems may occur, they are essential in the evolvement of education. Without these disagreements there would not be any search for more information to solve the problems. Also, students would not be motivated to continue to learn. The disagreements between the two are what seem to confuse students, but what confuses them more is how the education system is set up. Students must learn to make
There are a number of things that can be improved in the world, especially in the United States. In his revolutionary speech, Noah Braun declares his independence from homework and offers a variety of examples to support his argument. In addition to supporting evidence, Braun uses specific elements of language and individual style in his writing. By declaring independence from homework, it is evident that Braun’s intended audience is anyone in school that receives homework on a daily basis; however, the supporting evidence used shows the reader that the target audience is specifically high school students. According to Braun, “We are involved in a variety of clubs, members of various sports teams, and a number of students have nightly
The essay is written in a very critical style where the reader will feel like they have been wast...
According to Runciman, there are many plausible reasons that students and other people don’t enjoy writing. Evidence, assumptions, and language and tone are the basis for which Runciman makes his argument. Overall, this argument is effective because reliable and well known sources are used in a logical fashion. Also, the assumptions made about the audience are accurate and believable. Runciman used his assumptions wisely when writing his claim and in turn created a compelling, attention capturing argument. The article was written so that students and teachers at any level could understand and easily read it. This argument is interesting, captivating, relevant through its age, and can relate to students and teachers at almost every academic level.
Scott Adams fills his essay full of verbal fallacies that take away from his initial theme of finding his/her passion. These two quotes use the fallacy of the "straw man argument." “That was the year I learned everything I know about management,” and, “That was the year I learned everything I know about getting buy-in” (99). He is trying to prove the argument that all his education/learning experiences came from practical knowledge. This over exaggeration and overstatement takes away from his argument. It cannot be validated because school is proven to build character and hard-work ethics ("EdLab"). Due to his assumptions, his credibility is under question. Next, he uses “hasty generalizations” in the opening sentence by saying, “I understand why the top students in America study physics, chemistry, calculus and classic literature” (98). Through inductive generalizations, he rushes to a conclusion that all top students study in a certain field, which is a false statement. Along with verbal fallacies, Adams carries a bias throughout the essay. He says, "That's my starter list that would serve B students well" (101). While yes, the information can aid the "B" students to become more successful, it can pertain to anyone with any grade. His use of these segregating statements narrows the window of his audience
In Matthew Springer’s article What Gets Students Motivated to Work Harder? Springer built his ethos in a really well built essay. He used a lot of good statistics and facts. He wrote if students get certificates instead of money they are more likely to do better and try harder.
Addresses the opposing view (when students are given the avenues to define their personal value systems, evoke affective responses to situations and comprehend different relationships, it encourages students to correct faults and emulate goodness)
The goal of this study was to analyze the effects of both positive and negative feedback on male and female students’ intrinsic motivation. Research was conduced with a random sample consisting of 30 male and 30 female undergraduate students. All students were studying physical education in the Montreal, Canada area. Students involved in the study reported to a laboratory. They were asked to balance on a stabilometer 20 times for 20 seconds each. Some students received positive comments from the instructor and some students received negative comments. The subjects then complete a questionnaire at the end of the trials. The students were questioned with The Mayo (1976) Task Reaction Questionnaire (TRQ). This research study found that male and female students who received positive feedback reported higher levels of intrinsic motivation.
As explained in class, we may have a student who never completes assignments and from that viewpoint, we determined that the student is a lazy person and more than likely does not care about the class. There exist that single chance of being correct on the inference of the students life; however, it so happened to turn out the student loves the discussions in the classroom but is struggling to find a balance between school, home, and work. The student may have collapsed in the wake of anxiety as soon as they sat down to begin a paper f...
Any students that attend school understand the struggle of homework.The subject i will be discussing is how students should have less homework from school. This issue i chose is relevant because in my school we have eight classes and homework from five of those classes and i think we should have less homework. The purpose why i chose to discuss this topic is because i'm hoping i could get through to principals, teachers, and the department of education. I am credible speaker because of how this issue affects me. This issue affects me because every day i walk a far distance to come home to do homework, and chores five days a week. While the other two days to have to read. I think students should have less homework because we come home to chores every day, we have seven hours of school five days a week and homework takes away fun activities with family and friends.
“Motivation is a complex part of human psychology and behavior that influences how individuals choose to invest their time, how much energy they exert in any given task, how they think and feel about the task, and how long they persist at the task” (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). The biggest question educators face in today’s classroom is what motivates a student to do something and why? Virtually all students are motivated in one way or another. Research of student motivation suggests a theory that emphasizes a social-cognitive perspective. The cognition of students regarding academic work are influenced by social factors, such as messages from the teacher about the difficulty of the task, the perceived abilities of classmates, and the information about the importance of learning the material (Urdan & Schoenfelder, 2006). In this paper the focus will primarily be on those elements within the classroom that influence student motivation and engagement.
One of the reasons homework should be banned is because of the unnecessary stress and strain it creates for students. Many students are left pulling their hair out at homework time. Students struggle with homework for different reasons. Some of which are because they do not understand the assigned homework, or they are not being challenged, and quite possibly because they have hit their daily threshold for learning and have no more to give. Furthermore, students who struggle academically will likely require extra assistance to do their homework. Students are therefore tasked with finding a qualified person to assist them with homework. Students are not only under the stress of homework, but now they are under additional stress to find a qualified person that can assist them. Unfortunately, some students may not be able to obtain the help they need with their homework. Consequently and to no fault of their own their grades may be affected inaccurat...
It is first important to understand how motivation works in the classroom. There are infinite procedures teachers use to achieve desired effects from their students, but there are general patterns these motivational tools follow. In order for teachers to communicate with their students, they must identify with their needs on an individual basis (Gawel, 1997). This proposal is much akin to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, which states five basic needs that must be met in order to achieve full motivation. These needs, in ascending order, are as follows: physiological, security, love and belongingness, esteem and self-respect, and self-actualization (Gawel, 1997). Each of these needs details a very important issue in motivation inside the classroom and out.
In many cases, it has become very complex to keep students interested in their education. So the teacher must be creative and find ways to keep pushing the student onward as well as upward. In order to devise the ultimate plan for educating students, a teacher must acknowledge that the “students” are what teaching is all about. The most important factor in the equation is unequivocally the STUDENT! All humans are different in some sort or fashion. But the fact still exists that we all have only this place to function in. So help by putting forth an effort to make it a better place for us all.
What is the role of the teacher, and what steps will you take to ensure that you are fulfilling this role?