Student Motivation as a Factor in Education
Motivation is the most important factor that educators can target in order to improve learning. Numerous cross-disciplinary theories have been postulated to explain motivation. While each of these theories has some truth, no single theory seems to adequately explain all human motivation. “Superman and Me” by Sherman Alexie explains Alexie’s life as an Indian boy and how he first learned how to read, his intelligence compared to classmates, and his career. Author Mike Rose revisits his high school years in his essay, “I Just Wanna Be Average.” Rose explains how his teachers were indifferent about students and resorted to verbal abuse and physical discipline. Until a new english teacher arrives,
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Motivation concerns the reasons or goals that underlie involvement or noninvolvement in academic activities. Students are motivated in education by personal backgrounds and goals.
When growing up on a poor Indian reservation in Washington, Alexie was expected to fail. His peers, role models, and teachers expected low quality work, because of his race. Alexie was trapped in the small reservation. Alexie recalls that “if he’d been anything but an Indian boy living on the reservation, he might have been called a prodigy.” Because of his background, however, this was not the case. Alexie had no assistance, or guidance that could lead him to success on the reservation. Rose had similar experiences in high school, as a student in the vocational track, he had no guidance or role model to push him to succeed. Rose recalls that one of his first teachers “routinely had us grabbing our ankles to receive his stinging paddle across our butts. He did that, he said, to make men of us.” (1). As a student Rose never had positive or encouraging guidance, only teachers who taught to get paid. Both Alexie and Rose went through school without teachers
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Parents become children’s earliest role models, and this affects all aspects of personality, including motivation. Both Alexie and Rose had father figures as students that influenced their motivation in education. When Alexie was growing up on the poor Indian reservation, his father kept a surplus of books in their home. Alexie recalls his father’s “[love of] books” and showing his devotion to his father by “[loving] books as well” (1). Alexie felt the need to learn how to read and impress his father. His desire for his father’s approval motivated him to teach himself how to read at an early age, a rarity on the reservation. Rose had a similar experience, when a young english teacher began at his high school. Rose felt that “Jack MacFarland couldn 't have come into [his] life at a better time” (5). Macfarland acted as a father figure to Rose, by pushing him in school and helping with college acceptance. Both Alexie and Rose were motivated in education because of their father figures. These men also taught Alexie and Rose the importance of literature. Alexie’s father filled their house at a young age with books, so much that Alexie read “Grapes of Wrath’ in kindergarten” (2). Alexie devoured literature, reading “books late into the night” as well as “at recess, then during lunch” (2). Alexie’s father had an influence on him at a young age, and contributed to the Alexie’s success in the classroom. Rose began this same love
Adjusting to another culture is a difficult concept, especially for children in their school classrooms. In Sherman Alexie’s, “Indian Education,” he discusses the different stages of a Native Americans childhood compared to his white counterparts. He is describing the schooling of a child, Victor, in an American Indian reservation, grade by grade. He uses a few different examples of satire and irony, in which could be viewed in completely different ways, expressing different feelings to the reader. Racism and bullying are both present throughout this essay between Indians and Americans. The Indian Americans have the stereotype of being unsuccessful and always being those that are left behind. Through Alexie’s negativity and humor in his essay, it is evident that he faces many issues and is very frustrated growing up as an American Indian. Growing up, Alexie faces discrimination from white people, who he portrays as evil in every way, to show that his childhood was filled with anger, fear, and sorrow.
Motivation can be defined as the desire or inspiration to carry out specific tasks or to do something. Motivation is required when goals are being set and more so in their execution. In a work setting, motivation can be defined as a process through which individuals choose between alternative forms of behavior with the aim of achieving personal objectives. The goals sought by individuals can be extrinsic or relatively tangible such as monetary rewards and promotion, or intrinsic or intangible such as self esteem or job satisfaction (Armstrong, 2006). In learning, the desire to attain good grades is what motivates a student to study hard everyday as they prepare for the exam. On the other hand, for a teacher to put his best foot forward, he has to be motivated by the desire to see his students come out tops at the end of term or year. Being passionate and interested in a particular thing is also a big motivator to pursue the same to completion. In other words, motivation is mostly an intrinsic quality within a person that persuades him/her to focus on a certain thing over and above another thing. Even though motivation is in its most natural intrinsic, it can also be acquired and encouraged through learning how to set achievable goals and persistently pursuing them. Interest in a certain task or goal gives an individual the drive, persistence, right level of involvement and focus, which are all characteristics of motivation (Psychyl, 2008). Motivation towards a specific task is also determined by values of the person and the person’s perception of the particular issue. There are mainly two types of motivation; intrinsic motivation which is basically self-motivation based on interest and belief in a certain task or doing an activity...
What is Motivation? Motivation can be described as a driving force within us. It makes people try and achieve certain targets in order to satisfy a particular need or expectation. It makes an individual behave in a certain way and makes them make decisions to act in a certain way and to continue with these actions until they satisfy their needs and expectations.
Motivation is an integral part of teaching in order to improve student learning. Motivation is defined as an internal state that arouses, directs, and maintains behavior (Woolfolk, 2013, p. 430). As H.W. Beecher said, “God made man to go by motives, and he will not go without them any more than a boat without steam or a balloon without gas. Find out what motivates man, touch that button to turn the key that makes men achieve” (Williams et. Al, 2015). As a teacher, I will need to evaluate and adapt the motivation theory to ensure all students are learning at higher levels.
Currently, in the state of Georgia, the TKES system used to observe teachers reflect instruction in departmentalized and self-contained classrooms. As a result, schools are transitioning to more departmentalized classroom settings due to increasing enrollment of students, higher demand in differentiation, and easier transitions to upper grade levels. This study will help determine the importance of departmentalized versus self-contained classroom settings. A study by, Dr. Alecia Sthrol showed statistics that teachers in middle school and high school have seen a drastic change in student achievement due to departmentalized classroom settings. However, there were a lot of cons that came along with the process that if not kept to par, would result to a decrease in student achievement. The purpose, of this research is to determine if departmentalized classroom settings or self-contained classroom settings affect student motivation and achievement for fourth grade students. (insert motivation statements here)“According to the self-worth theory of achievement motivation, a sense of academic self-worth is the most critical factor in determining student attitudes and behavior. The key to academic self-worth is students’ perceptions of their own ability in school, especially in comparison with others. Students learn to avoid shame and humiliation due to failure by choosing to not try. This type of, intentional resistant classroom behavior have been coined “negative motivation” (Teel, 2001 p. 16).
Motivation is the reason or purpose one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. Another definition to define motivation is the desire or willingness to do something. The more motivation someone has the more motivated they are to accomplish their goal. If a person is not motivated or have enough motivation to accomplish their desire, then that person will do a lazy job and not care. There are two ways to explain motivation, internal and external.
Motivation is this energy to study, to learn, achieve and to keep these favorable behaviors with time. Motive is what excites pupils to acquire, transform and use information.
Motivation is a theoretical construct used to explain behavior. It represents the reasons for people 's actions, desires, and needs. Motivation can also be defined as one 's direction to behavior or what causes a person to want to repeat a behavior and vice versa. A motive is what prompts the person to act in a certain way or at least develop an inclination for specific
Most educators can tell you that motivating students can be a full time job. Finding the perfect balance between instruction and motivation, all while maintaining harmony in the classroom, can be a tricky task to accomplish. Doing so with 4th – 8th graders offers even more challenges as students at this age are starting to develop individual identities at students, and develop more social and outside of the classroom interests. However, instructors that are able to identify different types of goal orientations and learning styles can still break down barriers, and build relationships that will help motivate students in the modern world.
Children’s motivation to excel in school starts to decrease in first grade. As students are more aware of their performance in comparison to their peers and academic content becomes less appealing, student intrinsic motivation suffers (Edmunds & Tancock, 2003, p. 18). Teachers are continuously looking for ways to motivate their students to read more. A popular strategy is providing students with incentives or extrinisic rewards. Previous studies proved that these incentives do not affect student motivation to read and “undermine intrinsic motivation,” (Edmunds & Tancock, 2003, p. 18). Despite evidence that these reward programs do not encourage a love for reading in students, many school districts implement these types of programs. School districts are finding more success when providing access to a variety of books and have incentives directly relate to reading are proven more successful with keeping students motivated.
What is Motivation and how does it affect an individual? Motivation is the reason or reasons one has for acting or behaving in a particular way. There are two types of motivation that affect us, Extrinsic and Intrinsic. Extrinsic motivation is the type of motivation that motivates us to perform or engage in an activity to earn a reward or avoid a form of punishment. Examples of this would be working hard for a raise, because you want a better pay check or cleaning your room as a kid to avoid being in trouble from your parents. In both examples, the person is motivated to gain a reward or avoid punishment. However, intrinsic motivation is when a person performs an activity, because it is personally rewarding. Examples of this type of motivation
According to Greenberg (1999), motivation is defined “as a process of arousing, directing and maintaining behavior towards a goal.” Where “directing” refers to the selection of a particular behavior; and ‘maintenance” refers to the inclination to behave with consistency in that manner until the desired outcome is met.
Motivation, in my own words, is being excited about participating in something. I think motivation is one of the most important things in my life and it is definitely something I think about every day. When I am motivated to do something, I become obsessed with getting it done. Motivation is something that influences my choices every day. I am always thinking of things I can do to better myself and keep me motivated. I think motivation is an amazing thing to have as a high school student, especially since I am a senior. I plan to use my motivation to my own advantage to make sure I finish this school year with good grades, scholarships, and being accepted into the school that I want to go to next year.
Motivation is the important factor to stimulate students in learning. Gardner (1985) defined the motivation as “the combination of effort plus desire to achieve the goal of learning the language plus favorable attitudes toward learning the language”. Wlodwoski explained the motivation as “the processes that can (a) arouse and instigate behavior, (b) give direction or purpose to behavior, (c) continue to allow behavior to persist, and (d) lead to choosing or preferring a particular behavior” (1985)
Motivation raises the amount of effort and energy that students devote in activities directly related to their needs and goals. It defines whether they chase a task enthusiastically and committedly or lazily and unenthusiastically. In my case, I strongly believe acting enthusiastically in everything you do will increase the amount of efforts and energy spent which will eventually lead to successfully accomplishment of goals.