Math seems to be one of those subjects that students sometimes need a bit extra motivation to get the work done. It can be one of several reasons they don't want to finish an assignment but as the teacher, we need to help them get motivated.
To begin with, motivation can be either extrinsic or intrinsic. Extrinsic refers to rewards given outside of the student's control. Examples of extrinsic motivation include rewards such as pizza parties, movie nights, homework passes, or something similar.
On the other hand, intrinsic motivation comes from within. Examples of intrinsic motivation are the student wants to get A's only, needs to be the top of the class, or have a need to impress others. For our students one of the reasons we use to motivate students intrinsically is to remind them they need the math class to graduate but it doesn't make much of an impression if they don't see a reason to graduate. Consequently, we need different reasons and ways to motivate our students.
I'm always reading articles, looking to make myself a better teacher but on this topic, I ran into a list of suggestions that would never work with my students since it has the teacher showing students their missing pieces of knowledge, finding patterns, or setting up situations to encourage them to increase their knowledge. I've gone with the suggestions I could implement with my own students.Not all the suggestions I'm presenting here will work in every case. Some might be adjusted to fit your situation better and will depend on the students you have.
Not all the suggestions I'm presenting here will work in every case. Some might be adjusted to fit your situation better and will depend on the students you have. One of the big ones is to establish relationships with your students so they know you are there when they need you and you are willing to answer questions. Building a relationship with students is done both inside and outside of the classroom by greeting them everyday by name, asking about their day, weekend, etc, and even going to their games to cheer them on. I do not like sports but I go so on Monday's I can make comments about that one play or the basket, or the steal, or the pin in wrestling.
Think about cutting back or spreading out the lecture so you aren't requiring students to sit through it for 20 or 30 minutes. It is much better to divide the material up while providing practice time between the lecture parts. It is well known that today's students have a much shorter attention span than they had years ago. Instead of lecturing, use task cards, question stacks, scavenger hunts, guided practice, pairs work, anything that is more hands on.
Think about using math centers or stations. That is something we typically associate with elementary school but in middle school or high school they can be used effectively. Each center might have different problems or a different set of problems they can work on, something using manipulative or drawings, or each center focuses on a specific skill. An example of this might be center one has students identify the parts of a coordinate plane. The second station might review how to plot points with practice and the third station might have students practice graphing lines using tables. All skills are associated with graphing but each focuses on a different part.
The final suggestion is to give students a choice. For instance instead of assigning 24 practice problems, let them choose 18 out of 24 problems so they feel as if they have a chance to do the ones they know how to do. For a certain topic, they might have the choice of a task, a online quiz, or creating a flip grid video explaining how to do it.
These are some easily implemented suggestions and they can be customized for your students. Furthermore, these can be adjusted according to if your school is under COVID measures or have loosened up a bit. Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear. Have a great day.
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