Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Motivation
Some say that relevance is the key to motivating students in learning. By connecting learning in the classroom to lives outside of the four walls of the school building, it is going to make learning more interesting for students. Is there an experience in your education (elementary, middle, or high school) that you can recall where the relevancy of the unit/project had an impact on your motivation? How has relevance played a role in classes you have taken and how did that level of relevance impact your motivation for learning?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
I think relevance plays a large part in motivating students to learn. Students need to feel a connection to the material they are presented. If there isn't any meaning behind the material that can impact them, they aren't going to be very interested. As teachers, I believe it is very important to incorporate as much relevance as you can into lessons. Talk about students' favorite shows or books or places to go in town in your lessons. Ask students how they feel or what they think about something; give them a chance to share how something relates to them, if they'd like. They will be more motivated to learn and more engaged if that occurs. For example, my senior year of high school, my English teacher made us all write an essay that could be used towards college entrance or a scholarship application. That was very relevant for me and my classmates because it was something that the majority of us were going to have to do later on. I was motivated to do that assignment and do it well, because I knew it would benefit me later in the actual college process. Relevance increases my motivation; I want to work hard on something if I know I will see it again somewhere else. All students can benefit from some relevance in their assignments and in the classroom.
ReplyDeleteI agree that when you know you will use your work later on, motivation is increased. You know that the work will need to be acceptable on different levels, thus making it as good as it can be. It also helps students to have an assignment that can be used later because they know if they work really hard now, they will not need to do an extra work later on.
DeleteI think it is a great idea to have students write essays that could be used toward scholarships. I know my writing teacher let us have a choice of the topic we would write about and gave us particular types of papers to write such as demonstrative or persuasive. We could then choose what we wanted to write about which I found much more interesting to do than getting assigned a topic I didn't care about.
DeleteRelevance of material plays a huge part in motivating students with their learning. I know that when I grew up, and still to this day, if I have no relevance to what I am learning, then I don't take away as much as I would if I were connected to the material. When I was in middle school we had to take a "home-ec" class. This class was great because it related all the material learned in the course to the outside world. When I was in sixth grade I was given an assignment to make a 4 course meal and take a picture to provide evidence. We were able to have assistance from our parents, and encouraged to work with them in the kitchen. Wen I cooked this 4 course meal I had great relevance to it because my dad had a family catering business so I have grown up with a love for food. I enjoy the kitchen and I loved knowing that I would be able to take this experience with me outside of the classroom. I will never forget this assignment because it was fun, interesting, different, and overall was relatable to me. All students will better themselves academically if there is a relevance in the learning curriculum.
ReplyDeleteI agree that relevance plays a huge part in motivating students. The project that you did in sixth grade sounds like a blast. Hands on experiences were always very beneficial for me. Motivating students can be challenging, but when teachers come up with creative projects like the one you did, it helps engage student learning and involvement.
DeleteRelevance is very important to education because connections are what creates motivation. If a student can connect to what is being taught, he/she will remember the material better and have a special interest in it. In high school we did a unit on the extra curricular activities that our school provided. Each group had to pick an activity that they were not involved in and connect it to their interests. We also had to make up something to do in that extracurricular activity (ex. basketball drill). Many of the students loved this activity because they could explore things they did not know much about, but could also incorporate their interests into it. Relevance really impacts motivation because if you already have an interest or know something about a topic, expanding on the knowledge will be easier due to your interest.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you when you say that connections create motivation, and help the students remember what they are learning. I find your high school activity very interesting. It is a great way to learn about something you didn't think you had any interest in, but then were able to make some connections to the activity you chose. I agree that its easier to expand knowledge when you have an interest in it.
DeleteRelevance is definitely important for motivating students. Kids often don't want to learn things they don't think they will ever use. They also tend to remember things better if they can apply it to every day life. I saw many students not wanting to learn items often in many of my math classes. The other students would always be asking the teacher why we had to learn such things as Algebra and so on. My teacher would then explain to them how Algebra can be used in everyday life situations and how useful it really is.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Ms. Heins, that students are more apt to involve themselves in a lesson if they believe it will be useful to them in some way or another. The same goes for me, I know that if I do not feel "passionate" about something, then I probably wont put forth my best effort, because I wont be motivated to try as much as I would if I had a greater relevance to that certain something. So yes, relevance is the key in motivating our future students!
DeleteRelevance plays a huge roll in motivating students. Students are going to be drawn towards subjects that intrigue them. There more interested the students are, the more engaged they will be. Students enjoy learning about subjects that interest them and they will most likely put greater effort into their work. For example, in one of my English classes during high school, we were assigned a group project where we were allowed to make a video. Everyone in the class was so excited to make the video that it kind of became a competition to see who could make the best video. Each group put a lot of time and effort into their video project and they all turned out to be amazing. The fact that our class was able to make a video to present our project made the work a lot more exciting and engaging. When learning becomes fun students will try harder and become more engaged.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. If students enjoy what they are working on, they will put more work and effort into it, and ultimately, they will get more out of it. Relevance is a huge key, because it creates motivation, which triggers interest and engagement. The videos your class got to make sound awesome! I feel like when students are given the chance to use technology and maybe methods that aren't used as often in the classroom, they are much more excited about work and put a little more effort into it. The video sounds like it was a cool idea!
DeleteI feel that relevance is a very important part to motivating students. If students don't feel what they are learning is relevant to their lives, they won't feel like they have to pay attention. They aren't motivated to learn about it because it doesn't really matter to them. If the students fell like the information is relevant to them, they will be motivated to learn, and even excited about it. So as teachers it is important to make the lessons relevant to make our students motivated to learn. In my high school Spanish class we had a unit on food, and instead of just learning about it, we all had to make a Spanish dish of some sort. Not only was that a lot of fun for us, but the lesson was also relevant, and that motivated us to participate. I know that relevance increases my motivation to learn because I already have an interest in it, and that is what we as teachers need to do for our students.
ReplyDeleteRelevancy, I believe, has everything to do with learning in a classroom. Information in and of itself is meaningless unless the information can be put into practice and use. A student must make the connection to their own lives or the information will be discarded. A lesson must have information that the student can relate to in order for them to remain engaged, interested, and continuing to learn in that classroom setting
Delete