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Responses to Merrill
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Responses to Merrill
Wordle Response to Classroom Managment 3
When I was in middle school and even in high school, we had motivational techniques for doing homework. The deal was that if everyone did the homework and got a certain number right, we would have a game day the next day. I think that this technique isn't a very good idea, because whether we like to admit it or not students will find ways to get the answers without doing the actual work so that they can have a game day.
ReplyDeleteLooking back at motivational skills that my teachers tried to implement I found that some ideas were really good, while others failed to hit their mark. A good technique that I remember from my high school history classes was that we would play a game called "Current Events" every Wednesday, the purpose of this game was to get us to watch the news because there were categories in the game like: Politics, Sports, Entertainment, National Issues etc. My teacher would use this game as a way for us to get a little break in the middle of the week, but there was a catch. If we failed to finish our assignments, or if he felt we had been off task too much he would not let us play that week and instead we would either have to listen to a lecture or write a short paper on a historic topic of his choosing.
ReplyDeleteI believe that a technique like this would still be effective in a classroom in today's setting because what student doesn't like to play games, even if they are in high school.
A bad technique that I remember from high school was in a science class I had to take. The teacher was a new teacher who was brought in, she wasn't fresh out of college, but the way she presented the lesson plans and assignments were very dry and no one was learning anything, but at the beginning of class we would always have to do these "bellringers" which were little science questions that had absolutely nothing to do with what we were learning about. Also, we were sophomores at the time and the bellringers were at a sixth grade level so they were simply annoying to do. I think an idea like this would be another useful way of getting students to be motivated, but they need to hold some sort of context to the information that they are currently covering, or, if you know that they showed a certain interest in a previous topic you could use these types of questions to further their understanding or possibly make them want to go out and learn for themselves.
One motivational skill that was used a few years during elementry, was when the whole class worked together, and everyone did what was instructed with no problems, the teacher would put a few jelly beans in a jar. When this jar was filled we would do special things chosen by the class as a whole. These activites included a pizza party, playing bingo for a certian subject, and other such fun activites the class favored to do. Most of the time big things such as pizza partys were not an option, we usually only had one per year.
ReplyDeleteI believe this is a good technique to use in the classroom today. This technique motivates the students to work hard and cooperate as a class. Students also encourage other students to do their best so that everyone is rewarded.
I remember one motivational technique that was used for spelling in elementary school and is also used in Mr. Nielsen's class for math. Whenever a student got a perfect on three spelling tests in a row, the student was aloud to do something else during this time. Students were allowed to write on the white boards, read a book, play an educational game on the computer, or work on other assignments. I believe that this was an effective strategy because students were excited and motivated to practice spelling words so that they could get three perfect in a row in order to get a "free day."
ReplyDeleteThe only negative that I look back on now, is that there were too many options for students during this time. I think there was too much going on during the spelling test time that the students who needed the practice the most, were distracted and not doing their best. I think it would have been more effective and better for the test takers for the students to be doing only one other activity during this time.
A main technique I remember teachers using in my high school to motivate student learning was having the students who got their work done on time (or even early) do something "special" such as being able to talk to a friend who was also in the room or in computer classes I remember being able to do whatever I wanted on the computer like play games after I accomplished the task. I think this task would be motivational to some students today, but not all students because some students would probably continue to mess around and do what they wanted instead of doing their work to get that "special time."
ReplyDeleteI also remember in elementary, my 4th grade teacher giving us weekly tests on multiplication and there would be about 4 or 5 rows of problems and the tests were timed. Once we passed the test we were able to skip out on the next time the same test was given, while the students who didn't pass continued to take that test. Today, I think this may motivate students to study harder and work on their multiplication so that they would only have to take the test once, but it may not motivate every student!
When I was in elementary school, we had a program where you would set a goal for how many minutes you would read each month and if you met your goal for the first month, you got a free ice cream cone from the local restaurant, Paradise Pizza. If you met your goal the next month, you got a free ice cream sundae. Each month the "treat" would get a little bit better and then finally, if you met your goal every month, you would get to go to a pizza party there at the end of the school year.
ReplyDeleteI think that this strategy worked well because students could work on setting goals and would be motivated to reach their goals. I think that this could work in classrooms today as long as you have a local business that is willing to work with the school and partner with them in the project. The one reason I wouldn't want to use it is because if there are students who don't reach their goal each month, they have to stay back at school at the end of the year and do something else while the others are having a pizza party.
It’s difficult for me to think of a lot of ways that my past teachers would motivate student learning. 2 stick out the most to me, and that’s about all the ways I can think of. The 1st way that stuck out to me was the threat of “If you don’t get your work done… you won’t get to go to recess!” As a student I HATED this. It was never directed at one student, rather the whole class. It would make me rush though my work and not care how correct it was, I just wanted it done to go to recess! The other way that has stuck out was the “Extra Credit” idea that my 4th grade teacher used that I talked about last week. She would encourage improvement and hard work with extra credit points that would be used as a currency at an auction we would have in class at the end of the year. This really made me work hard and improve all my schoolwork so I would have more EC to spend at the auction!
ReplyDeleteI think a positive type of motivation like the extra credit points example I gave would work much better in a classroom than the negative no recess example. I know several schools and teachers try different token economy approaches to motivation and behavior, and I think it truly makes students more motivated in the classroom. The way I see it, it’s just an extra little “push” for working hard and getting a good grade.
I rememeber having a similar motivation technique being used in my elementary classes such as the one Megan described. We would make reading goals and when we reached our goal our teacher would have a drawer full of prizes that we could pick from. When I was in elementary school, reading time was my least favorite time of the day so this technique helped me to concentrate and read like I was suppose to be doing.
ReplyDeleteI can remember a teacher in middle school giving paddles or swats when a student did not complete the homework.She would swat students in the front of the class. She felt as if this would force students to do their homework.This technique would not be effective today because it is banned from many schools, if not all. Also the technique did not motivate students, if anything it created hatred/ a dislike toward her.
ReplyDeleteNot very many technique stand out to me, as I try to remember my elementary years. One that does stand out is similiar to some of the others. After the lesson we had been doing, if we completed out homework, we could read, if the teacher said it was ok, we could get on the computers and quietly play one of the education computer games. I think this technique would work for a school today. You would have to be careful though that the students don't rush through their work only so they can have free time to read or get on the computers.
ReplyDeleteI also remember something like Jenna said about the multiplication tests and getting to opt out if you got so many correct each time you took it. I remember doing that but with spelling tests. I believe it was that if you got four spelling tests correct, you could pass out of the next one and have a free period. This definetly encourages students to study more, because they want to be able to have a free period. You would just have to make sure they can not cheat on the test.
ReplyDeleteA technique that I remember was if we got our work done early, we would get to play on the computers with a math game. This was a good idea for some students because it was like a reward and although we were done working on one assignment, we were still practicing some other skill like math for example. Although this reward was good for some students, it may have not been so good for others. I can see where it would make the students want to rush to get their work done so they could get one of the computers first. I feel that I would probably have kids work on other homework they had and reward the students as a class if they had a good day.
ReplyDeleteI had one teacher in high school that I remember if we did our homework then we were given an few points extra credit. Also if you did the homework you would do better on the test because a lot of the questions were directly from the homework. I think that this technique would be effective today in high school because extra credit sometimes can be the difference between a B and a C or something along those lines. Also it is something that most high schoolers either really care about or it is something and they don't care about and they aren't going to do it.
ReplyDeleteI like what Jenny said her teacher let her do when they finished their work early. I think that it is a great idea because it keeps the students who are done early quiet and they are also doing something productive. It will also allow the students who are a little slower at the subject to relax and not feel like they are being rushed because the ones that are done are not causing problems. I was always a student that felt rushed in math because in elementary school I wasn't very good at it and I had a hard time concentrating once a lot of other pepole were done. I think that this a good technique and I think in my future classroom I will use this.
ReplyDeleteA good technique that I could reacall is the stop light. The students would start on green everyday and they could move down to yellow, to a warning, then to red as a punishment. I think this technique was effective because it motivated students to want to remain on green the entire day. I don't remember how students were rewared, but I think if they didn't make it to red the entire week, they would get a prize or candy at the end of the week. Also, once on yellow students could move back up to green. This a one of my favorite techniques.
ReplyDeleteI had the same motivational strategy as Megan at my elementary school. We had "Book It" and once a student reached a specific amount of minutes read during the month, they would get a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. I think this was a really good motivator because students wanted to get free pizza and a lot of the times it presented an opportunity for the parents to spend time with their child to celebrate their academic achievements!
ReplyDeleteMy school also had "book it" and gave away free personal pan pizza's if we reached our reading goal each month. I also thought this was a good idea because it is often hard to get children to read every night, but if the parents have to sign these papers it is helpful because they can make sure their child is actually reading for the amount of time that child claims to be. I think this technique would still be very effective in classes today. Another technique I remember is an extra recess for every time you turned your homework in early, you were allowed to use the computers during work time which everyone wanted. I think this technique could still be used today but, I think because of the advancement in computers this time may need to be better monitored and more be more specific about what kids are allowed to do on them.
ReplyDeleteI also remember using a motivational strategy similar to what Brittney Wirtz said about the spelling tests. In my third grade class if you got so many perfect test scores you would get to skip one and go to the library and read in the loft.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in Elementary school is when I can remember using motivational strategies to help students learn and complete work. Language Arts was the big area that I think was focused on the most. I can remember teachers allowing us free time if more than half the class got 100% on their weekly spelling test. I can also remember being rewarded for D.O.L. if you got the sentence correct you got to stay in at recess and play games in the classroom. I think these kind of motivational strategies might work if the interests level in the reward is high.
ReplyDelete