Two weeks ago and in one of the professional development sessions in our school “ABHSS”, I presented a very important topic entitled “Underlying Principles for Increasing Student Motivation and Improving Behaviour“. In the workshop I tackled the following:
Classroom Relationships
- Relationships in the classroom have an impact on achievement.
- For quality learning to happen, teaching must serve the academic and emotional needs of the students.
- Students are motivated when teachers treat them like people.
Five Relationships of Students
- Student and Themselves
- Student and their Peers
- Student and their Teachers
- Students and their Parents
- Students and the Curriculum
The Six Standards Framework
1. Safety is Paramount
- For students to learn, they must feel safe from both physical danger and
embarrassment. - Fear of physical harm and fear of embarrassment often have the same effect. Students should not have to worry about a lack of skills or of being
exposed to embarrassment.
Classroom Implications
- No put downs for students
- Eliminate sarcasm or humour at students expense
- Clear rules and expectations with respect to physical behaviour in the classroom
2. Value Everything
- Students are more apt to engage fully and produce quality work if they perceive that what they are doing has value
- All activities and studies must fill a need; solve a problem; or be interesting, fun, or enjoyable.
Classroom Implications
- Base the context of studies around students’ interests
- Show and tell the students that you value them.
- Provide chances for students to share their work.
3. Success Breeds Success
- Motivate students by reminding them when they have been successful.
Classroom Implications
- Provide activities that are challenging yet achievable
- Provide regular ‘feedback’ with a focus on celebrating success and efforts
- Provide ‘feed forward’ identifying areas for improvement
4. Student Involvement and Ownership
- Give students opportunities to be involved with their learning.
- Students who ‘own’ their learning, progress further
Classroom Implications
- Allow for students to give feedback on activities, topics, assessment, etc
- ‘Listen’ to the students in and out of the class
- Have students play a role in setting criteria for assessment and evaluating their own work as well as their peers
5. Care for the Students Academic and Personal Needs
- Students respond positively to being liked, being supported and accepted
Classroom Implications
- Provide positive feedback and productive feedback in advance
- Give leadership responsibilities to all
- Give students opportunities to evaluate their own work as well as their peers’
6. Enable and Empower Students to Achieve
- Teachers must provide students with tasks that allow them to think, problem solve and learn
Classroom Implications
- Teachers need to ‘think out aloud’
- Create open ended problems
- Instigate small group activities
The Key to Success…. ….
Integrate all the Standards
- The practices we have just discussed should not be introduced one at a time
- All of these practices should be happening at the same time
You can download the presentation of this workshop here.
Abomody's space 