Motivated Teaching: Harnessing the science of motivation to boost attention and effort in the classroom: 3 (High Impact Teaching)

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When Teacher Susan welcomes students into her second-grade classroom, her primary role is to deliver instruction that helps her students learn. Her role as a teacher is important to her students' life outcomes. As students gain basic literacy skills and a love for education, they are better prepared for a life full of continuous learning. For Susan to succeed in this important role and provide high quality education to her learners and potential leaders of tomorrow, she must be motivated.

Highly motivated students are usually actively and spontaneously involved in activities and find the process of learning enjoyable without expecting any external rewards (Skinner & Belmont, 1993). On the other hand, students who exhibit low levels of motivation to learn will often depend on the rewards to encourage them to participate in activities they may not find enjoyable. Reading can ignite writing development and empower students with confidence on how to make their thoughts visible. Lee and Van Patten (2003, p.245) point out that “reading is the best resource of input for the second language writers and it is through reading that writers find the type of language they need for writing.” Now, in terms of writing, I believe it is important to keep in mind that the weight we give either to the product or the process can impact students´ ability to communicate through writing. The writing process includes purpose and audience, generating ideas and organizing them, evaluating and revising the ideas written. Furthermore, by focusing on the process, teachers can help students unfold their creativity and enrich their composition. Mr. S. Tornorlah Varpilah (Left) CEO of Passion Hotel, Bong District presenting the award and nonmonetary incentive to winning teacher, Peter Bgawai (Right). Photo Credit: RTI.Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 25, 54–67 Quotas — It helps to come up with a certain predetermined number of ideas on an issue. Often, it is the last or final idea that is the most useful. Real creativity can only emerge once we have mastered the medium or domain in which we work. An idea or product that deserves the label ‘creative’ arises from the synergy of many sources and not only from the mind of a single person, according to Csíkszentmihályi.

Biweekly observation of the teacher’s classroom by a member from the research team to provide a post-class consultation to refine and improve the teacher’s delivery of the Emotions Course and Emotion-Based Prevention Program Ulstad, S. O., Halvari, H., Sorebo, O., & Deci, E. L. (2016). Motivation, learning strategies, and performance in physical education at secondary school. Advances in Physical Education, 6(1), 27–41. Teachers rated children in their class as displaying fewer post-intervention negative emotions and more post-intervention social competence. Education Commission. 2019. Transforming the education workforce: Learning teams for a learning generation. New York: Education Commission.While it is recommended that countries devote six per cent of their gross domestic product to education to meet Education for All requirements, only 41 countries in the world currently do so (UNESCO, 2019b). Providing competitive salaries for teachers does not solve every motivation problem, but it is important to establish at least a basic level of financial incentive. It is also important to ensure regularity of pay. If governments cannot designate enough money for teachers to earn a competitive salary, other measures offer little hope of improving teacher motivation (Tournier et al., 2019; UNESCO, 2019b). Widen opportunities for career progression?

Without this, motivation will forever remain a mystery for schools. An elusive art that some teachers serendipitously develop, but many don’t. And the potential of our impact will remain limited. First, the cognitive evaluation theory, which explains the effects of external consequences on internal motivation, draws our attention to the critical roles autonomy and competence play in fostering intrinsic motivation by showing how they are vital in education, arts, sports, and many other domains. Crehan, L.; Tournier, B.; Chimier, C. 2019. Teacher career pathways in New York City. Paris: IIEP-UNESCO. Thinking outside of the box, or what Edward de Bono (1967) calls lateral thinking, can be used when we have exhausted the possibilities of normal thought patterns. Creativity results from a complex interaction between a person and their environment or culture. Real learning and creativity require student engagement, which involves a combination of motivation, concentration, interest, and enjoyment derived from the process of learning itself – qualities that are essential to flow (Shernoff, Csikszentmihalyi, Shneider, & Shernoff, 2003).

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Simply put, expectancy theory explains motivation as a choice based on the expectation of the results of selected behavior. A two-hour workshop before the semester began to help teachers learn how to teach the Emotions Course in their classroom The classroom environment plays a key role in how motivated a student is. They need to be in a positive environment in which they feel valued and respected. It is also important that they feel as though their input is heard. If they are learning in a caring, supportive and inclusive space, they will feel much more motivated to learn. Thanks to Theresa Amabile (1996), who studied the creativity of commissioned versus non-commissioned artistic works, we know a lot about the link between intrinsic motivation and creativity. Results from the 20-week Emotions Course and Emotion-Based Prevention Program showed that the intervention produced its intended effect and produced positive benefits.