Motivation is a driving force that impels one to react. As used in teaching, motivation refers to teachers’ and students’ rationale or purpose, which originates from the self to undertake learning activity (Principles of Teaching I, Corpuz and Salandanan). In every classroom, we find two groups of students – the highly-motivated and the poorly-motivated students. We can identify these two groups by how they behave inside the classroom.
A student is highly-motivated if he or she …
- participates actively in class activities,
- shows curiosity by asking questions,
- shows satisfaction over a reward by his or her facial expression and,
- gives attention even in smallest details.
- is very passive during discussion,
- bothers seatmates instead of listen,
- doesn’t show interest in finishing learning tasks and,
- is not able to follow simple instructions.
In contrast, a student is poorly-motivated if he or she …
Motivation is very important in teaching – learning process, since it gets the interests and engages the students in learning. It is a challenge for teachers to know their students’ capabilities and interests to find an easier way in raising the level of students’ motivation. Knowing students’ interests are very necessary in designing motivational activities for your lessons. The following are some suggestions that you may give emphasis on your daily classroom instruction.
- Praise the students.
- Challenge them with high standards.
- Make them excited by activities and show your enthusiasm
- Give different sets of learning activities.
- Connect lessons to real-life
By: Andrea Jessa D. Reyes | Cataning Elementary School
