REBECCA HOFFMANN

STANDARD 6

EVIDENCE 1

Motivation Motivation is the desire to achieve a goal combined with the energy to work towards achieving it. A student that is motivated enjoys and is engaged with class culture and activities. The acquisition of complex knowledge and skills requires effort and practice, without motivation to exert effort with curriculum activities students will not achieve success. Students need to engage with meaningful learning through purposeful learning activities guided by practices that enhance positive emotions and intrinsic motivation to learn (McInerney & McInerney, 2010). Intrinsic motivation, the motivation to learn without external rewards, is a valued skill. Students who are intrinsically motivated are more likely to persevere with tasks and are more willing to try a variety of strategies to achieve their goals. Intrinsic motivation may be caused by internal reasons such as interest, enjoyment and relevance that may lead to deep learning when students find the tasks genuinely interesting and relevant (Biggs as cited in McInerney & McInerney, 2010). Ames and Ames as cited in McInerney and McInerney (2010) suggest a range of effective strategies to encourage motivation in students. A few of the strategies include; Reducing social comparison by using a range of measurement, evaluation and reporting methods Stimulating student involvement in learning by allowing students choice and control over the method, pace and method of learning Focus on effort by assisting students see that mistakes are part of learning Promote beliefs in competence by communicating positive expectations Increase chances of student success by explicitly teaching learning skills and strategies Locke and Lathams (1984) research on motivation within the workplace can be applied to classrooms, the skills described in the research are relevant to contemporary learning. The research suggests setting appropriately challenging and specific goals in collaboration between manager and employee or in our teacher and student, goals need to be achievable as unfair or unreachable goals may foster

REBECCA HOFFMANN

STANDARD 6

EVIDENCE 1

dissatisfaction and poor performance. Goal setting needs to be accompanied by effective feedback, helping students to develop their metacognitive and selfregulatory skills. Teachers should use a variety of teaching styles and resources to gain the attention and interest of students. Introducing learning experiences using sensory experience (listen to, look at, feel, smell or taste something), the use of tactile materials, brainstorming solutions, practice solving problems are all effective strategies to encourage students and finally teachers can influence students with their own attitude, research has found that student attitude and achievement are positively affected by teacher enthusiasm (Larkens et al; Rosenshine as cited in McInerney & McInerney, 2010).