Unmotivated students

by Lindsey

Dec 6, 2010

The students in my 8th grade science class are just not motivated! They are all bright students who were all very successful in the beginning of the year, but their motivation has just progressively gotten worse! They do not want to participate and put in very little effort into their homework and studying.

If anyone has any ways to motiviate these students please help! I've heard of using a token economy in younger elementary schooled classrooms and am looking for some feedback on the use of this system in older classrooms. Has anyone tried this before? Was it successful? My goal is to both intrinsically and extrinsically motivate my students to learn, will the token economy only provide extrinsic motivation for my students? Please help!

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Dave Have you considered that at this time of the year that your students are just ready for winter break?

On 12/06/10, Lindsey wrote: > The students in my 8th grade science class are just not > motivated! They are all bright students who were all very > successful in the beginning of the year, but their > motivation has just progr...See More

Dec 7, 2010

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teachermrw @Lindsey

I feel your pain. Really. I do. While @Dave has a point, you need a strategy for when you and the students return in January.

Perhaps it is time for you to re-visit your expectations for your students with your students when classes resume. Remind them of the good work that they have done, and that they can continue to ...See More@Lindsey

I feel your pain. Really. I do. While @Dave has a point, you need a strategy for when you and the students return in January.

Perhaps it is time for you to re-visit your expectations for your students with your students when classes resume. Remind them of the good work that they have done, and that they can continue to do the same, provided that they meet and fulfill expectations.

Re: motivation - This is a tricky thing. Especially since many of us are not trained in how to motivate students. I am neither a practicioner nor an advocate of token economies, and therefore cannot speak about them on the basis of my own experience with same. That said, I think you need a plan for holding students accountable for their work. I don't necessarily agree that students should or need to be rewarded for things that they should do, such as completing homework or participating in class. These things are part of their learning, and are part of your curriculum. So, in my opinion, when students fulfill their responsibilities to the curriculum, they get a grade, and, depending on the quality of their work, the grade can be good or bad. I would also make a regular practice of notifying parents when work doesn't come in. When students don't complete work in my classes, they: 1. Write a note explaining why; and 2. Must complete work either during lunch, or after school. If there are chronic offenders, then the advisor and division head need to be involved. However, if the advisor and division head are doing their jobs, they will have already enacted a plan for the student in question.

I hope of the aforementioned is helpful and useful to you. :) Let us know how you are doing.

On 12/07/10, Dave wrote: > Have you considered that at this time of the year that your > students are just ready for winter break? > > On 12/06/10, Lindsey wrote: >> The students in my 8th grade science class are just not >> motivated! They are all bright students who were all very >> successful in the beginning of the year, but their >> motivation has just progressively gotten worse! They do not >> want to participate and put in very little effort into >> their homework and studying. >> >> If anyone has any ways to motiviate these students please >> help! I've heard of using a token economy in younger >> elementary schooled classrooms and am looking for some >> feedback on the use of this system in older classrooms. Has >> anyone tried this before? Was it successful? My goal is to >> both intrinsically and extrinsically motivate my students >> to learn, will the token economy only provide extrinsic >> motivation for my students? Please help!

Jan 1, 2011

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vet teacher My goal is to > both intrinsically and extrinsically motivate my students > to learn, will the token economy only provide extrinsic > motivation for my students? Please help!

By definition a token economy only provides extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is far more difficult to achieve but I find I do best with that when w...See More

Jan 3, 2011

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Leah for a related article, click below:

Feb 23, 2011

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