Motivation is probably more important, and integral in our everyday lives than many people may even realize. I mean, think about it, everything you do every day comes from some form of motivation. Why do we do the thing we do, particularly the thing we don't enjoy? Because it will benefit us in some way. Maybe not directly, but we stand to gain something from everything we do, otherwise we wouldn't do it. Now, think about your students. If they don't feel like they will receive any personal gain or benefits from learning, they won't try. Some students are motivated by getting good grades, but other students who experience failure regularly will need some other reason to be motivated.
Prior knowledge ties closely to motivation, in my opinion. If a student has absolutely no prior knowledge about something the teacher is talking about, and they can't make any personal connection with the topic, they are unlikely to care about it. Teachers must become familiar with what their students already know, or they must find ways to make new topics relevant to students by using literature, analogies, or anything really. Even in my personal experiences, I am less likely to become engaged in a topic that I know little to nothing about. When teachers attempt to make the topic relevant to me, or give me concrete reasons as to how this topic could be useful to me, something will click and I will become motivated.
I really liked how the book went into detail about methods teachers can use to activate prior knowledge, and examples of how the methods can be used. My personal favorites to use are the anticipation guides and the K-W-L charts. Anticipation guides are a good way to find out from every student what their level of prior knowledge is, and it is a great basis for planning lessons. The K-W-L chart is valuable in that you can do an on-the-spot, classwide assessment of prior knowledge, and it lends itself to being very flexible. We are always told that as teachers we have to be flexible, so a K-W-L chart fits well into an efficient classroom. Also, from previous experience, student really enjoy these KWL charts.
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You made a great point , Jackie, that motivations drives us everyday in everything that we do. Without motivation, would any of us even be where we are today? I think that motivation should be a very important part of everyday teaching, but I think it is too often overlooked. I believe that we can change this, and we should always praise and motivate our students. We would probably be very shocked at the difference it could make.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that prior knowledge ties in with motivation, so what stratgies would you use to get students motivated when the topic you are discussing is not interesting to them or does not relate to them through personal experience or prior knowledge.
ReplyDeleteWhat grade level would you use KWL charts for?