'To Sir with Love'

Motivation For Teachers

Last year Don Bosco Trivandrum’s ‘Success for Success’ (S4S) Training team conducted more than 175 sessions for teachers, parents, Police, Resident Associations and children at different parts of Trivandrum district.  It is an alarming fact that majority of the students are unmotivated towards education. In fact, it is the routine complaints of the teachers and parents that they don’t recognize the value and importance of higher education for their future. However, motivation is a key factor for the success of every student at all stages of life. Teachers can play a key role in providing and encouraging motivation among students.

Generally no amount of lecturing, pleading or threatening will change a child’s point of view. First of all, you have to understand the causes behind the lack of motivation. Some of the causes may perhaps be lack of self esteem, low expectation from the class, lack of support from home etc. Once you have the idea of the sources of the problem then you can develop strategy to overcome it.

Motivating students is not always an easy task; it requires creative techniques. Here are some suggestions which can be consideration.

1.    Offer Choices to your students which give a sense of control rather than feeling directly controlled.

2.    Create a threat free environment.

3.    Encourage self esteem.

4.    Inspire students by introducing activities relates to them.

5.    Make goals high but attainable. Do not give task which is easy or hard; rather give a challenging task which is just above his/her capability.

6.    Invite motivators, role models etc to your class for an interaction so that they feel that they can be.

7.    Always be dependable so that students can approach you with issues and concerns.

8.    Use responsive techniques like listening, supportive, show empathy etc by which you are providing an open door for your students to give back verbally and emotionally.

9.    Find out the learning difficulties from student point of view and works together to find a way that can help the student performs better.

10. Adding fun activities into your school day can make the class room much more friendly place for all students.

Even the most well-intentioned and educated teachers sometimes lack the skills to keep kids on track, so whether you’re a new teacher or an experienced one, try using these methods to motivate your students and to encourage them to live up to their true potential.