If I had the magic secret to motivating students 100% of the time, I’d be a billionaire. We all know that nothing works ALL the time. But when everyone is tired of the routine, motivating students is even more of a challenge. Need some ideas? Here are ten ideas to try!
1 – Communicate with students regularly and not just in whole-group sessions. Greet your students when they enter your classroom by standing at or near the door (or greeting them when they log on for remote learning). Meet with them either one-on-one or in small group sessions for instruction, enrichment, or just for a quick check-in conversation to see how they’re doing.
I am currently scheduling brief, 5-minute check-ins with each student. I am trying to have six of those check-ins each week. Then I start my list all over again. These brief interactions keep me connected to my students and help me to adjust to their needs.
Here are some examples of questions I am asking:
*How is it going with math? Science/social studies? Reading/writing?
*What is hard for you right now?
*What is easy for you right now?
*What kind of assignments or enrichment projects would you enjoy doing more?
*What are some rewards or fun things you would like to do?
2 – Allow opportunities for students to work together on projects or assignments. Allow them to work on teams when playing class games (Quizlet Live is especially fun for making random teams).
Use breakout rooms as often as possible and assign specific jobs for each member of the group. Some examples of those jobs: someone to start the conversation (we call it the “facilitator”, or the one who gets the party started!), someone to take notes on the slide or document (and share their screen if necessary), someone to keep track of time, and someone to make sure that everyone gets a chance to talk/share.
3 – Set clear expectations. Let your students know what you expect during all learning sessions. This will automatically ensure perfect behavior and participation, right?! Okay, maybe not, but it does help eliminate any of the “but I didn’t know” excuses.
When/if a student is not participating in the ways that you expect, have a private conversation with them. Tell them what you’ve noticed and ask them if something is going on that you need to know. Very often, when I come from a place of “I’ve noticed and I’m concerned about you” (instead of “Why aren’t you . . .?), I learn something about the student that helps me better respond to their needs.
4 – Set up times to have students self-assess their work habits. Then meet with them individually to discuss their self-assessment and set goals for improvement. Setting achievable, individualized goals and working to meet those goals is empowering
Here’s an example of how I did that recently. I have a capable student who doubts himself. He was not completing math assignments and was falling farther and farther behind. In the world of online learning, all of those “missing” assignments in Google Classroom were overwhelming for him.
We did three things together. 1 – we created a better schedule for him to get the things done that he needs to get done. 2 – we went through his list of missing assignments and I chose several to just “let go” and forgive. We then made a list of the assignments he absolutely does need to get done. 3 – we made a deal to make the assignments less overwhelming. He will complete three problems for each math assignment. That’s all.
As a result, he is now completing more than three problems in each assignment (because he found that once he got started, he could do more than three problems quite easily). He also has zero assignments on the list of missing assignments each week. Setting small, achievable goals worked for him.
5 – One good thing about remote learning is that it forced me to learn and use all kinds of new digital tools. Some of my newest favorites are GimKit, Actively Learn, and EdPuzzle. When we try a new tool, I ask students about the pros and cons of the tool, what would make it better next time, what they would like to change or how we could use the tool in another way.
6 – Whenever possible, allow your students to be the ones to teach! Let them create presentations about something that interests them and present it to the class. Ask students to share their tips for different skills (like managing email in a remote learning environment). Ask students to share their background knowledge or experiences. Making your classroom a collaborative learning environment is very motivating for students and is a lot more fun for you too.
7 – Send positive feedback messages to your students frequently. I keep a class list on my clipboard and put a checkmark beside each name as I send an email message. I try to name something specific that I am seeing the student do, tell them a way that their behavior is helping them, and let them know that they should be proud of what they are doing.
8 – Consider sending brief, positive messages to your students’ families as well! These are not detailed progress reports, just quick notes to let families know that their children are doing a great job.
9 – Incorporate fun rewards for your students at random times. You could do a regular “Fun Friday” event of some kind that your students can look forward to (wearing pajamas to school, bringing a stuffed animal to remote learning, having a “camping day” where students create a “campsite” to do their work for the day). Or you could choose from my list of fun games to play in Zoom or Google Meet and incorporate one of those when you have a little time and when you want to reward your students for a job well done.
10 – Finally, do what you can do to create a warm and friendly classroom community. Playing games together, watching a brief fun video on YouTube together, encouraging students to talk about their lives and interests outside of the classroom, greeting students daily and showing that you’re glad they are in your class, encouraging students to interact with each other (in games, breakout rooms, by using the chat feature, giving each other feedback on presentations, etc.) will make your classroom a place where students want to do their best work.
Did you find one thing you could try next week? I hope so! Please share your own ideas for helping to keep students motivated when they’re tired of the routine!