Implementing motivation strategies in the classroom

Kalits o’zlar: motivatsiya, talabalar, o’quvjarayoni, akademik yuksalish, maqsadlar.
A major goal of formal education should be to equip students with the intellectual tools, self-beliefs, and self-regulatory capabilities to educate themselves throughout their lifetime.
Bandura (1993, p. 136)
There are general issues that must be thought about and resolved or they may become barriers to implementation of motivation strategies in the classroom. As teachers, although we value student motivational qualities such as effort and self control, we may not think it is our job to teach them. We often focus on these qualities only from a negative viewpoint (e.g., “Students don’t try, they don’t have goals” Sockett,1988). The flip side is, “What am I going to do help these students develop adaptive motivational beliefs and strategies?” This aspect is often neglected or it is assumed that these qualities are unteachable. Murphy and Alexander (2000) examined motivational terminology in the current literature and concluded “the most compelling perception is the number of motivational constructs significantly linked to students’ academic growth and development” [p.44]. The important point is the extent to which teachers see these constructs as susceptible to instructional intervention. We have seen that teachers can influence many factors that affect motivation.
Reform movementshave devoted little attention to the importance of student motivation [Meece&McColskey, 1997; R.S.Weinstein, 2002]. Weinstein argued that motivation is important if students are to rise to the expectations of higher standards, and as an educational outcome in it’s own right. In the short term, it may seem that valuable time would be taken from content needed to pass the test. However, if the absence of qualities such as effort, goals, and study strategies interfere with students’ academic progress, then our option is to teach students the tools they need. As Weinstein stated, “to cope successfully in a changing world, one must want to learn and know how to learn” [6, p.76].
Roderick and Engel’s [2001] findings and conclusions provide insight into the role of student effort in high-stakes testing and the influence of teachers.
•Effort. Student effort was an important predictor of outcomes on the test. As the researchers cautioned, if the responsibility for achievement and goals of the reform are placed solely on students, the students with lowest skills are particularly placed in jeopardy.
•Social context. The mechanism through which motivation translated into substantive work effort was dependent on the degree of collective responsibility for learning that teachers were able to create in their classrooms and convey to students.
•Role of teachers. Teachers influenced students’ perception of the task and their motivation in other ways. They helped students understand the purpose of the standards and did not assume that low-achieving students will necessarily respond negatively to a strong emphasis on achievement. Also, the teachers helped students feel supported with a sense of efficacy for achieving their goals [1, p. 273-274]
The beginning of the academic year is the time to set the framework for a motivation climate for all students. The basic framework for optimal motivation and engagement is established at this time and it includes expectations, beliefs about ability and effort, a climate that supports a sense of membership, task components that foster engagement, and the incentive and grading system. This is the time to discuss adaptive motivation processes with students, attributions for success and failure, the meaning of effort in your class, views of intelligence, and the importance of learning strategies.
Maintaining the focus on learning in the context of standards and high-stakes testing presents motivational challenges for teachers and students. Motivation to learn and commitment to education are crucial elements in education reform. The successful implementation of motivation strategies depends a great deal on the teacher’s motivation. Motivational characteristics of teacher efficacy, goal setting, risk taking, volition, and persistence are especially important for carrying out a plan of action.