Motivating Students

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Motivating Students

• An Academy for the Art of Teaching forum by
• Patricia Price
• Associate Professor of Geography, FIU

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Take 3 minutes to note

• What specific behaviors or attitudes do
  unmotivated students display?

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Now take another 3

• Pair with a person who you dont know already
• Introduce yourselves
• Share what you have
• Be prepared to present your partners top two

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Reframing motivation as a positive

• Students dont want to be apathetic
• Students want to actively participate
• Students want an enjoyable experience
• Students cherish instructors who make this happen

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Its part of our job

• We are not just imparters of info.
• We are also
• non-parent adults,
• role models,
• resources

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Motivated students will

• Make teaching easier more rewarding
• Get better grades
• Give better evaluations
• Carry independent learning self-motivation with
  them

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A wee caveat

• Other problems can masquerade as lack of
  motivation
• Study skills
• Struggle to balance work, family, school
• Immaturity
• Learning challenges
• Weed these out and address them

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Sooooo.what to do???
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Variety is the staff of motivation

• No magical formula
• Trial error to see what works for you
• Students motivated by many different factors
• Miami-specific issues

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Professor Prices
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1. General all purpose good teaching

• Be enthusiastic about subject
• Be organized you seem in control

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The gnat
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The attention span of the average undergraduate
student
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2. Shake it up

• Music
• Video clips
• Guest speakers
• Chat rooms
• Active learning strategies
• One-minute papers
• Think-Pair-Share
• Small groups
• Open mike
• Panel of experts

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3. Set high expectations

• Keep them realistic
• Have consequences
• Dont have everything riding on one or two exams
• Pop quizzes, field forays, map assignments

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4. Form study groups

• Force them to work in groups in class
• Form study groups by sign-up sheets
• Assign homework too big complex to be done solo

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5. Give them some control

• Choose what film to see
• What essay question to answer
• The format for todays class

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6. Build participation into the grade

• 10 of their grade in my class
• Attendance 5
• Activities turned in their choice from a menu
  5

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7. Get to know your students

• Names
• Passports (homepages created on WebCT)
• Personal chats
• Let them get to know you!

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8. Make class relevant to their lives

• Spiff up those yellowed notes!
• Do some fieldwork on your students

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Websites to visit for additional information
ideas

• http//teaching.berkeley.edu/bgd/motivate.html
• http//www.virtualsalt.com/motivate.htm
• http//tep.uoregon.edu/resources/index.html

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In small groups

• Come up with three strategies you have used, or
  would like to use, in the classroom for dealing
  with low motivational levels in students
• Did they work or not?