Motivation The willingness to expand a certain amount of effort to achieve a particular goal (Burwell, 2008) Engagement Student engagement is generally viewed as the degree to which a student feels involved or connected in a variety of educationally related activities (Jagannathan, & Blair, 2013) As a parent, i find myslef trying to keep my kids motivated about learning new things and engaged in that particular thing we are doing or learning. It hit me today while my son went off and found a pen and paper pad, he came and sat next to me at the ktichen table and said ”I’m going to write sight words mom”. This surprised me and at the same time made me proud that he wanted to do this. I said a word for him to write out and he did, i quickly praised him. His face lit up and he was eager to continue, so i stepped in and began to write sentences using the sight words i knew he recognized. The first sentence was four words and he read it without any hesitation. I shouted and praised him letting him know he is a big boy for reading a full sentence. I continued by the third sentence a bit more difficult sight words, he started to get frustrated and wanted to stop. That’s when it came to me that as a parent I do not want him to give up but should I push him to read if he has shut down?

Rewards are extrinsic – learner engages in an activity to earn a reward that is not inherently related to the activity (Burwell, 2008). Intrinsic motivation- learner engages in activity because it produces inherently positive consequences such as becoming more knowledgeable, competent and independent (Burwell, 2008). I would consider myself to be both extrinsic and intrinsic learner. As I look back to when trying to make my decision to return to school, my motivation was to show my kids that even though all these adversities their mom completed school and got her degree. While taking these courses, I find myself motivated and engaged to learn and explore in depth the new things I'm learning. Lately what is keeping me motivated is not wanting to fail or give up. Facing each assignment with the goal to learn something new and be able to apply it in my daily life provides a more focused driven mommy.

Take a look through this Blog, interesting enough Melissa Fabrega also explains the candle problem similar to Dan Pink video.

Maslow Hierarchy of Needs Maslow suggests students must be shown that they are valued and respected in the classroom and the teacher should create a supportive environment…Students with a low self-esteem will not progress academically at an optimum rate until their self-esteem is strengthened (Mcloud, 2014). Educators have an important role to keep students motivated at the task and engaged to successfully learn what is being presented. When educators have the ability and accessibility to incorporate technology and use creative activities this can promote a higher chance that students will be effective learners. There are those students that have major difficulties and cannot be at the same level as others, so educators must be aware and make connections with those students to feel that they belong.

QUESTION? What challenges are you currently facing to keep students motivated and engaged? If your were able to incorporate one thing in your classroom to help motivate/engage your students, what would it be? why? Thank You all for stopping by!

References 1 st slide image retrieved from 2 nd slide image retrieved from 3 rd slide Image retrieved from d28&ss=sub&st=tab&ptb=E4CACFCF-C206-4F4F C9EF5CF5BF7&si=137158XXX30341&tpr=ss- hs&searchfor=intrinsic+vs+extrinsic+motivation&pn=2&ots= &imgs=1p&filter=on&imgDetail =true 4 th slide image retrieved from Clip Art 5 th slide image retrieved from real-life-illustration/ real-life-illustration/ Burwell. (Dec 02, 2008) Motivation retrieved from Fabrega, Melissa. (nd) Motivate Yourself By Appealing to Your Intrinsic Motivation retrieved from Jagannathan, U., & Blair, R. (2013). Engage the disengaged. Distance Learning, 10(4), 1-7 McLeod Saul. (2007, updated 2014) Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs retrieved from