1. Lets Get Motivated! Demetrius Long University of Cincinnati, (Middle-Childhood Education)
Introduction
The purpose of this study was to see how do we as educators motivate students to be involved in classroom activities, and how do we make class interesting (fun). I began to get interested in this topic because I came from a urban public school district and coming from there I realized that a lot of students are not motivated and don’t like class because they feel it is boring. So I want to find a way to motivate students to want to learn.
Professional Implications
With this information I feel as a professional educator I can use it to help my students be engaged in the classroom. I feel that if I create a relationship with everyone of my students and realize that they are all different and get to know them then I will have a very successful classroom. I feel that teachers should create and environment that makes the child feel cared for like a parent would for their children. AlsoI feel that if I give students games and fun ways to learn information they will be more willing to participate in my classroom and feel comfortable answering questions and getting good grades while also learning the curriculum. I know when I was in school I loved the teachers that would give us the information to us in a way that was easy to understand and in a fun way. Also I want to let my students know that it is okay to have fun and learn at the same time.
Methods
I did my observations at Hughes high school, which is a Cincinnati public school. Hughes is located near campus and is a urban area school. In this school most of the population consist of African-American students. Through these observations I noticed that a lot of students don’t participate in the classroom activities because they feel that they are boring. When I asked a student why they never participated he answered “because this class is boring.” Then when I asked him what should the teacher do that will make the class fun the student responded “play games that are fun.” The teacher began to play jeopardy with students and I began to see the difference more students were participating and were excited to answer questions.
Research Question
How do you create an environment in your classroom where the student wants to learn? (incorporating fun into the classroom)
Results
In this research study we found out that teacher-student relationships are critical for a student to be motivated and attentive in class because a student puts there trust into a teacher that feels that care about them. Also when teachers show pedagogy caring students are proven to be more motivated to participate in class and activities.
Background Literature
In many studies that were taken it was proven that student to teacher relationships were a factor that contributes to student motivation and willingness to study the material and be motivated to learn. In one particular study titled “Student Motivation in Middle School:The Role of Perceived Pedagogical Caring” that I researched was a study taken of 248 middle school students who were followed from 6th to 8th grade. The goal of the study was to prove that perceived care from teachers predicted motivational outcomes. Studies of teacher characteristics and Teacher-student relationships have not been frequent with young adolescents in middle school. However transitions from elementary to middle school often result in high levels of mistrust between students to teachers, student perceptions that teachers no longer care about them, and a decrease in opportunities for
students to establish meaningful relationships with teachers. In the study the outcome was that the teachers being supportive and caring about the students actually did show an improvement of the students grades and motivation in class.
References
The Role of Perceived Pedagogical Caring
Kathryn R. Wentzel
University of Maryland College Park