Child and Early Adolescent Development and Psychology (Motivation Article)

Motivation When someone hears the word motivation, what does it really mean to them? Motivation helps to energize and sustain behavior (Ormrod, 2014). Motivation is needed to sustain everyone daily. Teachers and students both need motivation. Motivation is a driving force that helps students to learn and perform better in an academic setting. In this article, student’s motivation and performance enhancement, intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, motivation factors, motivation strategies and teacher effectiveness will be discussed. Student Motivation A motivated child is a child who becomes limitless in their capabilities. Motivation is very important in a child’s life and in their educational goals. An educator’s goal should be to enhance the performance of every child and motivate them to their full potential. When it comes to the child’s performance, motivation keeps them focused and balanced. When children are not motivated, they can easily lose track of their goals and the goal that need to be accomplished. For example, if a child does not like to read much, the teacher should find books on subjects the child enjoys reading. The teacher should read to the child often and make books available to the student with topics they enjoy. Reading these interesting stories to the child and allowing the child to act out some of the story can make reading fun for the child. Some students do not realize how fun reading can be, until they begin to read things that are interesting and stimulating to their mind. Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation “Intrinsic motivation refers to engaging in a task for its own inherent rewards whereas, extrinsic motivation refers to engaging in a task in order to attain some separable outcome” (Hayenga & Corpus, 2010). A student can either be motivated intrinsically or extrinsically, but there still should be some type of motivation for their performance. For example, an intrinsic student will purpose to learn as much as they need to know about a topic because they find the work intriguing and rewarding. An extrinsic student will only do the work to avoid the consequences of not doing the work. Students will not always be motivated intrinsically, but teachers should aim to make learning as fun and meaningful to the child as possible Factors That Affect Motivation There are several factors that affect motivation. The things children are assigned to do in the classroom, how children are grouped together, and the support and time they receive are some of the factors that can affect motivation (Ormrod, 2014). Most children enjoy being given task to do in the classroom. Children should be given task that are interesting and yet challenging. These types of task will help to motivate and keep them focused on the task at hand. An example of this would be assigning the class to do research and allowing each child to choose something that is interesting to them to do their research on. The teacher can also group students with similar interest together to talk about their projects and gather different ideas from others. Children with similar interest could research certain things about their topic of interest. Teacher Strategies There are many different strategies teachers can use to help children who are not motivated. One strategy to help motivate children with development issues would be to offer the children choices to help with self-determination. Persistence can be reinforced in children who have cognitive delays. A challenging assignment for children with advanced cognitive development will help the child. Teacher Effectiveness The effectiveness of motivation from teachers is important. An example of a motivational moment from teachers could be daily motivational quotes. Words are very encouraging and uplifting. The teacher can write a quote on the board each day. She can discuss the quote and add more motivation to it by including a personal story or allowing a student to share something motivational with the class concerning the quote. In conclusion, students will rely on their teachers to get the motivation they need. Motivation is part of the teacher’s job. Motivation should always be implemented and results from the students will follow. When teachers realize that motivation greatly enhances performance, realize the intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, factors that affect motivation and teacher strategies and effectiveness then teachers can truly motivate their class.