8 Actionable Strategies For Increasing K12 Student Motivation And Engagement
Every year, the students get less and less involved in the classwork. They are bored at the lesson, don’t like the teacher, consider a new topic uninteresting, and so on and so on. The situation got even worse due to digital learning without personal communication.
One of the most important factors for successful learning right now is proper student motivation. Unfortunately, there is no magic formula for this, since each children’s team is individual. However, there is something that unites today’s youth. So check a couple of ways that will definitely work in the article below.
A few words about motivation
What traditionally motivates a child to study? Good marks, approval, success. Encouragement of parents and teachers, gifts and bonuses, the prospect of getting ahead or catching up with peers, and of course fear.
Also, the motivation of students and their attitude to learning is influenced by the joy of knowledge, a desire for achievement and self-development, self-confidence, consciousness, and persistence.
Therefore, the teacher can have a significant impact on student motivation through:
- subject content (for example, structured or chaotic);
- various active methods and forms of education;
- feedback;
- the nature of the relationship with the child;
- own enthusiasm.
What strategies will help in motivating and engaging students?
#1. Ask students about their expectations
Students will be more ready to do their best to gain your respect if they believe you are really engaged in earning theirs. Inquiring into what makes a successful teacher in their view and trying your best to match their descriptions can demonstrate to students that you’re truly interested in what they say.
#2. Apply gamification
Gamification exploits students’ natural tendencies to compete, collaborate, and achieve. This technique motivates students to achieve goals and increase productivity. Involvement tools can include levels to be overcome, rewards, and ratings.
It is worth distinguishing between gamification and game learning. The gaming approach is learning within a specific game, and gamification is the application of gaming techniques in everyday processes to eliminate a lack of motivation.
#3. Let students make a mistake
Active learning is primarily about the students’ activity, their ability to ask questions, express their opinion – and here the behavior of the teacher is fundamental. If teachers conservatively demand only “correct” and memorized answers from lectures and books, then the students will not dare to show their incompetence and share their opinion, which means they will remain passive in the classroom.
Therefore, it is crucial to give students the chance to make mistakes in order to learn, move from ignorance to knowledge with the support of a teacher. This is quite difficult to implement in a flow of 100-150 people, but in this case, it is worth dividing students into groups and looking for options to stimulate their activity.
#4. Show more, talk less
It is always better to show students how things work than to spend hours trying to explain something. One minute of video equals 1.8 million words. While with text we force our brain to imagine words, videos immediately show them.
If you want students to get to grips with particularly complex topics ASAP, try to simplify the content and convert it into visual and engaging animations or clips. To create one, use a free video editor with no watermark.
#5. Use social media
Teenagers love TikTok and Instagram. So why not use these social networks?
In addition to explaining things through videos, social media can even cultivate a sense of community that makes students feel like part of something bigger.
#6. Address to pop culture
Use lyrics and movie teasers to teach students something. Did you know that the American pop group “History Teachers” performs a cover version of Lady Gaga’s song “Bad Romance” on the theme of the French Revolution? Students, especially high school ones, will clearly be much more interested in this kind of learning than watching a dull PowerPoint presentation.
And of course, teenagers just adore memes. Create them in any meme generator or photo editor and use funny pics whenever you see fit to break the ice between you and the students even more.
#7. Give objective feedback
Instead of grading a student’s performance, use an alternative solution. Give them objective feedback that gives them the way to improve. Also, give comprehended praise that helps students understand what they are doing right.
“You’re smart” can actually lower motivation in the long term, as kids who get this kind of praise are reluctant to try anything that might dissuade people from being smart. So think about other more effective feedback.
Also, give feedback timely. You must understand how important it is to get feedback throughout the activity, and not just at the end when there is no way to improve something. Use comments in Google Docs or student response tools to allow students to improve and maximize learning potential.
#8. Delegate
Entrust students with their learning. Delegate your power to find and present information to students: let them work in pairs or groups, have discussions, inspiring projects, or a full discussion in which you will act as a moderator to jointly search and approve the optimal solution.
Wrap up
Motivation is critical to learning success. Thanks to the development of technology and current events, we have incredible tools that can significantly increase student motivation and engagement.
Feel free to experiment and find out what works for you. And remember, the learning process is a team game. When students understand that the teacher is interested in their development, that in the school space we learn from each other, that there is no competition and enmity, they begin to be active and become more motivated.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates
