Motivation

It is important for me to realize that my experiences in my own education may influence the way I teach today.  Although many of my elementary and high school teachers played a role in inspiring me to teach, there are moments of my education that stand out when I reflect on my schooling. A motivating experience for me was in fifth grade.  I had one of my few male teachers that year and he designed many creative, hands on learning experiences for us.  One in particular became one of my favorite school projects. We were tasked with creating a town, making a brochure to entice people to visit our town, and presenting our town to the class.  Two things stand out in my mind about this experience and I believe they are why I remember this many years later: I had freedom in the project and I was positively reinforced often.  I made many choices during this task from what the town looked like, what was in the town, how I made my brochure, and how I presented it to the class.  My teacher was very motivating the entire school year.  I remember him being an encourager who gave high fives daily.  During this project, he would ask questions about what I was doing and sometimes he would have advice or suggestions, but he always gave positive feedback.

On the other hand, an experience I remember that made me feel deflated was during my 4^th grade year.  I had to give a speech in front of my class and since I was a shy student, this task alone was threatening to me.  I didn’t feel prepared for my speech at all which added to my fear.  The expectations of the assignment were not clear to me and I wanted more time to prepare.  I asked my teacher for more time, but she did not allow it.  The way I remember her response (which may or may not be completely accurate, but this is how I felt) was she was short and firm.  She was a strict teacher and sometimes her tone of voice was off putting to me, so this response did not surprise me but it made me even more nervous to give my speech.  When I gave my speech, she did not smile at me at all; instead she stood with her arms crossed in the back of the room.  I did not get a good grade on my speech and there was not one positive remark on my grade sheet.  I felt like I never wanted to give a speech again after that experience.  It wasn’t until the following year that my confidence began to grow and I became more comfortable speaking in front of the class or even asking a question in class.

As I reflect on these experiences now, they can help me become a better teacher.  My fifth grade teacher effectively gave positive feedback. This is something I vividly remember to this day and would like to emulate in my classroom.  His entire demeanor was positive; he was always smiling and gave lots of high fives and thumbs up.  Because he was so positive and encouraging, his classroom was a safe place for me to learn.  Mistakes were not a big deal; when I made a mistake, I was encouraged to try again.  I strive to create this type of learning atmosphere for my students and I know that my demeanor plays a large role in accomplishing this. 

It is so important that students have motivation or they will not learn. In order to keep my students motivated, I will avoid being too stern with them.  I believe in having structure in the classroom, but I also want my students to feel heard and understood.  I will also avoid giving assignments without clear expectations.  Students should always know exactly what is expected of them and what their learning goal is before being a learning activity.  Lastly, I will not give students a grade without positive feedback.  I remember feeling completely defeated when I saw the grade sheet from my speech and I never want one of my students to feel that way. I will make sure to always have positive feedback to give along with ways they can improve.