The Motivating Classroom

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I believe that anyone who has spent any time in a classroom will agree without hesitation that to teach a child who is unmotivated can be a most futile experience. Without motivation there is no learning. Hence, people who embrace teaching as their life calling understand that a significant part of a teacher’s job is to motivate students to learn. They seek to acquire the skills of motivating because they  understand that  a truly natural motivator is rare.  To successfully motivate a child or an entire classroom of children a person has to understand the complexities in the elaborate motivation process.

Ideally, a master teacher sees each child as unique, each one having a special cognitive profile and personality. In his statement, Chanoch L’nar Al Pi Darko, Shlomo Hamelech addresses individuality and charges all future generations to motivate and educate according to the ways of each child. For a classroom setting, the dictum of Shlomo HaMelech speaks to differentiating instruction and motivational strategies according to the needs of each student in a class.

In his book The Motivation Breakthrough, Dr. Richard Lavoie speaks about eight basic motivational forces that inspire all human beings to action and sustained effort.  He recommends that teachers take the time to determine the motivational style for each student in the class. He presents an assessment tool that can flesh out an individual’s behaviors, traits and temperament that matches certain classroom activities  to his motivational style.

However, the classroom environment that the vast majority of our children find themselves in for 15 years from preschool through high school can potentially negate any motivational approach used no matter how individualized and tailor made it is. Therefore, it’s not enough to motivate AL PI DARKO. To successfully motivate children to learn there needs to be a two pronged approach, AL PI DARKO and the MOTIVATING CLASSROOM.

The MOTIVATING CLASSROOM is an environment where general methods and approaches that tend to motivate and inspire most children regardless of their unique learning and motivational style, personality and affinities are employed. These strategies are the fundamental ingredients in any learning situation. They do not focus on modifying the child or getting him to adapt to situations or environments. Rather they are designed to make adjustments in the learning atmosphere. These techniques are sound field-tested strategies and policies that will provide the student with the drive and impetus to learn.  In other words, the MOTIVATING CLASSROOM earns its title by being free from all factors that negatively impact a child’s desire to perform well. It allows educators to eliminate teacher and classroom issues as impacting student performance.

Thomas L. Good and Jere E. Brophy presented research in their book Looking in Classroomsthat profiles an example of a teacher practice that negatively impacts children’s desire to perform well in a classroom environment.  They discovered that teachers seem to treat low-achieving students differently than students who are more academically competent. Their behavior includes giving less praise and feedback; they tend to interrupt them more often; seat them away from the class epicenter; call on them less often and give them less time  to respond to questions. These teachers’ behaviors are in response to the child’s lack of progress but may indeed contribute to his chronic failure.

The Good and Brophy research underscores several of many possible teacher behaviors that could negatively impact the learning environment for children. To be fair to children who are experiencing difficulties, teachers should audit the classroom environment to determine if anything they are doing or, other factor is impacting their performance. To overlook environmental factors is a short sighted analysis of a child’s problem.

Dr. Richard Lavoie proposes that the MOTIVATIONAL CLASSROOM reflects six areas of emphasis or the 6 C’s: Creativity, Community, Clarity, Coaching, Conferencing and Control.

CREATIVITY: Today’s teachers must be cognizant that our students exist in a highly visual world. Technology has strengthened the connection between memory and visual input. Teachers should capitalize on this by greater use of visual aids to include pictures, charts, graphs and technology like overhead projectors, power point presentations and Smart Boards. Teachers should enhance daily lessons with greater variety and creativity.

COMMUNITY: A classroom that has a community orientation is an environment where the teacher is an effective CONNECTOR- developing a true kesher with each student. There is a well-known cliché in the field of Health Care that is appropriate for teachers and students. Before clients care how much you know, they must know how much you care. The teacher is the decisive element for creating a community environment through his kesher of care and nurturing. Students find joy in school when they feel connected to their teacher and the classroom. The teacher brings this relationship about by consistently communicating care and concern in every verbal and non-verbal action. 

Teachers of a COMMUNITY/CONNECTOR-KESHER oriented classroom employs strategies for enhancing inclusion, responsiveness to student academic needs, enhancing classroom safety and meeting students’ physical needs.

Creating a classroom of inclusion requires that the teacher train students to be tolerant and empathetic which includes consistent modeling of those behaviors. Further, it calls upon the teacher to model behaviors like greeting students at the door of the classroom, displaying strong listening skills when talking to students, attending students out of class activities including visits to the lunchroom, school yard and out of school programs, careful to criticize only in private, appropriate praise in public, acknowledge student progress and accomplishment, acknowledge special events in the lives  of the children, avoid humiliation, ridicule, impatience, anger and use student names often and in a variety of situations.

Creating a classroom of responsiveness to student academic needs strongly suggests that teachers seek to differentiate instruction and expectations and to accommodate individual student needs.

Creating a classroom which is a safe secure environment is to ensure that every child feels safe to take risks without fear of embarrassment or bullying. That children have confidence that their  teacher will protect them and that teachers rarely if ever yell at students.

Creating a classroom which meets students physical needs requires that teachers satisfy any student physical need in a timely fashion.

CLARITY: It is critical for students to clearly understand all expectations that the teacher has for them through out the school day both in and out of the classroom. Children like adults are more secure in an environment that the rules ,policies and procedures are clear and understood. When there is a lack of understanding children are likely to be confused which can lead to discomfort and anxiety. It can cause teachers to be negative towards students who are not following the rules. The lack of clarity can lead to greater tension in the classroom which will negate the highly positive environment needed for the room to attain the lofty title of a MOTIVATING CLASSROOM.

To achieve a classroom of clarity, teachers need to make sure that all expectations, rules, procedures and operating principles are clearly and carefully communicated, taught, practiced when necessary, periodically reviewed and changed when necessary. All directions and instructions are given clearly and concisely in multi-modalities.

COACHING: Richard Lavoie considers the art of coaching to be a discipline that the teaching profession should liberally borrow from. He considers the key point in coaching a team is the need for every player to be successful in order for the team to win. In other words the community mentality is critical to the success of the team. There are two aspects to needing every player to be successful. One, the team is only as strong as its weakest link. The opposing side can zero in on the player who is weak and defeat them despite the talent of other players. Secondly, A player who is not successful can negatively impact other players  leading to a less than satisfactory performance. On the other hand, a team where all players are performing at their best with the most positive attitude, will create an energy that can propel a team to succeed well beyond its apparent capability.

Dr. Lavoie proposes that teachers see their classes not as a room full of individuals but a team, that each member needs every other member to succeed. It requires the teacher to have the attitude that he is fully responsible for each child’s success. Therefore he needs to know and understand all aspects of each child including learning and motivational profiles. He needs to design individual student goals along with group and class goals, and he needs to constantly evaluate and assess his students.

Finally, the teacher needs to instill in his students a strong sense of team where each member of the class celebrates the successes of his classmates and are prepared to lend a hand when a classmate is in need of help.

CONFERENCING: One-to-one teacher/student conferencing has tremendous value for enhancing student motivation. Normally, teachers reserve this strategy for a time to reprimand or to deal with a crisis. In actuality, conferencing can serve as a proactive method to preventing problems from arising. It can help teachers and students to develop a better understanding of each other’s viewpoints and needs. It can serve to motivate student achievement by providing students with ongoing and meaningful positive reinforcement.

CONTROL: Children have a natural tendency to exert some degree of control over their environment. Ultimately, the cause for much friction and conflict between adults and children is the failure of both sides to understand the needs of the other- the children’s need to control their destiny and the adults need to protect and guide.

Adults must gain a better understanding of each child’s control issues if they are to motivate the student to reach his fullest potential. We need to

recognize that children don’t wish to take any of our power, rather they just wants a bit of their own.  Furthermore, children, naturally, wish to do things they enjoy and avoid things that they don’t like or are not good at. Essentially, the child is looking for control in order to avoid failure, anxiety and embarrassment. Therefore, children are more likely to be motivated in an environment in which they are occasionally allowed to make choices and decisions. When they are given appropriate choices in strategic situations, they are more likely to be responsive and cooperative than in situations where the adults are the sole decision maker.

THE MOTIVATING CLASSROOM that encompasses the 6 C’s is essential for teachers to successfully motivate all children to reach their fullest potential. Upon contemplation of these concepts and strategies and their implementation, one should keep in mind the famous saying of Haim Ginott in his book Between Teacher and Child.

 I have come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in my classroom. It is my personal approach that creates the climate. It is my daily mood that makes the weather. As a teacher, I possess tremendous power to make a child’s life miserable or joyous…

It is purported that the Chazon Ish said that we must view every child as a Safek Gadol HaDor.In that light we must make every effort and leave no stone unturned to reach each child we teach, motivate them to apply themselves and guide them to their fullest potential.