Motivating students in the moments that matter
It’s October and, for some, the sparkle of the new school year has dimmed and routines have become, well, routine. The damp, chilly weather makes it more difficult to get out from under the warm blankets in the morning, and both educators and students alike are feeling the gray skies slide into our attitudes and moods. So, here I sit, on a Sunday evening, under a blanket as I prepare for the school week, wondering where that first month of school energy and motivation has gone.
As I feel my own motivation waning, I’m seeing evidence of this in my students as well. Attendance has declined, students are missing deadlines, and some have growing lists of missing assignments. It’s clear that in my Freshman English classes, the novelty of a new school is gone and the reality of high school-level rigor (or rigor mortis, as one clever student called it) has set in.
Student motivation is a never-ending topic of conversation in the teacher lounge, at teacher team meetings, and at staff professional development - Why aren’t students engaged? Why is attendance so low? Why aren’t students handing in their work? Why is it that the athletes can’t meet deadlines until it’s grade-check day? While these are multi-faceted, complex questions, one likely element that students are missing is motivation.
I experienced an interaction with a student-athlete just today. The student emailed to let me know they turned in an assignment that was due three weeks ago and wanted to know if I would grade it, as they would be suspended from the next game if their grade doesn’t go up. It has me thinking - what motivates the athlete, but not the student? The love of the sport outweighs any effort in class. Clearly, for this student, the sport is motivation to be in time, just not on time.
So, how do we motivate students in the moments that matter? In class, while the learning is fresh and the opportunity for excellence is right there in front of them? Seasoned teachers often say they’ve tried everything. Over my twenty years as a high school English teacher, I feel like I’ve used and exhausted all the “tried and true” methods. As a new teacher, before I knew better, I used things like writing names on the board, assigning detention during which I would attempt to have the student complete missing work, and I would leave messages for parents. What I found was that punitive responses not only didn’t motivate the students, they actually pushed them further away and sometimes escalated negative behaviors, leaving me battling even more challenges.
After realizing that punishment wasn’t motivating students, I shifted to rewards. I gave candy to students who were paying attention and raising their hands. I wrote affirmations on sticky notes and put them on desks when I noticed a student who was engaged in their work, and I wrote positive emails and cards home to let parents know of the moments the students were engaging. What I discovered then was that this didn’t motivate the students who weren’t doing the work, it just rewarded those who were. I was still not motivating many in my class to engage in learning. And, I’m pretty sure that I ate half the candy that was in the desk drawer.
I was throwing the metaphorical spaghetti at the wall, but nothing was sticking, and I was losing my own motivation. I had to shift my mindset and get curious. I truly believe that all behavior, even no behavior, is communication. So, what are students communicating when they have no motivation? I found some answers in the research of Psychologists Edward Deci and Richard Ryan who have been studying intrinsic and extrinsic motivation since the 1970s. In their 2017 paper, Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness, the authors identify three main factors of intrinsic motivation: competence, relatedness, and autonomy.
So, as I sit here wondering where my own motivation is, I am also wondering if I’m even planning my lessons with student motivation in mind - or has my planning routine become an old routine?.
To shake off the grey of fall that has weighed my own motivation down, I want to start asking new questions in an effort to be intentional about identifying areas of competence, a sense of relatedness, and student autonomy into every lesson and activity I plan. Maybe I can shine new light into the lessons and help students find their own intrinsic motivation, especially in these times where the novelty has worn off.
I hope that you’ll take this journey with me as I explore and rethink what motivation means not just in my own life, but in my classroom.
Here are some guiding questions I’m going to ask myself as I work to adjust my practice to intentionally plan for motivation:
COMPETENCE (“The need to feel effective in one’s ongoing interactions with the social environment and to experience opportunities to exercise and express one’s capacities.”)
Have I broken the task into manageable steps so that success feels achievable?
Is the level of challenge in this lesson appropriately matched to students’ current abilities (not too easy, not overwhelming)?
Am I anticipating and removing unnecessary barriers (unclear directions, inaccessible materials) that could make students feel ineffective?
Am I recognizing effort, strategies, and growth, not just correct answers?
Have I built in encouragement, affirmation, or peer support to reinforce a sense of capability?
RELATEDNESS (“The need to feel connected to others, to love and care, and to be loved and cared for.”)
Will students feel safe to take risks, ask questions, and make mistakes?
Have I considered how to honor students’ identities, cultures, and voices in the content or activities?
Have I built in opportunities for students to collaborate, share ideas, or support each other?
Does this lesson connect to students’ lives, interests, or communities in ways that make them feel it matters?
Have I anticipated any barriers (e.g., language, accessibility, prior conflict) that might prevent a student from feeling included?
AUTONOMY (“The need to self-regulate one’s experiences and actions. Autonomy refers to being the perceived origin or source of one’s behavior.”)
Have I built in opportunities for students to make meaningful choices (topics, products, partners, strategies)?
Do students have more than one pathway to show what they know?
Am I avoiding controlling or coercive language (“you must,” “you have to”) and instead framing tasks as opportunities?
Do I provide rationales when choice is limited, so students still feel respected?
Have I structured the lesson so students can ask their own questions, test ideas, or explore?
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2017). Self-determination theory: Basic psychological needs in motivation, development, and wellness. The Guilford Press. https://doi.org/10.1521/978.14625/28806
