Ideas to Help Increase Student Motivation

Ideas to Help Increase Student Motivation
 By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Nathan_C_McVeigh]Nathan C McVeigh

 When most people are presented several options for completing a task, they usually go with what they already know works best. For example, peanut butter and jelly are best spread onto a slice of toast with a knife as opposed to a fork or a whisk. In his article, "Turning on the Lights," Marc Prensky clearly communicates a "whisk" problem in the modern classroom. He determines that the lack of student motivation is a problem that can be solved as easily as replacing a whisk with a knife. In the beginning, he presents his readers with a history of the classroom and what it meant to past generations. He claims that school used to be a place of exploration and discovery. School was where children went to understand the world they lived in, because there weren't many other ways a child could learn about what was beyond their backyards.


 Later, he reveals the modern stark contrast. The modern student already knows about the world they live in. They arrive at school with the ability to discover anything, anytime. They have the Internet at their fingertips. A new learning channel is only an arrow button away on the remote control. A question is only a cell phone call away. A history lesson is taught with the latest Xbox, PS3, RPG, and XYZ. In his own words, "Kids today are connected to the entire world around the clock, in real time, through their media and their myriad personal devices" (Prensky, 40-45). Students aren't motivated because they are thrown into the same old box everyone else considers to be the "one that works best." When teachers today tell students to "think outside the box," they assume each student stands on the same foundation of understanding and learning as they do. They assume that students respond in their minds with, "OK, let's look at this concept from another angle. What would happen if I do this? Oh, wow. That was neat." These teachers might be surprised to learn that each student, instead, thinks, "Sure, I'll think outside the box alright. Just as soon as I get out of this drab cube of a building." Education, for so long, has been viewed as an egg, where teachers are supposed to know just where every students' "soft spot" is, how to gently crack it, and how to bring the yolks out of their shells. But according to Prensky, this isn't how to motivate students. He wants educators to allow a more innate process to occur. In keeping with the analogy, he says to let students break out of their own shell in "the way they already know how," so to speak. In other words, students are motivated by what already intrigues them. Prensky is careful to point out that these "eggs" are, unfortunately, too often "beaten by a whisk." Students, in a recipe that calls for them to be adaptable and prepared for the future, are unable to reach their potential because of old-fashioned teaching techniques. They've been forced out of their shell, and told what to think, instead of allowed to learn how to respond to their environment in order to know how to think. He illustrates with "dessert" by saying, "School instruction is still mostly cookie cutter and one size fits all, despite the fact that we live in an era of customization-students continually customize their buddy lists, photos, ring tones, cell phone skins, Web sites, blogs, and MySpace and Facebook accounts" (Prensky, 40-45). In an effort to alleviate this problem, he suggests four ways to motivate students, and thus alter the "old-fashioned recipe." These include 1) using more [http://www.usnews.com/education/technology-in-the-classroom]technology in the classroom, 2) finding out how students want to be taught, 3) connecting students to the real world as often as possible, and 4) understanding where students are going. [http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar08/vol65/num06/Turning-On-the-Lights.aspx]Prensky's article made so much sense to me. I was fortunate to travel to Australia as a student ambassador and see face-to-face what I had always seen in books. Through simple interaction I was able to understand the perspectives of the people who lived there and was excited to realize we weren't much different. The times I've been most motivated to learn were when I wanted to discover something for myself with the resources that were at my disposal, and not when I was forced to by any particular method. Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Ideas-to-Help-Increase-Student-Motivation&id=8952116] Ideas to Help Increase Student Motivation