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The carrot and stick approach- how to

motivate our students to learn?


Mgr Justyna Borowska

Motivation- what does it mean exactly?


Motivation is literally the desire
to do things. It's the crucial
element in setting
and attaining goals.
- goal/direction,
- effort,
- effectiveness,
- satisfaction.

Types of motivation
Intrinsic motivation refers to taking some
action for the sake of enjoyment or the
satisfaction that you receive.
Extrinsic motivation refers to taking some
action for external factors.

How does it change during the years?


6 yrs old- autotelic
motivation
7-10 yrs oldcomparing to the peers

11 yrs old & upsynthetic motivation

What are motivating factors?

curiosity,
ambition,
possibility of getting bad/good grade,
practical thing like getting a diploma,
possibility of using the knowledge in real life,
constant need of being the best,
praises.

What are demotivating factors?


-

high expectations,
ignoring childs need,
comparing to other students/siblings,
methods of learning,
difficult subject + lack of help,
judging child (as a person) instead of judging
childs behavior,
- childs lack of faith,
- the fear and anxiety of being judged.

The Twelve Factors of Motivation


1.
-

Positive attitude towards children, raise childs self-esteem.


Stop using word no when talking to your child,
criticize childs behavior, not your child as a person (You are slob;
Youve made a lof of mess),
balance your child self-esteem Maybe youre not the best at math, but
your reading and writing skills are great!

I like the way youre working on a task.


Youre getting better, keep trying.
I admire your effort.
Thank you for being ready to work.
Good thinking/planning/learning!
What a great idea!
You should be proud!
You've got what it takes!
How original/nice/smart!
You made it happen!

Descriptive praise
Descriptive praise is when you tell your child exactly what it is that
you like.
Thank you for remembering to hang your coat on the peg.
Descriptive praise is best for boosting self-esteem and building
good behavior.
You might praise a younger child for having a go at tying his own
shoelaces. You can praise teenagers for coming home at an agreed
time.
You can also use encouragement before and during an activity.
Show me how well you can put your toys away
A. Praise the strategy (You found a really good way to do it.)
B. Praise with specificity (You seem to really understand fractions.)
C. Praise effort (I can tell you've been practicing.)
D. Praise the process, not the person (Youre creative)
F. Keep it real!

2. Encourage your child to reflect on learning.


Give your child feedback after the work.
What helped me today? Which part was the most difficult, why?
Have I reached the goal? What can I do better next time?

3. Appreciate the process, not the result.


How many points did you get today on spelling test?
How was your day at school, what have you learned today?
The best reward for our children is the appreciation of the parent.
Stop focusing on the mistakes, because it will take away the self-satisfaction.
4. Sincere engagement.
Dont hesitate to show your child that youre worried:
Ive noticed that recently youre unprepared to school. I expect that you will
be preparing for classes. If you do not understand school task, I will be
happy to help you.
5. Express your feelings, especially when your child is dealing with school failure.
Dont deny your childs feelings (Its nothing or Nothing happened).
Tell your child that the failure is a part of the education.
I can see that youre really sad todaythat youre disappointed

6. Give a choice, ask open question.


Is you homework done, are you prepared for school?
You can do the homework now and then play with your siblings or do it
later, but you wont see the cartoon.
You gave up your tennis lesson to play on a computer, can you tell me what
was the reason of this decision?
By exploring your kids behavior, you can help them understand their choices.
7.Use the consequence, not the punishment.
If you dont do homework,
youll not get an ice-cream. punishment
If you dont do homework,
youll go to school unprepared. consequence
8. Offering prizes before the task.
The problem is promising prizes before they start a job, not rewarding itself.
When children know that they are doing something for the prize, they do not
try as much as when they work for pleasure. You also decline their interest in
action (intrinsic motivation).

9. Pressing the pressure.


There is a difference of opinion between parents and children about
behavior perceived as exerting pressure and behavior seen as support.
Problems of motivation can result from disproportion between the forms
of support and the need for it (eg. extra activities). Proposing another
attractive forms of activity sometimes causes more harm than good.

10. Show the sense in education.


Children will be happy to make an effort if they know what is the purpose
of the task. The role of the adult is to show the meaning of the task.
Learn English, because youll get a better job in the future. (the
perspective is too distant).
Learn English, because your auntie from England will bring you new
game and youll have to read the manual in English.

It is really important to provide your child the


answer to the following questions:
WHY SHOULD I LEARN THIS?
WHERE WILL I BE ABLE TO USE THE
KNOWLEDGE?

11. Supporting controlling


I have to control him/her, otherwise
Excessive control deprives the child of responsibility for learning. You
should teach your child to work independently. In the process of learning
self-control plays an important role. The child should discover mistakes
and correct them.
The child will believe in their own abilities when you give him/her a
chance to overcome difficulties and put an effort and energy into task.
When your child forgets something, let him suffer the consequences and
encourage them to draw conclusions.
You can enter into contract with older child:
From now on I wont remind you about doing your homework. Youre
mature and I believe that you can plan your work. You can always count
on my help.
12. Threatening.
If you threaten your child with punishments or use power to get him to
comply, he will simply become more defensive and resists even more.

Self-Perception Theory
If our behavior does not bring any visible, external
effects, we tend to look for its causes in us, in our
interests. We think that we wanted to act this way.
If the external effects of our behavior is easy to see, its
causes will be seen in external circumstances.

If you read a book for pleasure, you will think that you
like to read. However, if you read the book, because it
is required for the exam, then the external cause of
your behavior is easy to find.

How to motivate our students?

WE MOTIVATE OUR STUDENTS TO LEARN BY:


Organizing educational trips, watching valuable movies, going to the
museum, showing the school material in a different way,

Teaching how to use computer, television programs (alternative ways of


learning)

Encouraging to ask questions, sharing your knowledge, exchanging


experiences,

Teaching them to think independently (I can do it myself or I can try),

Encouraging critical thinking,

Responding to the needs (fatigue, discouragement, boredom),

Helping them with dealing with failure (failure as a normal step on the
road to improvement),

Giving the child clear and specific requirements.

How to teach them/help them work?


Sit down with your child at home- feel free, speak clearly, eagerly.
Ask all children to learn at the same time.
Limit distractions.
Remind information that the student begins to forget.
Do not be ashamed to admit that there is something you do not
know.
Be patient, take time for your child.
Evaluate objectively (praise for a real effort).
Treat education as a challenge (show that it is worthwhile doing
something new).
Treat education as a form of fun, be creative.

What is forbidden?

Comparing with peers, siblings,


Giving regular awards,
Serving ready-made solutions,
Overtaking school material.

INSTRUCTION- how to do homework


with your child?

1. Set up the time of doing homework or arrange a permanent signal (I always sit
down to do homework when my mother is done with washing dishes.).
2. Doing homework should take place relatively soon after school. All pleasure
must be passed after homework. Stable schedule will help your child to learn to
mobilize.
3. ,, Empty desk ".
4. Go through the notebooks, books, pay attention to the notes given by the
teacher (connected with present homework or previous one), make a plan.
5. We start with something easy, because we need a success. You know your child
best- remember about different learning styles (!).
6. We work in stages until the child is able to concentrate. When our work is not
effective- do a short break.

7. Finish doing homework with packing the backpack.

Helping teenagers
Check together homework.
Find out what is the deadline for the project.

Check whether the child needs special preparation (access to


a computer) or special materials.
Check whether the task should be carried out for several days
and whether the child has already started work. You might
want to prepare a plan for the next days.

Find out if the teenager knows material for a class test and
whether it is worthwhile to do a similar test at home.

Types of intelligence

Lecture
5%
Reading 10%
Audiovisual
methods 20%

Presentation 30%
Discusion in a group 40%
Role-playing 70%
Learning others 90%

justyna.borowska@isop.pl

THANK YOU!

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