Q: What principles do you use to motivate students to learn? A: I recall one of my college professors discussing this topic in considerable detail. Specifically, motivation is comprised of three critical elements. First, I must always provide instruction that will ensure a measure of success for every student. That is, every student must know that she or he can achieve a degree of success with an assignment or academic task. Second, I need to create a community of learners. A community of learners is a classroom that celebrates all its members and provides a supportive, inspirational, and motivational environment. The third element that I’ve discovered leads to the motivation of students is whether or not students see a value in what they are learning. During student teaching I found that for motivation to occur, students must know the reasons, rationale, and whys of any learning task. When I provided students with specific reasons on why they needed to learn about the Articles of Confederation, for example, they were more engaged and more motivated. I want all my students to see a connection between what they learn in the classroom and their lives outside that classroom. That’s true motivation!
Many prospective teachers mistakenly believe this to be a “throw-away” question – one that anyone can answer. Not so! You need to tell the interviewer that no matter what grade or subject you plan on teaching, that you are aware of the basic principles of motivation and how you will make them part of your classroom curriculum.
