Hey,
Hope you all had a lovely summer off and feeling refreshed ready to start again!
Over summer I spent a lot of time researching literature related to my inquiry which is on motivation and how to motivate students in a dance class.
I have found that there is an awful lot been said about motivation and although I am wanting to find out about motivating students in a DANCE class, I seem to have got deep into researching motivation in general which has been very helpful as I can relate these theories to my own teaching practice, which is allowing me to use what has been said and see if it does have an effect on the students in my own classes.
I have also carried out 4 observations and I am now at the point of analysing these observations and relating what I seen in the obs to the literature I have researched. I carried out my first interview last week with newly devised questions that I put together after I received feedback from module 2. This interview didn't seem to give me the information I was hoping for so now I am back to re-thinking my questions and reflecting on why the interview didn't work? For example my very first question was how do you motivate your students? Well the teachers answer was obvious to me, ''It depends on the type of person and character'' This is what has been said in most of my researched lit, that motivation is down to the personality and behavior of the student and it is the teachers responsibility to know which strategies are best suited for different behaviors. So how can I change that question? That's where my thinking is now...I need to make my questions more specific! If any one has any ideas for me I would really appreciate it as I aim to carry out my next interview in the next week or so!
Hope everyone is doing well!
Mel
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Hi Melanie
ReplyDeleteI'm just thinking off the top of my head here, but there are certain 'groups' I find as a whole need more motivations than others. Some children are self-motivated and others need to be driven. For example (and I'm sure you can come up with a better one without necessarily being so stereotypical) how do you keep children/teenagers/young adults who are going through puberty (and therefore huge bodily changes, as well as embarrassment, and a potential decrease in flexibility/balance) motivated...
This might not help at all, but sometimes you need the wrong spark to set you on your path!
Take care
Megan
Thanks Melanie - there is a lot of interest in this topic - keep us posted.
ReplyDeleteDear Melanie,
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you ask the question What strategies would you use in a classroom if a certain number of students wasn't engaged? Because motivation and engagement are pretty much the same thing if your students are not engaged how can you as a practitioner motivate them. Also I would look at the different learning styles and different behaviours of students then you can narrow down the question to how do you motivate a student who is a kinaesthetic learner? Does that make sense? Let me know how it goes you have a great question.
My inquiry is on Motivational barriers with boys same but different as it is specific to boys.
speak soon
Geri
Hi guys,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the ideas you are given me! Megan and Geri, they both seem a lot better and more specific straight away which is what I am aiming for. I was hoping the teacher was going to go into more depth on a question like that but obviously not all teachers will answer in detail, which makes me realise my questions do need to be well thought out!
I love the idea of using you example Megan, as I believe this could be a huge factor for affecting students' motivational levels and I suppose teachers will have strategies to help students stay focused and motivated when they are going through this stage in their life.
Geri, thanks for your idea too as I didn't even think of engagement being the same thing, but now you have said it I can see were it relates, as they need to firstly be engaged in the subject before they sustain their motivation throughout the term of the subject. I have spent some time looking at different behaviors in student's but not the different learning styles. So this is a really good idea for me to have a look into!
The subject ''motivation'' is huge and so much has been said on it! that's why I am finding I need to be careful to stay specific to what I am wanting to find out, instead of going off on one with all my new found information!
Hope both your plans are going well!
thanks again for the ideas!
Speak soon,
Mel