Helping Students Become Motivated
http://www.educationbuzz.net/articles/6588/1/Helping-Students-Become-Motivated/Page1.html
Jack Landry
Jack R. Landry has worked since 1987 selling laboratory products and supplies to various labs and schools across the country. He has written hundreds of articles about learning and lab supplies.
Contact Info:
Jack R. Landry
JackRLandry@gmail.com
http://www.Avogadro-Lab-Supply.com By Jack Landry
Published on 04/25/2011
The most common reason that students drop out of school is that they lack the motivation to continue. Fortunately, there are some things you can do to remedy this issue.
It is not uncommon for a teen to decide that he or she wants to drop out of school and take the test for a GED instead. While GEDs are available as a backup solution if there are special circumstances, it is preferable that teens stay in school and work towards getting into college.
The number one reason that teens decide they want to drop out of school is simply that they are unmotivated to do the work. They are often smart enough to do the work and they may even have many friends.
As a result, encouraging a child to stay in school is most effective when you can find a way to help him or her become motivated to continue. This is referred to as an underachievement issue that needs to and should be addressed.
The definition of underachievement is that you perform less than you are capable of, simply because you do not want to put in the time to do it. Underachievement can be an affliction that develops as early as third or fourth grade.
Even children this young struggle to learn how to read, to learn how to perform basic math, or consistently turn in their homework assignments late because they are simply not motivated. Another indication that your child may be suffering from this condition is that they know the material, but regularly make mistakes on tests.
It is more common by far for lack of motivation to settle in during middle school however. If it is not treated appropriately immediately, it will quickly become a habit and it will be very hard to remove.
This condition not only affects academics, but it can have an impact on non-academic areas as well. In addition, grade reports are not the only thing that can indicate that this is a problem.
A child may also become defiant and try to withdraw from various relationships. However, this problem is often manifest both in academics and relationships by the time the student grows to be a teenager.
As a result of lack of motivation, a very smart teen may not be admitted to college prep, advanced placement, or honors classes even though he or she could do them. He or she may be told to take classes that are less interesting and boring because they simply do not show that they can learn the material.
These boring classes are even more successful in driving the teenager out of school. From this point on, the struggle becomes more and more difficult to handle.
Many student drop outs say they would have stayed in school if they had been encouraged to and if they had been able to take more interesting classes. However, the staff gave up on the student and so the student decided to give up school.
This is something that should definitely be avoided. In order to remedy this situation, there needs to be a variety of ways provided to students to show that they are learning.
It is a well known fact that different students will learn differently. As a result, these different ways of learning need to be accommodated.
As these different forms of learning are accommodated, lack of motivation in students will decrease and there will be fewer dropouts. There also needs to be more ways that students can still pursue their interests while learning the basics.
For example, literature classes that specialize in different areas of classic literature may appeal to more students than a broad literature class. However, students can still learn just as much in a specialized literature class as they can in a broad literature class.
High school courses are very generalized at the moment, but accommodating the needs of certain students could be in the best interests of the school. However, the student also needs to be helped to realize that there are certain psychological and environmental barriers that he or she is dealing with.
Often students are told that they are not smart in this situation, but this is simply not true. When they realize that there may be psychological or environmental barriers in the way, they can identify them and work to remove them.
By doing this the student and the school can meet in the middle to remedy the problem. As these problems are remedied there will be fewer and fewer issues and lack of motivation will become less and less.
This will help the students lead healthier, more productive lives. In addition, they will be able to realize more success throughout their life.
The number one reason that teens decide they want to drop out of school is simply that they are unmotivated to do the work. They are often smart enough to do the work and they may even have many friends.
As a result, encouraging a child to stay in school is most effective when you can find a way to help him or her become motivated to continue. This is referred to as an underachievement issue that needs to and should be addressed.
The definition of underachievement is that you perform less than you are capable of, simply because you do not want to put in the time to do it. Underachievement can be an affliction that develops as early as third or fourth grade.
Even children this young struggle to learn how to read, to learn how to perform basic math, or consistently turn in their homework assignments late because they are simply not motivated. Another indication that your child may be suffering from this condition is that they know the material, but regularly make mistakes on tests.
It is more common by far for lack of motivation to settle in during middle school however. If it is not treated appropriately immediately, it will quickly become a habit and it will be very hard to remove.
This condition not only affects academics, but it can have an impact on non-academic areas as well. In addition, grade reports are not the only thing that can indicate that this is a problem.
A child may also become defiant and try to withdraw from various relationships. However, this problem is often manifest both in academics and relationships by the time the student grows to be a teenager.
As a result of lack of motivation, a very smart teen may not be admitted to college prep, advanced placement, or honors classes even though he or she could do them. He or she may be told to take classes that are less interesting and boring because they simply do not show that they can learn the material.
These boring classes are even more successful in driving the teenager out of school. From this point on, the struggle becomes more and more difficult to handle.
Many student drop outs say they would have stayed in school if they had been encouraged to and if they had been able to take more interesting classes. However, the staff gave up on the student and so the student decided to give up school.
This is something that should definitely be avoided. In order to remedy this situation, there needs to be a variety of ways provided to students to show that they are learning.
It is a well known fact that different students will learn differently. As a result, these different ways of learning need to be accommodated.
As these different forms of learning are accommodated, lack of motivation in students will decrease and there will be fewer dropouts. There also needs to be more ways that students can still pursue their interests while learning the basics.
For example, literature classes that specialize in different areas of classic literature may appeal to more students than a broad literature class. However, students can still learn just as much in a specialized literature class as they can in a broad literature class.
High school courses are very generalized at the moment, but accommodating the needs of certain students could be in the best interests of the school. However, the student also needs to be helped to realize that there are certain psychological and environmental barriers that he or she is dealing with.
Often students are told that they are not smart in this situation, but this is simply not true. When they realize that there may be psychological or environmental barriers in the way, they can identify them and work to remove them.
By doing this the student and the school can meet in the middle to remedy the problem. As these problems are remedied there will be fewer and fewer issues and lack of motivation will become less and less.
This will help the students lead healthier, more productive lives. In addition, they will be able to realize more success throughout their life.