My Motivation is Myself

        Love, ego, self-image, media exposure, creativity, curiosity and the need to be cool; students bring all of this and more into the classroom.  As the picture above demonstrates, reading and writing is just a small portion of what makes up a student's thoughts and actions; thus, we as educators have a lot to work with.  Rather of thinking of these additional parts as detrimental or distracting to literacy, we can think of them as opportunities to further engage students in the material.  These aspects of students' lives are different avenues that we can take to deepen students' connection to academic material.  For example, since students in this day and age are very media focused (and even addicted to), it important that we do not ignore this part of their lives.  Rather, we can provide multimedia texts that appeal to students' outside interests, such as blogs and videos. 

        This is the basis of differentiated instruction and cultural competence in the classroom.  People in general are complex creatures that are influenced by both internal and external forces, such as self-image and family home life. By employing various strategies of instruction, educators can appeal to the various interests and backgrounds of students.  As Brozo and Simpson described, there are several methods to further motivate students to engage in literacy, such as generating local interests and connecting students' outside life to inside the classroom.  

      A motivational strategy I particularly liked was providing students options for learning activities.  This would allow students to gain more of a sense of power over their learning and let them choose a topic or activity they are actually interested in.  For example, my high school chemistry teacher would require us complete several science projects throughout the semester; however, we were allowed to choose any topic in science and present in any way wanted.  Sometimes, I chose to write an informational paper on a physics theory.  At other times, I chose to teach a lesson on plant physiology for my project.  Through this activity, I was able to witness students, who normally did not connect with school, become engaged and excited over the assignment. 

What my chemistry teaching accomplish through these assignments was student-centered learning. We learned from this weeks reading that if students encounter more teacher-centered instruction, the benefits of learning actually diminishes and increases the distance between the student and instruction.  As students walk into your classroom, you cannot just simply ignore the interests they possess, the experiences they have gone through or even the background they come from.  That would be like walking into a doctors office and the doctor ignoring your medical history when treating you. Thus, you would be robbing that student and even yourself an opportunity to learn and grow. To bridge this distance, we must motivate students with strategies that appeal to their own interests and allow them to have an active voice in their learning.