What Most Get Wrong about Student Motivation & How to Fix it

So many of today’s children lack a joy for learning.

Let’s discuss 3 vital facets of what ignites human motivation and how to apply them to spark of lifelong learning.

Self-determination theory is the study of human motivation or what lights people up!

It has 3 parts

1. Autonomy: The need for choice & control

2. Competence: The need to feel capable & effective

3. Relatedness: The need to connect & belong

When these needs are not met, children feel

• powerless

• inadequate

• isolated

This not only leads to poor motivation but diminished well-being.

Art work by Angel (Age 8)

The problem? Most schools & even family lives aren’t structured to meet these needs… but they could be!

1. Autonomy

   1. At School: Children need a say over what they study and how. Child-led learning fixes this. Giving children even just two options for learning gives them a sense of control & improves motivation. Allowing them to work on the floor or outside, gives them a choice in where they learn. Give older children a choice on the topic they study and watch them come alive - And yes you can do this while still adhering to specific learning objectives - I’ve done it in 100+ student classrooms.

   2. At Home: Can you give your children more of a say in their home life? In what they eat, where they go, what activities they do? Again, even just two choices makes a difference. Do you want this or that for dinner? I ask my children if they have food requests for the week. I also ask if they don’t like something and to explain why so I can improve. We eat overly healthy and my children never complain. Ask yourself, is there room for another choice here?

2. Competence

   1. At School: Children are told if they study hard enough they can succeed but then are graded on a curve so 30% fail (standardized testing). Mastery-based grading fixes this. Mastery-based grading allows students to work on something until they mastered it. It can be employed in many ways but the easiest is just allowing kids the opportunity to work on something until they get it. I’ve also used this in 100+ student classrooms. There are challenges but it is possible!

   2. At Home: Maria Montessori believed in the importance of practical life skills. She’s so right! Children need to feel that they can do work around the house. But they want to do the important work. Can you include them in the cooking or cleaning? They don’t want to be told to do it, but they’d love to help YOU do it. Moreover, children need to feel capable and they need to accomplish something of importance.

3. Relatedness

   1. At School: Young children get a new teacher every year. Older children are shuffled between 6-7 teachers throughout the day. Children are purposely separated from friends at school because *gasp* they talk to each other. Multi-age, primary instructor classrooms fix this. Having children stay in a single classroom for 3 or more years allows them to connect with both the teacher and the other students in the classroom. Moreover, studies show that it decreases bullying (yes, really). For older children, there are numerous psychological techniques to bond students to both the teacher and each other. I’ll write another post on this but briefly Reciprocity and Liking are both excellent.

   2. At Home: Your children need to feel connected to you. One of the biggest things we struggled with before homeschooling was healthy attachment. We were just living together not being together as a family. Make time to focus 100% on your children every day. Ideally, even one-on-one time with each child (though I know how hard that is believe me!). Carve out activities that are just for you and your kids. Put them into your day and keep them there! Teens won’t want as much of your time but parallel time with your teen where you are there even if they aren’t talking to you is important.

For Schools: Does this seem impossible? Hard to scale? Maybe, but I’ve used all of these techniques in 100+ student classrooms & Maria Montessori effectively did this with 4 year olds! Schools that follow Montessori principles are making it work in today’s world. I know, I’ve seen it!

For Home: I know you are busy, I know you are stressed, I know you have 1,000 things on your list. But you will never regret extra time with your kids - you will regret the opposite.

If you want vibrant, motivated children, remember…

1. Give them a say

2. Help them succeed

3. Ensure they feel loved

~Claire Honeycutt

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