A Motivating Profession

I am beginning to reflect on the idea that motivation drives education and how vital it is that motivation goes both ways. If teachers motivate students then students will motivate us. During Writer's Workshop the other day, while I was conferring with students regarding the strategy of "Showing, instead of Telling," initial responses I received were "I didn't use any telling sentences," or "That's not a telling sentence." As I began to ask questions about the sentence that would help me "paint a picture in my mind" and share with students my reaction to their stories, I was amazed by the way they changed their writing. A drive to church became "eerily quiet, he was shivering with nervousness, it was so hot it was like an egg in a frying pan." These moments really demonstrate the potential students have if motivation is added to the equation. In return, I felt the students motivated me. I knew that my efforts weren't wasted and that students were learning!

Today, students quickly turned in their papers with work that was incomplete. Some students had not followed the directions (putting question in answer, complete sentences, descriptive words). Knowing their potential to do much better allowed me to focus my attention on what students needed to do as learners and why it was important that they do their best work. Trying to emphasize the reason for doing the activity was not always motivating for students because they were eager to read independently. In the future, I might have students respond to books they choose in order to continue to develop students' comprehension, while keeping their attention focused on the activity.