I will agree making classes fun is important to engage and retain students. My classes years ago that were fun even getting up and doing math problems on the board helped move us students around. When I was in my bachelor's degree program sitting for four hours at one time with just lecture did not retain many of us, and lecture was hard to keep most engaged.

During my practicum experience many faculty members complained about students that were able to get in to the program that were not able to hardly speak English (The instructors felt the entrance exam was too easy). They felt they were taking time away from other students that needed some time also. What is the best way to accommodate all involved if you have a student that needs more attention related to ESL?

I tell my students they have to be self-motivated, intrinsic learners. Motivation must come from within. I also tell my faculty that in the classroom they must motivate extrinsically and be role models to our students. Students need a hero, someone they can look up to. By sharing personal stories and issues they encountered related to the field they will motivated students to see the end goal.

how do we motivate the one person in class who is so hard to get thru too

I found that rapport is easy to get with students, but I have some problems with homework and the load they think it brings. this causes stress for me personally because we do most of it in class. where is the cut off line to what you should do

having students know that we are a "safe haven" for them is important sometimes the only person they can talk to is us. by being fair and impartial we can help them.

how do we as instructors diffuse the drama before it overtakes the class. The problem I see is while attempting to redirect it ends up involving everyone.

I used the pair-think-share technique in my criminal justice classes, I found the sharing was more in depth and insightful after implementing the technique. Additionally, short quizzes prior to a major examination; was appreciated by the students. Seemingly, giving them more confidence in preparing the major examination.

encouragement

Hands on keeps them focus

Make it interesting!

This is being able to relate to the student!

In my 4 years of teaching at a Career College, I can count the number of times I've had my students work in groups. Now that I have taken this course, I am excited to try it out toward the end of the term. The old cliché of "two heads are better than one" comes to mind. If I am able to put students together in small groups, I believe they will be able to motivate each other in different areas where another group member may be lacking. As a result, the best possible outcome should be obtained through a planned group effort.

I had a great professor in college who, in introducing different kinds of public speaking projects, actually performed the introduction in the method. It was a great way to get an example of how the project should work. And it has stayed with me for 20 years. Now, when I have the opportunity to demonstrate a skill as I am teaching, I have found that it works far better than describing the skill and then moving into a lab to work on a project. Showing is better than telling in many cases and then, the hand-on practice just supports the demonstration.

I work in a field where projects can be technically completed, but are not "finished." For example, a student might edit a film, but the final work doesn't flow well. It can be hard for students to understand, particularly students who come from non-US culture. In some cases, I have students who feel that once they have completed the basic requirements for the work, they are done. And the project should never be touched again. In film, that doesn't work... as the film could be terrible. How do I approach a student who has grown up in a culture where they don't understand the nuances of the art of the work and only understand the strict outline of requirements?

I had a great teacher who told us to "Never reinforce a negative behavior." I wonder what people might think about this as a blanket statement.

Was a good course. Many good conversations here already, thank you for sharing. Something I've implemented this semester to engage the students, provide them influence, or control, choice and feel personally involved is to allow my class to select a committee to determine homework from the days curriculum. It is a committee of 3 so there is a tie breaker. Each class the nominated have to be selected from those that have not yet been selected. They seem to really enjoy it. Creates conversation and so far, enthusiasm and engagement with a high return rate of quality and timely results. My students are part of our creative schools and it seems to be very popular and quite successful. I look forward to implementing even more tactics from this lesson to increase my effectiveness.

Educational psychology has identified two basic classifications of motivation - intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic motivation arises from a desire to learn a topic due to its inherent interests, for self-fulfillment, enjoyment and to achieve a mastery of the subject. On the other hand, extrinsic motivation is motivation to perform and succeed for the sake of accomplishing a specific result or outcome. Students who are very grade-oriented are extrinsically motivated, whereas students who seem to truly embrace their work and take a genuine interest in it are intrinsically motivated.

Teachers have a lot to do with their students' motivational level. A student may arrive in class with a certain degree of motivation. But the teacher's behavior and teaching style, the structure of the course, the nature of the assignments and informal interactions with students all have a large effect on student motivation. We may have heard the utterance, "my students are so unmotivated!" and the good news is that there's a lot that we can do to change that.

below are three ways that you can encourage students to get on the right path to staying motivated. Encourage them to think positively. Reinforce for them that there’s power in thinking about what they do well. By creating a mindset in which they focus on the positive and tell themselves they can work to improve upon their areas of weakness — instead of focusing on the things they don’t do as well and becoming discouraged and less motivated — they’ll feel more inspired to work harder. Remind students that motivating themselves is their responsibility alone. If they work hard to attain good grades, it’s because they put in the effort to study and build on what you’ve taught them. If they didn’t give it their best shot, blaming anyone else won’t change that. Tell them that persistence pays off. The attitude that they can work through any challenge by keeping at it will make it more likely that they’ll see progress toward their learning goals.