Motivation Matters
Motivation Matters covered what works, and what doesn’t work, to motivate students to do better in school. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: student motivation & engagement.
Education
"America's Worst Mom?"
There's been quite a bit of buzz around this column in the New York Sun by a mother, Lenore Skenazy, who gave her 9-year-old son a Metrocard, 20 bucks, and a fistful of quarters and left him in the middle of a New York City Bloomingdale's to find his way home on his own. Here's an excerpt:
Education
High Schooler Sounds Alarm on Textbook
This AP story about a high school senior who found multiple examples of biases in his U.S. government textbook and proceeded to make those biases public, is a great example of one student who is actively engaged in his education. No matter what your political stance, you've got to give the kid credit for both knowing enough about politics and government to be able to dispute controversial sections of his textbook and for being passionate enough about his discoveries to bring them to the attention of the public.
Education
A Dying Educator's Message to His Children
In following suit with yesterday's post about overcoming obstacles and doing your best with the skills that you have, here's another inspiring story about a Carnegie Mellon University professor, Randy Pausch, who gave his "last lecture" about what really matters in life after finding out he has terminal cancer.
Education
Doing the Best With What You Have
This story in the Baltimore Sun is about a high school boy who excels academically despite his physical limitations resulting from spinal muscular atrophy, which makes him extremely weak and requires him to rely on the assistance of caregivers for almost everything.
Education
Parental Involvement: How Much is Too Much?
Education Week's Bess Keller has written a really interesting story about parental involvement. As we've talked about many, many times before, having parents involved in their childrens' schools can greatly boost motivation levels and keep them on track. However, in some cases, overly demanding parents can become more of a nuisance than a help. Bess' story explains why this is becoming more and more common.
Education
Motivating Iraqi Students
This sad, but inspiring story in the Los Angeles Times talks about one Iraqi ballet and music school's struggle to stay open despite five years of war and over a decade of threats from Muslim extremists who "consider music sacrilegious and kill for much less than dancing in public in a form-revealing tutu."
Education
Overlooking Asian Underachievers
We talked last week about how stereotypes of African-American students can encourage them to play down their smarts. This week, I'd like to point your attention to this story in the Chicago Tribune that talks about the inverse of that phenomenon.
Education
Smaller Classes, Greater Engagement
Education Week's Debbie Viadero has written yet another story related to student motivation--this time about class size. According to the article, a study released at the AERA conference has found that smaller classes help students stay on task. This seems sort of obvious, as I've mentioned before, but there are a couple of interesting points she makes that I think are worth noting.
Education
Gifted Black Students Battle Stereotypes
We've talked before about students underperforming because of gender stereotypes, but Education Week's Lesli Maxwell has a story up on gifted students underperforming due to racial stereotypes. Gifted black students often feel pressured to "act black," says the story, which students define as "being laid-back, being dumb or uneducated, and pretending not to be smart."
Education
Educational Leadership's Motivation Issue
For those of you who are really into student motivation (as I assume most of you are), I highly suggest that you set aside a good couple of hours to explore all the online features of this month's issue of Educational Leadership. And once you've read through all that, you should get your hands on a physical copy of the magazine and read the rest of the articles. Because--I am not joking--all of the articles in this issue are about student motivation.
Education
Motivating Middle Schoolers
Middle school can be rough. It's a weird, in-between, awkward time for most pre-teens, and it also lays the framework for how well a student will progress academically in high school. Educators have given the early and upper grades increased attention, but not much is known about how to motivate students in the unique set of circumstances that is middle school. Education Week reporter Kathleen Kennedy Manzo takes an in-depth look at that particular issue in this article. Here's an excerpt:
Student Achievement
How Much Stress Is Too Much?
This past Sunday, I had dinner with a friend of mine I hadn't seen in quite awhile. We used to hang out every couple of weeks or so, but lately it's been more like every few months. The reason can be described in two words: law school. Luckily, he was able to squeeze me in right at the end of his spring break--which he spent writing papers and working on homework--because otherwise, I don't think I would have seen him at all this semester. After all, finals are coming up... in May. "It's time to start studying," he told me. His classmates have been talking about it for a couple of weeks already, he said, much to my amazement. "Finals is a season, kind of like Christmas," he said. "It starts way too early, and it's extremely stressful."
Recruitment & Retention
Cash-Incentive Roundup
This story in the Rocky Mountain News is about one high school that decided to pay their students to take their state tests in order to increase attendance. Students received about $50 each total, $5 for each test they took and an additional $1 for good behavior. The result? They had almost 100 percent attendance.