Some of you were lucky enough to explore the concept of motivation while on Erasmus over the summer. Being self motivated is really important in the learning environment but sometimes even the most motivated of us need a help along. It can be all the more challenging when some learners are mandated to be in our environment, where traditionally we provided services to people who attended voluntarily.
However there are ways that you currently use to motivate students to learn, to participate and to share. You all have strategies that you developed over the years. We have all learned some of the best motivation lessons from very difficult situations.
This is a visual that I am sure you will all relate to. It is one that I came across yet again while browsing on line http://www.educatorstechnology.com/2014/07/27-strategies-to-motivate-students-in.html . While developed primarily for working with younger students it has resonance and applicability in our adult literacy environment.
The visual outlines strategies to appeal to learners intrinsic motivators. These are the motivating factors that provide people with internal rewards. For example students can get great personal satisfaction when they read a full piece of text or a book or when they write a complete sentence.
In many ways it outlines some of the ways we work in Adult Literacy, how we remain student focussed, how we build trust, agreement and give students choices.
