6 ways to get students motivated and excited to learn

Teachers, have you ever found yourself in a situation where not all of your students were motivated? If so, raise your hands.

If you didn’t raise your hand, then get out of here, because you’re a total liar.

Students lacking in motivation find their way into every teacher’s classroom. It may not be every student and it may not be all the time (though sometimes it may be that, too). Even if you happen to be blessed with exceptionally intelligent and intrinsically motivated students, you’ll find that sooner or later, you’re going to be looking for ways to get or keep your students motivated to learn, complete their work, and take it seriously (ish).

Since not everything works for everyone, we’ve included 6 different ways to help get your students motivated. If you have any favorites that we haven’t included here, we’d love to hear what they are! Share them with the Daily Genius community by mentioning @DailyGenius on Twitter and we’ll retweet!

6 Great ways to help your students find their motivation

1. Clearly define objectives — If your students have clear, attainable goals that they are working towards, they’ll be more motivated to achieve them than if they aren’t sure what they are working towards. “Completion’ of an assignment isn’t a clear objective.
2. Leverage competition — Humans are competitive beings by nature. Competition in the classroom isn’t a bad thing — if you use it in the right way. Having a friendly competition between groups is a great way to do this while ensuring no one feels singled out or left out.
3. Give students some control — Giving students some control over their learning process can be as simple as taking a poll as to what type of assignment you’ll be asking them to do next. If the students are asked about their learning process, they’ll be more engaged in it and more motivated.
4. Design a reward system — While there are lots of dissenters to this common extrinsic motivator, sometimes rewards just work, plain and simple. Think of it as the cherry on top (of a goal). It can be bonus points on a test or quiz, a night off homework — you just need to find the system that works for you & your students.
5. Know your students — Find out what your students like (& don’t). Can you tailor a project to tie in to your group’s common interests?Allowing students to focus their individual work on a topic of their choice will keep them interested and motivated and still addressing your goals for them.
6. Track their progress — Tracking student progress is something that all teachers do. It can take any form, but sometimes tracking progress with the student can help them see that they are making progress, even in subjects that feel difficult to them. Seeing their progress can help keep them motivated and on track to keep going.