TIPS for Motivating Students 

Motivation is an essential element of effective instruction. Lessons that incorporate motivational strategies that stimulate children's curiosity and excite them about learning almost guarantee a successful teaching and learning experience. That is why we require every lesson submitted to the S.O.S. database to include strategies for motivating students.

In Turning Kids on to Research: The Power of Motivation (Libraries Unlimited, 2000), you will find dozens of ideas for creating motivational information literacy lessons. Here are a few of them to put in your "motivational toolkit" and get you thinking motivationally!

• Create positive anticipation for what students are about to learn by posing a perplexing problem or challenge.
• Vary your teaching methods, ways of grouping students, and use of media and support materials in order to maintain student interest.
• Capitalize on students' needs by linking what they learn in your lesson to classroom assignments and activities.
• Provide frequent feedback to students on their learning progress in order to demonstrate a supportive learning environment.
• Help students reflect on their learning successes and failures.
• Allow students to demonstrate what they have learned through a variety of creative outlets, such as a PowerPoint presentation, a video, a brochure, a Web site, a debate, a portfolio, etc.
• Recognize exemplary student work by displaying it for parents and other students to see.
  
  

You can find more ideas for motivating students in the ERIC Digests "Motivation in Instructional Design" by Ruth V. Small and "School Leadership and Student Motivation" by Ron Renchler.

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