Contents
Educational motivation of younger students
What are the differences in the field of cognitive interests of children?
Deep interest in the study of any subject in elementary school is rare. Well-performing children are attracted by different subjects and their content. Characteristic situationality. At different lessons, when studying different material, there are bursts of interest, upsurges in intellectual activity. First-graders need to develop the need to acquire new knowledge, especially among the weaker ones. A survey of first-graders showed: excellent students appreciate the educational content and school rules “I like the Russian language, it’s interesting there”, “I like the lessons”, “I need all the grades to be good.” that there are weekends at school.
How can you develop a child’s motivation?
This can be done if:
- to create in the child a sense of progress, an experience of success in activity. To do this, it is necessary to correctly select tasks that he can relatively easily complete and receive well-deserved praise;
- use all the possibilities of the material in order to interest the child: posing problems, creating problem situations, activating independent thinking;
- organize cooperation with the child, carrying out mutual assistance, mutual control, mutual evaluation.
The motive of a high grade is more significant for a younger student than the broad social motives of learning — duty, responsibility, the need for education, etc.
The concept of duty for a younger student is still largely abstract. This is a distant prospect, like, for example, entering a higher educational institution. But the praise, the mark is real. To get a high mark, the student is ready to immediately sit down to study and diligently complete the task.
Desire to receive praise and good grades
The main motive of younger students: «I want to receive praise and good grades.» What are the consequences of a student chasing good grades? The easiest way to get good marks is the way of reproductive activity, verbatim repetition of what was heard from the teacher, complete imitation of his actions. As a result, the student’s independent creative activity is reduced. In order to raise the rank of search creative efforts, and not just reproductive ones, it is necessary to find a form of fixing the student’s creative discoveries.
What should be the estimated stimulation of the child?
Only positive! It is categorically necessary to forbid yourself (adult) any reproaches. Only: “Forgotten? Remember», «Don’t worry — look again at the condition of the problem.» Even if it would seem that there is nothing to praise, it is necessary to find the basis for a kind word. The task of parents is to support the independence of the child and the desire to achieve results himself.
Set to succeed and set to avoid failure
Students with a mindset to succeed in all situations, no matter what happens, will never give up. Whereas a student who tries to avoid failure will not study well and will not achieve great professional success in the future.
From: Teacher’s Notes: Everyday Life at an American Monster School
At the first lesson, I did a mini-interview to get to know the children better. The standard interview with a child was as follows:
My name is Juanita. I have 3 sisters and 7 brothers. I live with my brothers, sisters, parents, 4 grandmothers and 4 grandfathers. My sister just had a baby and got married.
— How old is your sister?
— Sisters 15…
Of course, in this situation, they don’t need studies. Almost everyone answered my questions at a mini-interview about their hobbies: sex, smoking, drugs, doing nothing or sleeping half a day. When I asked what they didn’t like, they answered: school, reading, teachers, homework…
It is clear that it will not work to motivate everyone. It’s good if you manage to interest at least one in the class. Almost all of them work after school. Many brothers / fathers and other relatives are in prison for theft, etc.