Everyone is motivated. There’s no such thing as an unmotivated person. What motivates and how one is motivated are what differ from person to person.
Some students may be motivated by good grades. Others may find the subject interesting. For some, it may be the desire to please. For the rest, however, it is our responsibility to motivate our students.
Several years ago, I came across the ARCS Model by John Keller. Keller’s model promotes a problem-solving approach to lesson design that breaks our ability to influence and motivate using four different approaches: Attention, Relevance, Confidence and Satisfaction.
Attention
Think of attention as the hook or tease, often used at the beginning of the learning process. This can include perceptual arousal which originates with novelty, doubt, or disbelief. Attention can also be piqued through inquiry arousal by presenting students with challenging problems.
Ideas: games, role playing, humorous stories, conflict, variety, real-world problems. In a math class, this may mean starting off with the word-problem or in a history class it may mean presenting the dilemma or controversy before the background information.
Relevance
We should strive to link learning to students’ lives. Keller suggests providing relevance by presenting objectives and the purpose of learning with specific and measurable examples of success. Since most learning builds on prior knowledge, try to connect new information with previously learned information.
When the material isn’t relevant to the students’ lives (yes, that is sometimes the case), focus on the other aspects of the ARCS model. Relevance can be increased by using Universal Design concepts and student choice. By allowing students to choose an instructional strategy to learn or demonstrate their learning, motivation will increase. Much to my chagrin, my daughter hates social studies and history, but when given a project that enables her to tap into her passions (art, music, theater, etc.) she excels--even in history. She definitely knows more about Alexander Hamilton than I do because of some little musical.
Confidence
Students need to believe in their ability to succeed. This requires scaffolding instruction and generating confidence by requiring tasks that are appropriately challenging. By informing students of the learning/performance criteria and individualizing the targets, we can build student confidence. Conversely, imagine being given a task that is impossible for most of us, like dunking a basketball and being assessed on our dunks. At what point would you give up? Would you even try?
Within this strategy we should encourage students to make progressive gains and measure their own learning. It’s important, however, that we avoid ambiguous statements like, “Do your best.” As students learn, we must provide feedback to eliminate confusion while focusing on progress and building stick-to-itness.
Satisfaction
The final component of Keller’s model is satisfaction. We want our students to be proud of their achievements and their learning. On the most basic level, the reward is meeting the learning criteria for an assignment or earning recognition from the teacher. Going a step further, the students may self-analyze their progression and build self-efficacy.
Sometimes the satisfaction may come from a life skill that is secondary to the content. For example, when assigning students to a collaborative learning project, establish a behavioral target for students and explain why it’s important. A second example: students may feel satisfaction learning how to use a technology. Students must feel as though the skills they are mastering will be useful for their futures.
Keller’s ARCS model doesn’t require a total reset because undoubtedly you’re already doing many of these things. I like using it as a reference or checklist for each individual lesson.
Important Dates and Information
Mustang Morning:
- Request students for this week. Note that Monday was moved to Friday.
- Check your Mustang Morning sessions for NEXT week.
- Request students for next week. On Wednesday, February 20 we will copy the schedule and requested students for the next four weeks. If you want students only for a week, wait until Thursday to request the student.
This Friday is an A-Day with Long Lunch. See below.
February 20/21: Help Save the Next Girl Symposiums.
- February 20: 9th/10th graders
- February 21: 11th/12th graders
- Split classes send students based on their grade level
- Mustang Morning will continue
February 22: A-Day; end of interim period
Working Conditions Survey (state required: March 1 close)
Field Trips and SOLs
February 21: Manufacturing Day @ PVCC
March 6th: UVA Apprenticeship Job Fair for Interested Seniors
Shout Out
Hats off to the our science department and especially Ms. Rowanhill and Ms. Dudley for their organization of the blood drive and UNOS (organ donor) presentation.
Thanks Ms. Meade for LoveFest!
Birthdays
February 21: Teresa Goodin, Paul Shepherd
February 22: Najwa Tatby
February 23: Heather Charles
Useful Information
Bell Schedules : http://bit.ly/MOHSbells
Morning Announcement Stream: http://streaming.k12albemarle.org/ACPS/links.htm
We’ve got something new! Want something included on the Monticello Outlook Calendar, the Monticello website, in the PowerSchool Daily Bulletin, or the student newsletter (viewed by parents, students and staff)? Please use this link https://goo.gl/forms/bIjfJLKokWPcEHx33
Worth Your Time
Schedule
A-Day Friday Schedule with Long Lunch
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7:40-8:40
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Zero Period
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8:55-10:15
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1st Period
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10:20-10:55
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Thursday’s Mustang Morning
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11:00-1:00
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2nd Period
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1:05-2:25
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3rd Period
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2:30-3:50
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4th Period
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