Lauren Bryie

EDL 642

Independent Inquiry: How to Create School-Wide Motivation

I talked to my principal, Julie Osborne, to identify one area that the school could

improve upon or in my own classroom. She said that our school is not doing well on the

CAASPP testing compared to other schools similar to ours, 40% free/reduced lunch, a

lot of parent involvement, and a low English Language Learner population. I talked to a

colleague who, at another school site, set up a school-wide initiative to improve test

scores, during the STAR testing times. She is going to help me with ideas on how to

create school-wide motivation.

All teachers know that motivation can go a long way in learning. Motivation is

defined as the act or process of motivating; the condition of being motivating; a

motivating force, stimulus, or influence; incentive; drive; something (such as a need or

desire) that causes a person or student to act (Merriam-Webster, 1997); and the

expenditure of effort to accomplish results (DuBrin, 2008). There are many different

ways that students are motivated, some are motivated through positive feedback,

material rewards, interesting curriculum, and respect. I know that my goal as a teacher

is that my students will be self-motivated, but in reality most of my students want

material rewards. Im sure that this has something to do with video games and always

needing an award for doing something.

How do we know when our students are motivated? They pay attention, they

begin working on tasks immediately, they ask questions and volunteer answers, and
they appear to be happy and eager (Palmer, 2007). Students must have access,

interest, and connection to the material.

In Five key ingredients for improvising student motivation by Williams &

Williams, the authors give five key ingredients for improvising students motivation, just

like what the title states. Their groups were student, teacher, content, method/process,

and environment. Some of what is in the student category is, intrinsic and extrinsic

motivation, hierarchy of needs, connection, and efficient use of time and energy. In the

teacher category is, subject knowledge, teacher qualifications and skills, ability to reach

out to students, and value and build relationships with students. The content is the

students ability to connect with the curriculum, student achievement and ownership,

information relevant to students, and technology integration. In method/process,

incentives, objectives and goals, encouragement and praise, and positive social

interactions. The last part in motivation is creating an effective environment,

empowerment, engagement, and teamwork (Williams & Williams).

Action Plan

My colleague and I have decided on a few strategies that we are going to

implement before our testing window begins in May. We all know that our students are

motivated by material rewards. The PTA has offered each teacher $100 towards snacks

this year. We will be using that money towards buying snacks and little treats for

testing. The little treat will have a saying on it, like a tootsie roll that says Its time to

rock and roll, youve got this! and cookies that say Youre a smart cookie!. These

treats will help extrinsically motivate that students to try on the CAASPP test. We have

also decided to make posters to go throughout the school. The posters will have
motivational characters and sayings on them that suit our students likes, such as

minions, Star Wars, Ryan Gosling, etc. Cutten School has a Monday Morning Meeting

each Monday where we talk about PBIS and Second Step. The meetings will start

turning into testing motivational meetings, where we will teach the students songs/raps

to get them pumped up and excited about testing. Another strategy that we are going to

implement is, at the end of testing we will give an ice cream party for all students who

gave effort, based on what their teacher thinks, on the test. I also want to send home a

note to parents asking them to write a letter of encouragement for their child that I can

give to my students on a certain day of testing. Hopefully, all of these strategies, and

the others that we come up with, will motivate our students to want to do their best on

the CAASPP test.

Bibliography

Bain, Ken. What the Best College Teachers Do, Harvard University Press, 2004,
pages 32-33, 40-41.
DeLong, Matt, and Dale Winter. Learning to Teaching and Teaching to Learn
Mathematics: Resources for Professional Development, Mathematical
 Association of America, 2002, page 163.
DuBrin, A. (2008). Essentials of Management, 8/E, South-Western.
Merriam-Webster (1997). Merriam-Websters Dictionary, Houghton-Mifflin.
Middleton, James A.. A Study of Intrinsic Motivation in the Mathematics Classroom: A

Personal Constructs Approach, Journal for Research in Mathematics Education,

Vol. 26, No. 3, pages 255-257.

Palmer, D. (2007). What Is the Best Way to Motivate Students in Science? Teaching
Science-The Journal of the Australian Science Teachers Association, 53(1), 38-
42.
Williams, Kaylene C., and Caroline C. Williams. "Five Key Ingredients for Improving
Student Motivation." Research in Higher Education Journal (n.d.): 1-23. Web. 18
Apr. 2017.