Motivation & Activity

When you were asked in a previous discussion forum to discuss the reasons why classroom
teachers should be movement educators, one reason that was identified was to motivate
students to be physically active not just now but over their lifetime. Chapter 9 of the Kovar, et
al (2012) textbook is devoted to this topic.

After reading Chapter 9, in this forum, discuss some concept or idea that stood out to you about
motivating students to be physically active and then discuss one strategy, not mentioned in the
text, that you could use in your future classroom to implement the concept or idea to get your
student's moving.

In addition discuss one strategy your instructor for this course could motivate YOU to be
physically active on a daily basis.

Chapter nine list 3 main forms to instill motivation in students to be physically active. The first

one is "instilling feelings of motor skill competency" which simply means as teachers we want to

build students confidence in their ability to perform physically (motor skills). The more

confident a student is the more likely they are to participate in physical activity not just in school

but outside of school. I believe the key to this step is not to be harsh or belittle a students when

they mess up during an activity or they are not complementing it correctly. As teachers we need

to give positive feedback not negative. Instead of saying 'you did this wrong', try 'you did this

very well, but let's work on this'. The book also list obvious things like not embarrassing the

student, respect students limitations, and allow for practice. I like that the book mentions to keep

track of the students progression. This to me is a fantastic way to motivate students. If they can

see where they have been and how far they can go they will push themselves harder to progress.

The second form of motivation they mention is intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is the

ability to motivate from within (internally). Extrinsic motivation would be external factors

motivating a student. As a teacher you don't want your students to be motivated by the fact they

have to do something you want them to do it because it makes them feel good. This should be
applied to physical activity as well. Things the book suggested to do would be to bring focus to

the positive feelings students have after engaging in physical activity such as being more

energized. You want to set the students up for success not failure. A way to do this is to make

sure activities are developmentally appropriate tasks that students can perform. The last thing

that stood out to me is providing praise for students. If you focus on how well a student is doing

and give them positive feedback they will want to continue to strive for that feeling of being

good at something. I know that I am always better motivated when I know I can perform

adequately opposed to failing. Lastly, the book mentions involving the students into their own

learning experiences. We do this academically occasionally but I believe this needs to be done

when it comes to physical activity as well. The book suggests asking students questions about

their physical education and letting them provide feedback to the teachers. If the students feel

they are being heard they will be more motivated to listen and participate. Allowing students to

choose teams and other things about the activity they will perform that day is a great way to

motivate them. Maybe a student isn't fond of the sport that day but if they get to pick what team

mates they have they will be more inclined to participate with their peers. The best reason this

chapter gives for motivating children to be physically active is the last thing they mention, letting

students know why they need to be active and the importance it has in their life. Some parents

aren't informed when it comes to physical health so students need to be taught at school the

benefits of taking care of their body and the lasting effects that will carry into adulthood.

I still think a great way to promote physical activity that isn't in the book would be the

homework activity log that my group mentioned for the PALT project. If students are given a log

where they even do just 10 minutes a night at home of stretching, playing a sport, or walking 5

nights a week, it could become an everyday habit that eventually students will extend the time on
their own. It also helps that they would be motivated by an activity they could participate in with

their peers instead of stationary in class once a month. This gets them active not only outside of

school but in school as well. I would also look into more kinetic lessons where students are able

to be active during a lesson instead of the typical classroom activities where students are sitting

and being lectured to. I think that changing desks to either standing desk or giving each student a

yoga ball would also promote activity in the classroom because they will have an opportunity to

move around at their desk while also doing work. Lastly, brain breaks are just as important to

implement as including physical activity into lessons. I would make my brain breaks more active

for students. As the book mentioned instead of having the students do these breaks and myself

just watching I would do them with the students. A great idea would be to have students lead the

breaks themselves where they get to pick the exercises we do as a class and I become the student

for those 5 minutes. It could be a daily job in which a student will be assigned to at random.

One way that my instructor could motivate me to be physically active in this course would be to

implement extra credit or include it in our overall grade. Possibly instead of a final test we could

turn in a final workout log where we track our progression over the rest of the course. While I am

aware that extrinsic motivation isn't the best motivation it's still a start.

Source: Kovar, S. K., Combs, C. A., Campbell, K., Napper-Owen, G., & Worrell, V. J. (2016).

Elementary classroom teachers as movement educators (4th ed.). New York, NY: Mcgraw-Hill.