challenged and frustrated with last week's feedback on my paper, i decided to talk to Dr. Joy about it. I felt exactly like my students ... why re-do the work without argument!
The moment i opened my mouth i found the instructor ready and prepared with an extremely smart activity that gave me the answer without saying a word.
I don't know if Dr. Joy used this stretching activity before or how long it took her to come up with such a solid proof evidence that people tend to put more effort and explore their potentials when they are pushed further. the exiting idea was how to convince a student that you are putting him or her through hell just because you believe in his or her potentials and not just for sports. And the impact of this information on a student A.K.A myself is huge ... i know we were supposed to re-do the same reading but when motivated and challenged enough i went the distance and read a new article and did the work from scratch ... not only did i do so but i had help from a fellow English teacher when it came to summary writing.
yes motivation does miracles ... you can change a frustrated student into an eager learner IF and only IF you could tap smoothly into his or her head.
not only that but the energy shift that happened to the whole class was huge.
I really hate to be in the instructor's shoes, she had to plan for an energy altering session- and i know this consumed a lot of thinking from her side but i did enjoy my learning experience.
If this is what it takes to motivate my learners ... thinking constantly about how to motivate them to get the best out of them... it's definitely worth the thought.
Thanks Dr. Joy for turning back on my learning enthusiasm at the end of the diploma :)
The moment i opened my mouth i found the instructor ready and prepared with an extremely smart activity that gave me the answer without saying a word.
I don't know if Dr. Joy used this stretching activity before or how long it took her to come up with such a solid proof evidence that people tend to put more effort and explore their potentials when they are pushed further. the exiting idea was how to convince a student that you are putting him or her through hell just because you believe in his or her potentials and not just for sports. And the impact of this information on a student A.K.A myself is huge ... i know we were supposed to re-do the same reading but when motivated and challenged enough i went the distance and read a new article and did the work from scratch ... not only did i do so but i had help from a fellow English teacher when it came to summary writing.
yes motivation does miracles ... you can change a frustrated student into an eager learner IF and only IF you could tap smoothly into his or her head.
not only that but the energy shift that happened to the whole class was huge.
I really hate to be in the instructor's shoes, she had to plan for an energy altering session- and i know this consumed a lot of thinking from her side but i did enjoy my learning experience.
If this is what it takes to motivate my learners ... thinking constantly about how to motivate them to get the best out of them... it's definitely worth the thought.
Thanks Dr. Joy for turning back on my learning enthusiasm at the end of the diploma :)
Wonderful reflection Reham! I love the line: "you can change a frustrated student into an eager learner IF and only IF you could tap smoothly into his or her head." And the way to do that is to always put yourself in your students' shoes. How do they feel when they receive feedback that they did not expect? How do they feel when they put effort into getting the task done and they are asked to do it again? How do I acknowledge those feelings, yet motivate them to push themselves to do better, and feel good about that? Yes, it requires thought and planning and an openness of spirit to ensure that the goal is achieved. A mind/body activity and memory like the stretching exercise works well. You can also tap into activities called Brain Gym on the web. They work well as energisers with students.
ReplyDeletegreat Reham you expressed what we really felt last session I also wanted to change my article but I couldn't, but next one I intended to choose a journal one .
ReplyDelete