As teachers, we play
multiple roles in the eyes of our students. As each new school year comes
around, we all know that the task of learning who our students really are will
be one of the first set of goals that we aim to achieve. When you look at this same task from the eyes
of a parent, one might say, “Of course I know what my child likes”, or “I know
exactly what motivates my child.” However, as time goes on these “likes” and
“motivators” may change. So, as I was thinking
about what to blog about, I wanted to find something that may really touch our
families at TWE, as well as our staff. I
found an excellent article titled Unmotivated
Child? 6 Ways to Get Your Child Going by Debbie Pincus, MS LMHC. As I read through her article several times,
there were these 4 questions that were included in the article that kept
popping back into my head. The questions
are as follows:
- What motivates my child?
- What does he really want?
- What questions can I ask that will help him discover and explore
his interests?
- What are his goals and ambitions?
As a parent myself,
I started thinking about these questions and answering them to myself,
as well as wondering if my own children’s teachers had done something similar
for them at school. I know that as a
teacher, we all have to find and develop ways to motivate our students, as each
child is different in what truly motivates them. With that said, the motivators can change
over time, and need to be "tweaked”, in order to have the best effect on the
child. This year at TWE, we have
implemented a new system, still using our “Leader of the Pack” tickets. Through this new system, our students are
learning responsibility, accountability, and financial literacy skills. It is awesome to see them treating these
tickets as they would real money. As the
year has gone on, the system has been analyzed to be sure that we are still
achieving the same motivation for our students through the use of these
tickets. I again realized as I read
through those 4 questions, that I have asked my students what “rewards” would
motivate them to want to earn more tickets in order to cash them in. By doing
this, I have given them the opportunity to have a decision in the type of
motivation that they were wanting to work for.
I saw this as a great way to begin teaching them financial literacy
skills as they are “saving” in order to “spend” their tickets on something
they really wanted which was something that motivated them to want to earn
more tickets so they could “purchase” the reward. Our students are learning and earning at the
same time!! That’s a great motivator in
itself!! When you have a minute, sit
back and think if you, as a parent, can answer those 4 questions about your
child(ren), and if you are stuck on one, just ask them….. they will be glad to
share their ideas!!!
Read
more: http://www.empoweringparents.com/Unmotivated-Child-6-Ways-to-Get-Your-Child-Going.php#ixzz3qkl3STeN
No comments:
Post a Comment