Motivating students to do better in school - Hot Topics

MOTIVATING STUDENTS TO DO BETTER IN SCHOOL
by R.N.Whitehead Ph.D.

Motivation is that inner feeling of dedication that allows you to work quietly and successfully toward achieving your goals. It is a result of the action you take to achieve your values and goals! Action comes first; motivation follows. Motivation comes from the natural harmony you achieve when the majority of your day's work is spent working toward accomplishing your goals. There are three things to remember when trying to motivate children.

1) We cannot actually motivate children. Children motivate themselves when they discover what we are offering them is something they want. Our job is to lead them to understand why they should motivate themselves.

2) Children are already motivated. They lose motivation when they are expected to do things that do not appear to be important to them. Communicate with them at their level and in the context of their lives.

3) Your child is already a genius! Children are capable of logical and rational thought but lack life experience. Reconsider how you react to their actions and decisions. Treat their feelings with respect. If a child does not want to go to school or learn to read, there is always a reason. You just have to find it.

The secret for us as parents, is to make sure that our expectations are properly understood at our child's level, not just at ours. Ask me why you should learn to read, and I will tell you that, without reading you cannot experience the world's great literature, graduate from school, or get a good job - you will be doomed to struggle and under-achieve throughout your life. Good answer, eh? But what if you are 10 years old? What does that answer mean then? It has absolutely no motivating power to the child at all.

By changing the way we voice our concerns and wants for our children, and by listening to the things that are important to them right now in their world, we will have the tools necessary to guide them along the path we know is best for them.

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES: http://www.kidsworld.net
World Kids Network is not just Îanother web siteâ, it's an ongoing project created by adults and kids from all over the world. This site offers a lot of fun and entertaining possibilities. Easily navigated, this site employs clear directions, colourful graphics, and many opportunities for students to talk with one another and voice their opinions. It is definitely a must-see site.

The visitor can find sections on art, animals, storybooks and wormholes, just to name a few. There are numerous contests and specialty clubs for kids of all ages. Some parts of the site require registration, but the rest of the site is quite enjoyable without having to register. http://www.pbs.org/uti/begin.html

While this is not a flashy site, it can be a very useful tool for introducing the Internet to teachers and students (grades 5-12) especially if they are just beginning to use, or have had little experience with, the Internet. This site gives short (1-3 paragraph) descriptions of various Internet topics such as netiquette, e-mail, web, FTP, usenet, IRC, gopher, telnet, creating your own web pages, subject indexes and searching tools. It then provides many useful links to sites which give the user more information and a chance to use the acquired information.http://scholastic.com/goosebumps/indexa.htm

If you like being scared or pretending not to be youâre probably an R.L. Stine fan. R.L. Stine's Goosebumps has fostered a whole generation of readers, and this amusing site goes a long way to expanding the mythos of characters like The Shrunken Head, Cuddles the Hamster, and AMAZ-O the Rabbit. This site has versions for both low speed and high speed connections which encompass a variety of sections including games (Shockwave), stories, e-mail from fans, new book listings, and other information on the best-selling children's series in America, England, France, Australia, and several other countries.

RECOMMENDED READING:

Little Readers Booklist

Beardream Will Hobbs. Ill. by Jill Kastner.
In this mystical story, a Native American boy dreams of the Great Bear who teaches him how bears celebrate the end of winter. Full-page oil paintings capture the beauty of the mountain landscape.

Bearobics Vic Parker. Ill. by Emily Bolam. Colorful illustrations and action rhymes make counting more than just an exercise. Animals from the jungle join together for bearobics. Children will enjoy snapping their fingers and tapping their toes in this hip-hop counting story.

Young Adults (Core) Booklist

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer‘s Stone by J. K. Rowling
Harry Potter has never been the star of a Quidditch team, scoring points while riding a broom far above the ground. He knows no spells, has never helped to catch a dragon, and has never worn a cloak of invisibility. All he knows is a miserable life with the Dursleys, his horrible aunt and uncle, and their abominable son, Dudley - a great big swollen spoiled bully. Harry's room is a closet at the foot of the stairs, and he hasnât had a birthday party in eleven years. But all that is about to change, when a mysterious letter arrives by owl messenger: a letter with an invitation to an incredible place that Harry - and anyone who reads about him - will find unforgettable. For it's there that he finds not only friends, aerial sports, and magic in everything from classes to meals, but a great destiny that's been waiting for him... if Harry can survive the encounter.

The Firework-Maker‘s Daughter by Philip Pullman
ãA thousand years ago, in a country east of the jungle and south of the mountains, there lived a firework-maker and his daughter, Lila.ä Lila has learned how to make firework displays of leaping monkeys. She's mastered Crackle Dragons, the Golden Sneeze and the fiery Java Light. But her Father has held back the final secret - the most dangerous one, saying Lila isn‘t ready to know. Not to be deterred, the headstrong girl discovers that anyone who want, to be a true firework-maker must face down the Fire-Fiend of Mount Merapi and bring back some of the royal sulfur. So Lila sets off fearlessly, ready to face pirates and demons and anything else that gets in her way. Philip Pullman keeps readers laughing at the edge of their seats in a beautifully illustrated novel that is at once funny, suspenseful, and impossible to put down.

Article provided by: OXFORD LEARNING CENTRES

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