The Teacher's Motivation

Make sure your students know that the reason you are a teacher is because you genuinely like working with them and want to help them.

The important word in this sentence is “genuinely,” because your approach cannot be a cynical trick. If your concern for your students is not genuine, they will sense your transparent dishonesty, and your relationship with them may be permanently damaged.

Keep your door open during preparation periods in order to talk with students about their successes and frustrations, academically and otherwise. You can also devote a small amount of your class time for this as well. When your students are shown that you care about their progress in academics, sports, extra-curricular activities, and life in general, the bond you create with them will have a positive effect on your students’ motivation to perform in your class.

One way to help you bring this about is to have students complete an interest inventory at the beginning of the year, in which they list their hobbies, interests, activities, and future goals. If you keep these interests in mind, you can bring up information pertaining to those topics throughout the year to create a connection with each individual student. It gives them, correctly, the impression that you actually care about their lives, which in turn has a significantly positive impact on their motivation to learn, as well as your motivation to teach.

Just as importantly, your kindness and concern will serve as an example of good character that lives on in the memory of your students. A crucial point to remember: always keep your door open when meeting alone with a student in order to proactively avoid the appearance of impropriety.

Keep remembering the value of what you do, and keep searching for ways to create a bond with each student. Those positive thoughts will have to outweigh the frustrations you will face in order for you to keep moving forward with optimism, which in turn keeps the overall tone of your classroom upbeat, happy, and cooperative.