Motivating Students

Many students are not ______ to learn. Even with the perfect lesson plan in place, an unmotivated student will not learn.

• motivate

• motivates

• motivated

• motivating

Some teachers claim that motivating students is not their job. It is a teacher’s job to know the content and to teach it well; the student must take responsibility for his or her learning and find his or her own ______.

• motive

• motivation

• motivated

This old-fashioned idea is what limits many teachers to being average. A great teacher recognises that student's motivation is necessary for ______ in learning and that teachers are in the perfect position to improve student's motivation.

• succeed

• success

• successful

Here are some strategies that can be ______ in the classroom to help motivate students:

• use

• uses

• used

• using

Promote growth mindset over fixed mindset.

In her book, Mindset, Carol Dweck argues that students have an underlying belief about learning: either a fixed mindset or a growth mindset. A fixed mindset ______ suggests that people are born with or without certain abilities and talents, and that abilities cannot be changed.

• believe

• believes

• believed

• believing

• belief

Fixed mindset learners try to ______ themselves and will often shy away from challenges because they do not want to appear to be struggling.

• proof

• prove

• proves

• proved

A growth mindset learner, on the other hand, believes that abilities and talents can be cultivated and ______ through hard work.

• improvement

• improved

• improves

• improve

Growth mindset students ______ a challenge and see struggles and failures as necessary parts of growth. Learners with a growth mindset are certainly more motivated to work hard.

• enjoyable

• enjoyment

• enjoyed

• enjoy

How do we foster a growth mindset in the classroom?

One of the most powerful _____ of feedback for our learners is to praise them for their efforts and hard work.

• elements

• element

“I can tell that you have been practising your reading,” or “The practice is paying off on your times tables,” tells learners that they have the _____ to improve their academic success.

• power

• powerful