Monday, March 22, 2010

Weinstein Chapter 7

This chapter will be one that I refer back to a lot I think. Motivating students to learn is such a refined skill, and one that I feel only comes from learning what doesn't work. I have such a hard time getting some of my first graders motivated, especially the low achieving ones. I really enjoyed reading the Provide Opportunities for Success. When it comes to low achievers this is so often the case, they do work that is too hard so they give up. But if we as teachers can give them work that is level appropriate to avoid their frustration. If they feel they can do something the next time something is hard, they are more likely to work instead of quit right off the back.

I also liked how they discussed trying to get the students to see the correlation between effort and outcome. Progress reports seem to be a great way to keep this up. I think that if we as teachers don't provide any feedback, then this is more difficult, and I think the more feedback the better. I know from personal experience that it is so hard to know if my effort is paying any divends without getting any feedback.

1 comment:

  1. I hope to create some kind of reports myself in the classroom for individual students to keep their works and observe the progress throughout the days, weeks, months, and a year of how much they have developed and succeeded. It is definitely going to help encourage students’ motivation as they see themselves how far they have progressed, and being able to see their potentials of success in the school years will bring courage to their self-esteem as well. Hence, feedback is important for students since it would be their value in knowing how well they are doing as well as what they should work on to achieve what they can.

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