(Writing this blog pen and paper style, an hour an half wait at a train station so small that it doesn't even have a shop!)
As I have said on twitter before, doing the BEd primary teaching degree has motivated me so much, that it has changed my whole attitude to learning. Motivation probably means different things to different people, but for me it is what pushes me to get involved in trainee teacher life and enjoy every minute of it. At school I was the kind of person who just went along with everything, based my learning around exams and tended to avoid extra curricular activities. This attitude has completely changed, coming from that I am finally enjoying education and the course that I'm on!
Sometimes motivation arrives in bursts giving you an incentive to do something that you have been dreading or sometimes it can be what gets you out of bed and excited for the coming day. From my perspective a lot of my motivation is personal, with help from friends, lecturers and the uni. So I decided to tweet to get a few responses from other people who might have different influences. One response I had got me thinking, from @mikemcsharry.
I really liked that what influenced him is how other people are benefited from what he is doing, and are appreciating what he has showed them. This made me think more in terms of when I am teaching, placement or eventually full time. My motivations won't completely rely on the selfish reasons that I am loving what I do, but as well the way that what I will do each day will hopefully impact children's learning and understanding.
My new found motivation since starting the degree has benefited my learning dramatically, giving me confidence to take advantage of opportunities and get on with my work, without seeing these as a waste of time. I think direction and focus are key factors in this because I seem to know what I want and what I want to do and these push me forward to take advantage of my whole university and trainee teacher experience.
Your spur of motivation is inspiring, and is great that you have used other people's comments, it's great to get a range of view.
ReplyDeleteBut what about those people who aren't motivated, what advise would you give them? as motivation is key to learning effectively, as a teacher we're all going to have students in our classes that are motivated, and others that arnt. What kind of things would you do to help motivate them?
Thanks for the comment, it's great to get feedback on the blog.
DeleteThat is an interesting question actually, and to be honest not something I considered when writing this.
I think people who aren't motivated need to be encouraged to have a long term goal out of what they are doing to give them that drive, but also they need to enjoy some aspect of what they are doing. Also, positive role models can be really important to see how spurred on they are, in comparison to how the unmotivated pupil is feeling.