What Keeps Students Motivated To Learn?

Good Morning ALC students and students I’m Ms.Pastor your principal. I recognize some of your faces and some are new but it’s nice to see you all. Hopefully you all had a nice summer and welcome to a new school year. Before you all head to class I want to speak about a topic I feel needs to be addressed. Throughout, the years that I’ve been working here my fellow staff and teachers have told me that the students here lose focus during class and hopefully we can work together to change that. Everyone in this room is lucky to be here we have been given opportunities and we should take advantage of that situation whether you are a student or a teacher. We all have to work together, we have to help one another as teachers and help students learn.
Just yesterday I was reading an article “What Keeps Students Motivated to Learn?” by Katrina Shwartz. She talked about how teachers should give students projects they’re interested in. Gramann a student that Shwarts talked to stated “that if teachers give broad guidelines for projects and then have students do something they’re interested in it will bring students along the whole time.” I agree with with Gramann but at the same time I feel conflicted because no matter what there will always be students who don’t do their work. Teachers may agree with me in this situation because even if you make a project easy and interesting there will always be those that are either lazy or procrastinate too much and end up not doing what they’re asked to. As teachers you all know that, that doesn’t need to be the case, we have to help them avoid that. We all have to make an effort to change students ways and we have to make sure that no one in class is falling behind. It’s a teacher’s job to motivate students to do their best and treat them as your own children. Gramann also stated “I feel motivated because because the teachers make me feel worth it.” This alone should show teachers that they have to motivate their students and support them the whole way. They need help and our role is to be there for them as much as we can, to make sure that they get help. We can’t let them fall behind
As teachers you have to make sure that you student is happy and satisfied because if the student has worries they won’t be able to focus on their education and will fall behind. The article that made me realize that our students’ happiness matters is “Because I’m Happy” by Victoria Jones. Jones stated “Students often report that happiness, or positive feelings like enjoyment or fun promotes learning.” As eager as I am to make our students happiness better, I still understand that no one is always feeling up to doing the task that they are handed but if happiness is what helps you learn then make sure to get as much as you can before you head into class. Your role as students should be to make sure that your needs are fulfilled because teachers don’t always have the time to make sure that their students are feeling well. If you aren’t feeling positive because you have too much worries in your mind talk to your teacher and they’ll do their best to help you. Jones also stated “If school want to support well being and achievement they should take seriously nurturing positive relationships among teachers and students.” Our goal as an academy is to achieve all this by the end of the school year. All teachers have to make sure that they’re there for their students not only as a teacher but as a supportive friend. If making our students happy helps their education then we should do it daily.