Free Essay

Motivating High School Students to Suceed

In: English and Literature

Submitted By AGoulet
Words 966
Pages 4
Motivating High School Students Today
Your name
Professor
ENGL-1001-2 English Composition
October 4, 2013

To help high school student’s graduate teachers must be motivating; students must be active participants in the classroom, and students need to be rewarded for their accomplishments. We need to show these preoccupied teens that they can no longer skate through classes with passing grades without first mastering the material. Sadly this happens frequently. Statistics show that, “tens of thousands of 18 year olds will graduate this year and be handed meaningless diplomas.” (Nadell.J., Langan.J.,Comodromos.E.A., 2011, page 438). This is a disservice to the students and an embarrassment to education in America has a whole. We need to implement changes to keep these high school students motivated in order to graduate with confidence and pride of accomplishment. Teachers need to embrace their biggest challenge of motivating the students they teach to ensure successful graduation. One method of motivating students is to incorporate a pass or fail policy that will help inspire students to master the course material. Teachers implementing a pass or fail system, would eliminate the days of students barely getting by. Mary Sherry states in her article, In Praise of the F Word that, “flunking as a regular policy has just as much merit today as it did two generations ago.” (Nadell.J.,Langan,J.,& Comodromos,E.A., 2011, page 439). At the end of the day everyone wants to succeed rather than fail and a healthy fear of failure can be a real motivator. Motivation by failure can lead to high success. Picard Burleson states the following about failure, “since failure, over and over and over again, is a prerequisite to becoming an expert, so too is the ability to persevere and remain motivated through failure” (“Sustaining Motivation to Learn Through Failure and a State of Stuck” Burleson,
Picard). Education has come far, yet neglects to hang on to tried and true methods, such as failing, that encourage student motivation. This is a policy that worked in the past and can work today” (Nadell.J.,Langan,J.,& Comodromos,E.A., 2011, page 439). Teachers that adopt failure policies will motivate their students to succeed and graduate, making today’s failures tomorrow’s success.
Engaging students in classroom participation will create a learning environment geared towards achievement; this too will ensure students graduate successfully. The days of passing classes by just getting by, completing sub par minimal work will be a thing of the past. Students will have to display participation by first arriving to class prepared. They must interact with their peers regarding course material when instructed and play and active role. Students who actively engage in classroom participation gain the required knowledge needed to pass the course and are successful in accomplishing many learning goals. There have been many studies regarding the benefits of classroom participation. One such study indicates, students who are engaged through classroom participation learn more, retain more and are more motivated to learn. (Motivational Influences on Student Participation in Classroom Learning Activities, Patrick, Anderman, Ryan, Edelin, & Midgley, 2003). Maryellen Weimer, PHD states the following regarding benefits of student participation: “Participation engages students, it motivates them, can pique their interest, and make them wonder why, get them to think, and motivate them to make connections with the content.” (The Ten Benefits of Getting Students to Participate Class, Maryellen Weimer, PhD). Through classroom participation, students become more motivated and engaged which assists in their ability to master the course material, allowing them to succeed to graduation. Students should be rewarded to promote motivation. When students are rewarded for their achievements consistently, it will build morale and motivation, also leading to students graduating successfully. Students like to see their accomplishments praised. By using strategies to provide rewards, students will strive even harder to reach their academic potential. Roland Fryer states the following, “school programs that reward students with money, prizes, or privileges for academic achievements or effort are more effective at motivating students than if they reward students for mastering a particular skill, such as reading a book or solving a problem. (Impact of Incentive Programs on Student Achievement, Roland Fryer). Rewarding students for their accomplishments and meeting course milestones through reward/incentive programs will help student’s motivation to apply themselves. Many teachers believe that student motivation can be "jump started" by providing tangible rewards such as stickers, candy or prizes. (Rewards in the Classroom, By Leah Davies, M.Ed.) Students will strive a bit harder if they know they will receive some acknowledgement or reward at the end of the project. Rewarding the small things can lead to motivation to achieve the bigger things. Achieving the bigger items, such as mastering course material, leads to graduation, confidence and pride of accomplishment.
Today’s education system needs adopt changes to motivate high school students to achieve student success and ensure graduation. Through the incorporation of

flunking policies, required student class participation and incentive reward programs we will motivate students and bring back the days of higher graduation rates. Students will gain the knowledge needed for mastering course work with confidence. Most importantly high school students can graduate with pride of accomplishment, confidence that they have succeeded and feel good about it.

References * (Nadell, Langan, & Comodromos (2011). The Longman writer: Rhetoric, reader, research guide, and handbook (8th Edition.). New York: Pearson Education * Marry Sherry, In Praise of the “F” Word * (Burleson, Picard) Sustaining Motivation to Learn Through Failure and a State of Stuck. * (Maryellen Weimer, PhD) “The Ten Benefits of Getting Students to Participate Class” * (Roland Fryer) “Impact of Incentive Programs on Student Achievement.” * Motivational Influences on Student Participation in Classroom Learning Activities (Patrick, Anderman, Ryan, Edelin, & Midgley, 2003). * Rewards in the Classroom” By Leah Davies, M.Ed.)

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

Ugodan

...Background to entrepreneurship Definition and interpretation The term enterpreneurship emerges from the french (literally between take or go between )and traceable to the eighteen century economiist Richard Cantillon ,Anne-Robert –jacques Turgot and Francios Quesnay ,The term was also denoted to an actor in charge of large –scale construction Project as cathedral, bearing no risk but simply carrying the task forward untill resoures were Exhausted ,the change in the use of term began in the seventeen century with a specific reference to risk bearing and enterpreneurship was tagged a person who entered into a contractual relationship with the government for the performance of a service or the supply of good ;The assumption was the price of a contract had been valued and fixed and the enterpreneur bore the risk of profit and loss from the bargain. In the eighteen century ,the term was applied in france in several way ; cantillon in 1725 referred to entrepreneurs as risk bearing .But he tried to differentiate the entrepreneurs who provide capital or funds from those who relied on their own labour and resources. That showed an entrepreneurial role as independent of the capitalist role Quesnay considered an enterpreneur as a tenant farmer who rent property at a fixed rent and produces a given price’s like cantillon bandeau ( 1797) and Turgot...

Words: 15789 - Pages: 64