Class Calm

Although this blog is devoted to classroom management, another subject that needs to be explored is student motivation. Motivation and classroom management are related in at least two ways. One, at some schools (not mine, thankfully) the administrators put the onus of motivation on the teacher and two, a lazy student cannot be ignored as such an attitude can spread and lead to other classroom management problems. Motivation issues are many but commonly can involve a student who wants to sleep, chronically shows up without basic school supplies, slow-walks everything, distracts classmates, or any number of behaviors which the teacher must manage.

Student motivation is a rather lengthy topic so today we will just look at at things from the standpoint of how much the teacher should be responsible for and also one of the reasons why some students do not want to perform.

In the way of teacher responsibility, it can be helpful to consider what happens in the real world. A teacher who did not enjoy the task of motivating students could point to the fact that companies in the real world do not try to motivate their staff. However, the truth is that this is rather common. The world of sales, for instance, is full of examples of companies calling in motivational speakers to boost the morale of their team of vendors. However, even in a field known for the higher-ups supplying some amount of motivation, it is nowhere near an everyday thing. On a day-to-day basis it is the sales rep who has to light a fire under his feet and get moving. The expectation should be the same for a high school student.

The teacher can do the occasional pep talk but the onus should remain on the student. In my class I spend about five minutes on a short motivational presentation during the first or second day, I document that in my lesson plans, and from then on simply revert to a slogan from the old Fram oil filter ads. You can pay now or your can pay later.

So you have done your part in motivation and documented your efforts and now it is time to move on and teach. However, it remains likely that some will still not do their work. One reason for this can be found in a book entitled The Time Paradox (2008) by Philip Zimbardo and John Boyd. Zimbardo is professor emeritus of psychology at Stanford University and was president of the American Psychological Association in 2002 and is well know for his book The Lucifer Effect.

In The Time Paradox people are classified based on their view of time. Some live in the present, others are more future-oriented, and some dwell in the past. Although no one category is without pitfalls, Zimbardo generally asserts that those with a mind centered on the future tend to be higher achieving than those who think about the past or choose to live for the now. On page 101 he writes:

Present-oriented people are likely to be less concerned with work and more cynical about current efforts paying off in the future. They are also more distrustful of society, institutions, and families, all of which prevent movement up the social-class ladder. Living in the present time zone means a greater likelihood of being in the lower class in any society.

Clearly, lack of motivation has little to do with the teacher. Others may try to assert this in order to shift blame onto the instructor. Familiarity with Zimbardo’s work can effectively counter this (as your hypothetical adversary was likely never the president of the A.P.A.). For your part, be ready every day with an on-topic, standards-based, interesting lesson. Always be ready to welcome the previously lazy student into the mix of engaged students. And never use sarcasm or in any way denigrate a student who is not trying. That rarely works and only makes you look bad.

But do not accept responsibility for a student who is not willing to work. You already are doing enough. More about motivation in future posts.