Motivated Teaching: Harnessing the science of motivation to boost attention and effort in the classroom: 3 (High Impact Teaching)

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Engaging with them about the readings—doing my best to make their experience of the works we study as fun, rigorous and stimulating as I can—never gets old. The title of this book temptingly offers the silver bullet for teachers: a class full of bright-eyed learning enthusiasts hanging on their every word, eager to learn, work hard and succeed. The Academy Transformation Trust is also curating a blog series titled ‘A Letter to my NQT Self’ through which educators reflect on their NQT year and offer advice to their NQT self. Help your teachers as much as possible when they have a heavier workload by asking what they need help with.

It’s important for teachers to keep this in mind: generally 'we' tend to think there are motivated and less-motivated pupils, rather than more precisely consider ‘situation-specificity’]. In my classroom, I like to think that I provide many opportunities for students to be the master of their fate.The key idea check-points are crafted in such a way that we are guided through the reading process and the crucial take-aways are handed to us. The shift to online teaching has changed the manner in which we do much of this work, but the underlying reasons for it, as well as the rewards we’re seeking from it, are exactly the same, and that helps me persist even when (as so often these days) the world around us seems to be conspiring to make it as difficult as possible to focus on books.

If students have been revising effectively in the manner I have taught them, they will experience success.

When I spend some time focused on non-work activities, whether it’s going on a bike ride, playing a game with my kids, or taking a longer break, like going away for the weekend and leaving my laptop at home, I come back to my teaching responsibilities with more energy, new ideas, and optimism. In my classroom, I look to do this by reminding students that what matters is their own progress, what they are able to do and what knowledge they have. And, of course, the energy, connection, and dynamics of the classroom or lecture hall is inimitable.