Ten Ways to Motivate Students This Year

1. Kick off the school year by giving positive feedback for small achievements. This helps students believe they can succeed. You can then gradually increase difficulty as the year progresses.


2. Make sure the tasks assigned to each student are achievable, but challenging enough to give them a sense of accomplishment.


3. Keep the atmosphere of your classroom open and positive—focus more on reward than punishment.


4. Make students active participants in learning—instead of lecturing, ask questions and encourage projects that help them learn the answers themselves.


5. Be clear about what students will need to do to succeed—students are more likely to meet expectations if they know exactly what they are.


6. Instead of causing students to compete, let them work in groups to motivate each other.


7. Give students some choices about what will be done in class.


8. Give immediate and constant feedback. Return papers promptly, and praise students publicly to give them a sense of pride.


9. Let students help choose their goals and the rewards for achieving them.


10. Visit the MySatori™ gift shop for lots of fun items that can be used to reward students for success as they prepare for TAKS!