Looking for a simple way to boost students' motivation to learn? I recently read that nine research studies show that simply asking a student to write for 30 seconds about their prior knowledge of a topic resulted in them recognizing the gaps in their knowledge and increased their motivation to fill in those gaps.
Tomorrow, start your lesson by directing students to pull out some paper. Share your learning target for the day and ask students to jot down everything they know about it for 30 seconds. Then consider coming back to it at the end of the lesson and closing by asking them to add their new knowledge to the list.
A variation on this is to ask students to create a download or progress bar such as the one shown below. At the beginning of the lesson have students color in the bar based on their current confidence with the topic. Return to the download bar at mid-lesson and at the end. Even if students aren't 100% truthful with their reflection, the act of reflecting will still cause them to try to select strategies that will help them meet the goal.
Tomorrow, start your lesson by directing students to pull out some paper. Share your learning target for the day and ask students to jot down everything they know about it for 30 seconds. Then consider coming back to it at the end of the lesson and closing by asking them to add their new knowledge to the list.
A variation on this is to ask students to create a download or progress bar such as the one shown below. At the beginning of the lesson have students color in the bar based on their current confidence with the topic. Return to the download bar at mid-lesson and at the end. Even if students aren't 100% truthful with their reflection, the act of reflecting will still cause them to try to select strategies that will help them meet the goal.
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