I'm not even a real teacher yet and I still ask the same question, the one that all teachers ask themselves at some point (or various points, if we're being honest) in their career: Why don't my students care? Why aren't they applying themselves? Why aren't they motivated?
Especially if the content of a class is one that you have a lot of passion for (e.g., myself, Spanish, linguistics, culture, grammar... I'm a total nerd about them), it can be difficult to understand how students cannot see how interesting or important the content is for them to know. They should just... realize that, right? And yet, while there will always be those few bright and "self-motived" kids that are in it for the grades, motivation seems to be the constant struggle of education.
Hinchman and Sheridan-Thomas (2014) suggest that part of the issue is due to our misunderstanding of the nature of motivation. Motivation is not easily defined, nor is it easily created but rather is developed through students' experiences, interests, and influences. It is the energy that students have to complete the tasks they are given, as well as what they determine to be a task well done (or sufficiently done). Motivation involves what students believe about themselves and what they feel toward the tasks they are given.
That last point is an important one, because while many learners are good students and know it, many are not--often by no fault of their own. A common misconception held by many teachers (and even more widespread in the general society) is that students motivate themselves, that people all have the same opportunities for success and that success or failure is up to them. Yet many students come into school burdened by the circumstances of home; others may begin school with energy and enthusiasm but experience such discrimination that they begin to doubt their own abilities. The lie that minority students (ELLs, kids from the "hood", etc.) are just less intelligent and less able to succeed is so proliferate that the lies they hear and experience eventually become ingrained into their motivation.
Because of this, we continue to see shocking statistics of minority students' performance in school. Their struggles are compounded by generations of issues and difficulties that often lead them to be placed in less-than-ideal home situations, creating even more of a distraction for them from schoolwork. Yet even the most rough-around-the-edges student has so much potential; the shame is that so often that potential is never realized.
How, then, can teachers help students to reach their potential? Struggling students need someone to believe in them. I loved the poem in the Beers text that a student (a once "problem" student, as I inferred) wrote to express how it feels to be told you can't succeed, but how that lie cannot be kept forever. This student had been influenced by the authors of the chapter to have self-confidence, which is such an important factor in motivation.
I think another important piece to building motivation, which was more or less mentioned in the reading but that I feel could be made clearer, is proper scaffolding for students. Giving students material that is at their grade level when they are below grade level is overwhelming; allowing students to just read what they can comfortable manage doesn't accomplish much. Students need just the right amount of a challenge to help them feel like they are accomplishing something and improving; they don't need to be discouraged by what they cannot do or allowed to slip through the cracks the "easy" way.
How does this transfer to Spanish? As in most other areas, motivation looks different in Spanish education. Students who take Spanish are not learning how to read and write; they are learning how to use and adapt the skills that they have to function in another language. Motivation is a big issue in many Spanish classes, especially lower-level classes (1 and 2). Most of these courses are taught in a bottom-up manner, learning the pieces of the language bit by bit and putting them together as though they were a puzzle. This can be a frustrating process for beginning students, and it is not uncommon for them to check out entirely, do the bare minimum, and pass the class by the skin of their teeth (or alternatively, not pass at all).
To me, designing my classes in a differentiated manner is a daunting task. How am I supposed to plan for every individual's skill level, interests, and learning styles? How do I stimulate the kids that are advanced while supporting those that are struggling? I think a lot of it comes down to forming relationships with students--and, ultimately, experience. You have to find out what works and what doesn't; a lot of the time that's all you can do: try and try and try until you find something that works, and move on from there.
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