There are two types of students in the
world: those who are internally motivated, and those who are motivated by
external means.It all depends on their Learning Style.
It’s very easy
to get an externally motivated child to behave in class or learn the new work:
all you have to do is promise her a reward. The reward can be verbal (you’re
such a good girl, I’m proud of you), material (a star), accrued (a star-chart
with a well defined reward once the child accumulates 20 stars) or a withdrawal
of privileges.
It’s even easier to get an internally
motivated child to behave in class or learn the new work: you don’t need to do
anything at all, because the student will do it all out of her internal sense
of “I want to do this”. That’s provided she herself sees that schoolwork and
school behaviour as important matters worthy of engaging her internal
motivation system over. If she doesn’t see them as important, you have a
problem on your hands, because no amount of carrot/stick is going to have an
effect on her.
So, what do you do as a teacher? The first
step is, naturally, to establish what type of motivation works on your
students, and to what extend: some students may have a strong preference for
external motivation, others only a slight one, they may have a non-preference
for it (in which case it’s really not a good idea to offer them external
rewards), or they may be flexible in this area (in other words, a combination
of internal and external motivation would work well).
Check out your students' Learning Styles. You will also get a free
group profile for your class, with a summary of how many of your students are
internally and externally motivated.
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