How might you enhance
motivation and affect in your students using the theories of motivation?
As a future elementary school teacher, I agree most with the social cognitive theory. My students will be largely motivated by the consequences that follow their behaviors or the behaviors of their peers. Eventually, they will acquire self-efficacy and will then be able to set personal goals. One way I will enhance motivation in my students will be to include amusing classroom topics that relate to my students' interests, arousing their curiosity. Another way that I can increase their motivation is to give them opportunities to interact with their peers whether it be through role-playing activities, classroom debates, or group projects. Lastly, I want my students to focus more on improving themselves as learners rather than comparing their successes and failures to fellow students. This will not only increase their motivation but also help develop their self-efficacy.
Which theories of motivation
are most helpful and instructive for you?
Personally, the behaviorist theory is the most helpful and instructive for me. As a child, I was given many positive/negative reinforcements and positive/negative consequences in order to illicit good behavior. As a child, these reinforcements and consequences motivated me to do well. As an adult, I've become intrinsically motivated rather than rely on outside factors.
I think we can all agree that a lot of intrinsic motivation may come from extrinsic motivators of the past. Your idea of collaboration and group activities is perfect for all age groups. The only downside to group activities is we will always have those students that are introverts and can sometimes be dominated by others in the group. We, as teachers, will be required to have a system in place that will continuously monitor the groups and the conversations.
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