Motivation Affects Many Different Areas For Students

The School Motivation and Learning Strategies Inventory (SMALSI) is a self-report tool designed to determine student performance across a comprehensive set of behaviors representing learning strategies, academic motivation, and test-taking. This inventory is unique in that it is designed especially for use with school-aged youth. There are two forms: a Child Form for students aged 8-12 years, and a Teen Form for students aged 13-18 years. Both forms consist of over 100 items written at a third grade reading level, which should take from 20-30 minutes to complete. The SMALSI can be administered individually or to a group; the form also can be read to students who have difficulty reading. The SMALSI is intended for use in both general and special education for the purposes of: (a) screening to facilitate identification of topics for group instruction; (b) prereferral intervention, which may ameliorate learning difficulties and avert the need for special education; (c) special education assessment, which is linked directly to intervention in areas that may exacerbate academic difficulties; and (d) research related to understanding the nature of these skills and to the development of effective interventions for learning strategies, test taking, and academic motivation.

It is a fact that schools fail to educate at least thirty percent of students in high school in the USA alone. Now many people would argue that it is the student's fault as to why they are failing in school while others would believe that it is the education system and the teachers are to blame. What adults tend to see is that if the student skips class and doesn’t do their homework, then it is their fault as to why they failed in their classes. Not many adults realize that maybe the reasoning for some students lack of interest in school is simply because they aren’t being taught properly. In this speech that I am giving to you, I am going to give you three reasons as to why students are failing high school: Learning styles, Anxiety slash depression, and stress. By the end of this speech, I will provide you with ideas and solutions to each problem so one day there will be a higher success rate.

“ Students do become behaviorally, emotionally, and cognitively involved in the learning activities their teachers provide (e.g., write an essay, solve a math problem), and their extent of effort, enjoyment, and strategic thinking does predict important outcomes, such as achievement. But students also do more than this. Students also, more or less, proactively contribute into the flow of instruction they receive as they attempt not only to learn but also to create a more motivationally supportive learning environment for themselves ( Bandura,

Between the 275,000 United State’s (U.S.) students in 2006 to 2009 who completed the High School Survey of Student Engagement (HSSSE), 65% reported that they were bored in school at least once a day and only 36% of the students reported that they went to school each day because they enjoyed it (Cooper, 2014). Many educators and researchers agree that students’ disengagement from schooling is one of the most immediate and tenacious problems which is conflicting because they have also identified positive correlations between school engagement and

Teaching in the middle school classroom takes skill, courage, strength, and patience, and all of these attributes contribute to helping motivate a student. During this time in a student’s life they, the student, can become disengaged in school and lose the motivation and drive to do well in the classroom. This is because the student becomes focused upon other “more important” things like friends, sports, video games, relationships, and other activities that do not involve the classroom. Motivating young adolescent students to be engaged with their work is one of the most challenging aspects of a teacher’s daily routine in a middle school classroom. These students want to feel connected to the world outside of school, they want to have be able to trust the person who is teaching them, they want to push themselves, and they want to learn. All students have the

The majority of ASCC’s course offerings are Associate of Arts and Associate of Science degrees. However, the college offers only a Bachelor in Education Degree, BED program, in 2006, under the Teacher Education Department. The BED program provides theoretical and practical experiences for pre-service and in-service elementary education majors. One of the major challenges of the program since its inception is the low enrollment from the general student population. A slow but significant climb in enrollment was noticeable when a new platform was required for the program in 2008 – the introduction of MOODLE in addition to the face-to-face format of the teacher education program.

National Association of School Psychologists. (2006). Removing barriers to learning and improving student outcomes: The importance of school-based mental health services. NASP Communique, 34(7).

According to the research, studies show a decline in student engagement as they went from elementary school to middle to high school. By the time they reached high school, as much as 40%-60% of students became disengaged from school (2004, p.262).

Motivation matters. Motivation is a characteristic that not every pupil has. In fact, according to the National Research Council report on motivation “Upwards of 40 percent of high school students are chronically disengaged from school,” meaning only sixty-percent or less actually are engaged (Crotty par. 3). Without motivation throughout school a student is at a high risk of dropping out,“on the other hand, students who are motivated to learn have higher achievement, show better understanding of the concepts they are taught, are more satisfied with school, and have lower dropout rates” (Crotty par. 5). In other words,

It is important for teachers to motivate their students whenever possible. Unmotivated students are more likely to not participate, act out/misbehave, or be involved with the school. Terrell Bell, former Secretary of the U.S. Department of Education said, "There are three important things to remember about education. The first one is motivation, the second is motivation, and the third is motivation." In order to strengthen classroom motivation, teachers should create success through praise, encouragement, and intrinsic rewards. With teacher guidance, students can learn that a completed project, whether perfect or not, is a reward in itself (Badolato, 1998). As teachers recognize students' accomplishments, they encourage students to attempt and risk new things (Katz,

Even though school completion rates have continually grown during much of the past 100 years, dropping out of school persists as a problem that interferes with educational system efficiency and the most straightforward and satisfying route to individual educational goals for young people.(Doll, Eslami, and Walters (2013) pg 185 ) .

The school personnel must have some sort of relationship with the student. If the student is struggling, the student should have a meeting with the teacher, as to find out why the students behavior is allowing this to happen. This prompted our next data collection piece. The development of a student centered survey based on attendance, academics and other school health and safety issues. The 50 identified students were asked to respond to 12 questions based on why they do not attend school. The following four responses were the most common answers picked by the students surveyed.

Self-motivation is essential for students to partake in an active and responsible role in their education.  Self-motivation allows students to perform at their best and to learn without any sense of limitation.  With this, students will find a reason to work — and as a result, they will give their best to every assignment.  In addition, students will take an initiative to participate in class. Studies made by Csikszentmihalyi and Nakamura state that, “activities will not continue unless they are enjoyable—or unless people are motivated by extrinsic rewards” (602).  Motivated students

In 2012, a research study conducted by the National Center for Educational Statistics revealed that only 73% of students entering high school will graduate (Mazer, 2012, para. 1). For those students who achieve graduation, and continue on at the collegiate level, the study further revealed that only 57% or slightly more than half will earn Bachelor’s Degrees, and 18% will leave college academics completely (Mazer, 2012, para. 1). Most laypersons, outside of academics, would probably conclude that these statistics are acceptable and reflective of a healthy educational system. Unfortunately, the statistics reveal a serious problem existing in the teacher-learner relationship. Although teacher and learner both share culpability in the problems associated with the teacher-learner relationship, and other environmental and academic risk factors contribute to the problem, negative emotions associated with learning, including lack of interest, are the primary reasons why students disengage from coursework and either fail, or withdraw from school (Mazer, 2012). Hence, the paradox of how to create interest in students still remains.

Scientific studies have established that dropping out is a process rather than an instant phenomenon (Wahlgren & Mariager-Anderson, 2016). This means that a person does not simply decide to stop attending school. Instead, there are many factors that can ultimately make a student decide to not continue attending classes and drop out. For instance, substantial evidence exists that shows that among the strongest determinants of dropping out is poor academic achievement (Rumberger & Sun, 2008). A student who does not do well in his classes may not automatically drop out; instead, this person would likely strive to improve his performance. However, if personal and external circumstances would not allow him to improve his academic performance, this person may be discouraged from finishing his schooling and drop out. Other strong indicators of dropping out are behavioral problems, including, delinquency, substance abuse, and absenteeism. Of the three, substance abuse is likely the strongest since a person who abuses substances would be distracted from his classes and more focused on attending to his addictive behaviors or habits. At the other end of the spectrum, retention of students as well as graduation rates are improved through stable home environments and adequate access to social and financial resources (Rumberger & Sun, 2008). These factors encourage students to do well because their basic needs are met. They can focus on studying and enriching their knowledge.