There鈥檚 no doubt about it 鈥� teaching is a tiring profession. You鈥檙e 鈥渙n鈥� from the moment students arrive at school to when they leave, often the sole driver of their attention.
But believe it or not, students are tired too. The stress of balancing academics, home life and friends weighs heavily on many of our students, and they can get worn down the farther they go in the school year, just like you.
You may find yourself asking, 鈥淗ow do I motivate my students?鈥� Let鈥檚 talk about how to lay the foundation for motivation through connection, and then dive into some strategies you can implement in your classroom right now to encourage students and boost motivation.
Why Connection Comes Before Motivation
We as educators know how critical connection is when it comes to student motivation. A confirmed as much: Students who experienced high-quality interactions and consistent positive relationships with their teachers were more engaged, performed better in math and reading, and had lower levels of conflict with teachers. Emotional connection builds trust and engagement, and the teacher-student relationship is one of the fundamental building blocks for motivation.听
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So, how do you motivate students toward ownership of their learning in school?听
Understanding Student Motivation听
Understanding how to motivate students involves recognizing the two main forms of motivation (intrinsic and extrinsic) and identifying those in and outside of the learning environment. Each of these plays an important role in students鈥� motivations to learn.
Extrinsic motivators include external rewards like grades, praise and competition. Extrinsic motivation to complete homework could look like earning participation points or receiving a higher grade in class.
Extrinsic motivators like recognition and gamification can be great motivation for students and boost engagement when used thoughtfully. Motivators that can boost student engagement include:
- Class reward systems.听
- Friendly competitions.听
- Public praise.听
- Leaderboard-style apps.听
Depending solely on extrinsic motivators in your classroom can backfire, however. Students may only work for the reward, not to learn. Because extrinsic motivators often only reflect surface-level engagement, they can be used to help students develop habits and as a support for intrinsic motivation.
Intrinsic motivation in education refers to:
- Learning for the joy of it.听
- Seeking out knowledge and information out of curiosity.听
- A desire to pursue mastery of skills.听
A student diving into a historical topic beyond what鈥檚 required in class simply because they find it fascinating is an example of intrinsic motivation. Every teacher hopes that their students will reach a point when they are driven by genuine interest in the subject matter rather than rewards.
But fostering intrinsic motivation is tricky. It involves creating engaging, meaningful learning experiences that spark students鈥� natural curiosity.
Strategies to Foster Intrinsic Motivation听
Getting students intrinsically motivated to learn is a great goal for educators to have. Here are some strategies to do that:
- Make learning relevant: Whenever possible, connect lessons to real-life applications. Students need to be able to see that what they鈥檙e learning in school is relevant to their reality.听
For example, show how math skills are used in budgeting or help high school students break down percentages and deductions in their paycheck. Illustrate how different science skills are utilized in solving community issues.
- Offer choice and autonomy: Giving students agency in their academic journey is a great way to spark intrinsic motivation. Incorporating student interests in your curriculum, even tangentially, can pique their curiosity.
You can implement this by allowing students to choose their own topics for projects and reading selections, or giving them options for how they demonstrate what they鈥檝e learned 鈥� writing an essay, creating a presentation or producing a short video.听These choices help students connect their personal interests with academic goals, making learning more meaningful and motivating.
- Encourage mastery and self-reflection: By focusing on progress over perfection, students learn a growth mindset and internalize that learning is a marathon, not a sprint.
When they are encouraged to value effort and improvement over immediate success, they build resilience and a deeper understanding of their own learning process. You can do this by using portfolios or self-assessments to help students reflect and see how they鈥檝e grown. Help them learn how to set their own performance goals and how to track progress.
- Create a safe space for curiosity and failure: When mistakes are treated as natural and necessary steps in the learning process, students are more likely to take academic risks and explore new ideas without fear of judgment.
This can look like celebrating risk-taking, encouraging questions, recognizing effort and modeling how to learn from setbacks.
Ultimately, both extrinsic and intrinsic motivation have their place. Effective educators learn how to harness both in balanced and thoughtful ways. The key is knowing when and how to use each to support students’ interests, growth and love of learning.
Building a Motivating Classroom Culture听
Beyond rewards and recognition, motivation can also be created through a classroom culture where students feel valued, capable and connected. To do this, educators need to provide their students with social-emotional building blocks and consistent practices like:听
- Celebrating effort, not just outcomes: For many students, it鈥檚 so easy to boil down their academic achievement to a number or a test score. It鈥檚 our job as educators to remind them that their efforts are so much greater than that. No effort, no matter how small, is unworthy of celebration.
- Recognize and celebrate the student who鈥檚 trying to implement the new skills they鈥檝e learned in class, even if they鈥檙e still making mistakes here and there. For example, if you notice your incredibly shy student pushing themselves to raise their hand in class, acknowledge how scary it can be to participate and give them credit for it! Did that one student who鈥檚 forgotten to write their name on their paper for two weeks finally remember to do so? Give 鈥榚m a little acknowledgement for that. Celebrate little wins to help them feel seen and build trust.听
- Setting clear expectations and goals together: Involve students in the process. When students help define what their success looks like, they鈥檙e more invested in achieving it. This collaborative approach builds trust, clarity and a shared sense of purpose in the learning environment.听
- Fostering peer-to-peer encouragement: School can be a lonely place when a student feels they are the only one struggling. Helping students find a sense of belonging in your classroom can ease this burden. Collaborative learning and accountability reminds them that they are not alone.听
- Remind your students that asking for help is a sign of courage and that you know just how courageous they are! Whether it鈥檚 linear equations or rejection from peers that has them feeling out of place, encourage them to reach out and assure them that you鈥檒l work with them until you find a way forward. No burden is too small that you should have to carry it alone.听
- Help foster peer-to-peer connections and meaningful engagements among your students through things like reading buddies, group seating, peer feedback and paired/group projects.听
- Being the cheerleader: Students often need someone in their corner to remind them that they鈥檝e faced down challenges before. Remind them that they didn鈥檛 start out knowing how to put together a whole essay 鈥� first, they learned to read words for the first time and, soon after, they were well on their way to writing in full sentences! Instead of students seeing the present challenge as a mountain to summit, help them think of it as a series of small, gradual steps that get them to the top. Life is made of small victories.听
When you start feeling a slump in your classroom, remember the commitment you made to your students and choose positivity at the beginning of each day. Take some time to reestablish your connections with your students if they鈥檝e wavered and model motivation for your students.
Then take a look at the classroom around you 鈥� the grade book full of completed assignments, the anchor charts lining the walls, the smiles of students engaged in meaningful learning 鈥� and remember the critical role you play in motivating your students each and every moment.
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