Angela Watson’s Truth for Teachers
Education:Courses
“You can break motivation barriers for disengaged students by recognizing that motivation is an investment decision. Students have time, attention, and effort, and they are making a decision every single day about whether they want to invest those things in our classrooms or in something else. Making your classroom worth investing in is about creating a space where students’ time, energy, and effort will be rewarded.” --Dr. Robyn Jackson
Join us as Robyn and I do a deep dive into her quote above. We’re tackling whether there is such thing as a kid who doesn’t want to learn, and then working through the 4 causes of student disengagement (instructional, institutional, interpersonal, and internal.) Robyn explains in-depth how teachers can identify and address each cause in practical, relatable ways.
We camp out for quite a while on the topic of interpersonal barriers, because there’s a powerful approach there which can be used to re-engage a reluctant learner. Robyn explains how to uncover students' primary will driver: purpose, mastery, autonomy, and belonging/connection. We discuss what each one means, and how you can incorporate these needs into your daily lessons in a way that reaches all your kids.
Feeding kids’ dominant will drivers is surprisingly simple once you understand the basic principle: in fact, just changing the wording you use when giving directions to kids can address the variety of will drivers in your classroom and increase the likelihood of engagement, and Robyn shares specific examples.
Motivation is a complex issue, and Robyn provides lots of concrete tools to solve the root problems permanently. This is not about quick tips and hacks: I promise if you can invest an hour of your time into learning the principles from this episode, it will forever change your teaching — Robyn’s work is just that powerful.
Don’t muddle through the rest of the year trying to use band-aid solutions with disengaged kids: it’s not too late for a breakthrough, and these simple, powerful principles can make a huge difference quickly.
Resources referenced in this episode:
Robyn’s previous Truth for Teachers interview on rude, disrespectful student attitudes
Robyn’s book, How to Motivate Reluctant Learners
Episode 5 of Robyn’s article and episode of School Leadership Reimagined (her podcast) called The most powerful way to motivate anybody.
Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion or, join our new podcast Facebook group here to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.
EP300 Teaching through hormonal changes: post-partum, perimenopause, and beyond (with Dr. Jen Gunter)
EP299 A spring cleaning classroom guide: what if you didn’t need all that STUFF to teach well?
EP298 Clock out confidently: 5 tips to get out the door at contract time (with June Link)
Join us for the FREE 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Online Summit in April
EP297 Feedback first: How 2 different teachers help students focus on learning, not grades
EP296 Thinking creatively about tough problems: the power of diffuse thinking for you and your students
EP295 Can banning phones in school help solve the youth mental health crisis? (with Dr. Jean Twenge)
EP294 What does it mean to “teach like yourself’ in 2024? (with Dr. Gravity Goldberg)
EP293 When students don’t want to think for themselves or put in effort, try this.
EP292 How I'm planning and setting goals this year
EP291 Creating space this winter for dreaming and radical reimagination
EP290 The surprising research about how talent is developed (with Dr. Rishi Sriram)
EP289 A practical guide to building students’ attention stamina and ability to focus
EP288 Mindful moment: Finding the calm amidst chaos
EP287 Bell-to-bell instruction is NOT best practice. Here's the research.
EP286 Student-centered learning sounds great, but what’s the reality? (with Erika Walther)
Announcing the NEW Truth for Teachers Daily Encouragement Podcast!
EP285 Why boys are struggling (and what educators can do about it)
EP284 Ask me anything: Listener questions about my personal + professional life
EP283 Rooted in joy: Creating a classroom culture of equity, belonging, and care (with Dr. Deonna Smith)
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Real English Conversations Podcast - Learn to Speak & Understand Real English with Confidence!
» Divine Intervention Podcasts
Betrayal Trauma Recovery - BTR.ORG
EconTalk
Cram The Pance