Dear colleague, This is the first year I’ve had a “the bell is our boss” poster hanging by my classroom clock, and I should not be as surprised as I am by how many students have commented on it. When I made that poster, the goal was to reinforce the idea that when the bell […]
Motivation: The Cause of Doing Work or the Effect?
Here’s a question I’m thinking about during the first weeks of school: Is motivation the CAUSE of doing the work of learning or the EFFECT? As it turns out, it’s both. Motivation gets us to try the work of learning. When I think of my students this year who are most resistant to doing the […]
Five First Week Reflections
Dear colleague, At the time of this writing, I am three days into my eighteenth year of teaching. Today, I’m sharing five reflections on the first week of school. Hopefully one of them creates encouragement or greater clarity for you. In Sum As these weary bones pack up for a weekend of as much rest […]
The Value Belief – DSJR Student Motivation Guide
The Value belief is the second of the Five Key Beliefs of student motivation, which I unpack at length in The Will to Learn: How to Cultivate Student Motivation Without Losing Your Own and in Chapter Two of These 6 Things: How to Focus Your Teaching on What Matters Most. What is the Value belief? […]
Moments of Genuine Connection (MGCs) – DSJR Student Motivation Guide
In The Will to Learn: How to Cultivate Student Motivation Without Losing Your Own, I lay out an approach to student motivation in which Five Key Beliefs can be influenced using just 10 basic strategies. The first of those strategies is Tracking Attempted Moments of Genuine Connection. What is it? That’s it — Tracking. Attempted. […]