The Will to Learn: Practical Methods for Improving Motivation and Engagement in Virtual or In-Person Classrooms (Session Description)

Session Description:

How do we help all of our students care enough to do the work and do it as best they can? I've spent the past five years of my teaching career reading, experimenting, and interviewing experts about what lies at the heart of student motivation. What I’ve found is straightforward: for our students to flourish long-term, they need to be motivated from the inside-out. Specifically, they need to believe five key things.

• Credibility: I have a good teacher.
• Value: This work matters to me.
• Belonging: People like me belong in classes like this.
• Effort: I can improve my knowledge and skills through effort.
• Efficacy: I can succeed at the challenges this class presents.

To truly motivate your students to do the work, you don’t have to be a miracle worker or a workaholic. You just need to understand the five key beliefs of student motivation, and you need actual strategies to influence each one.

Participants will:

• Take away simple, robust methods for influencing each of the five key beliefs in remote or in-person environments.
• Analyze classroom examples that exemplify Dr. Ellin Oliver Keene's four pillar's of engagement.
• Understand how motivation relates to engagement and why the difference can help us find efficiencies in the face of overwhelming demands on our time.
• Leave with practical next steps for teaching and learning, whether in-person or remote.

Advance Reading or Viewing (optional)

• A Micro-Primer on How Motivation Works in People, Why Demoralization is So Prevalent Right Now Amongst Teachers, and What We Can Do About It
• Five Key Beliefs: The Source of Abbe's Superpowers
• Students Won't Read? Start with Their Beliefs
• The Five Key Beliefs that Motivate Student Writers
• The #1 Place in School Where Students' Key Beliefs are Shaped
• When It Comes to Student Motivation, There Are No Novices
• Livestream Recording: A Conversation with Nancy Frey and Doug Fisher re: Motivation Amidst the Closures

About Dave

Dave Stuart Jr. is a high school teacher in Cedar Springs, MI, who writes and speaks about teaching. His blog, DaveStuartJr.com, is read by 50,000 educators per month, and his bestselling These 6 Things: How to Focus Your Teaching on What Matters Most has been cherished by teachers around the world. Dave is also an accomplished creator of professional development experiences, having spoken on over 150 different occasions, both overseas and in 40+ US states.

When he's not working (which is more common than you might assume), Dave cherishes time with his wife and four children.

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