How To Start Motivating All Students

In my other life, I am a motivational speaker for teenage conferences. So, yeah, I think I’m a pretty good motivator of our target audience. This blog is devoted to helping all of us become even better motivators, motivating as many of our students as we possibly can, so they can grow and develop into the strong adults we know they should be. 

Some Kids Are Easy…

“Kids who are loved at home come to school to learn…”

Those kids are really easy to motivate. They show up in our classrooms in clean clothes, with all of the necessary school accessories, a full belly, and have been treated with love, dignity and respect all of their lives.

Low-hanging fruit, Boo Boo. All you need to do is bring your sparkling personality, your wealth of knowledge in the subject matter, and let ‘er rip. They’ll show up for you in group work, they will participate when you ask questions, and they will maintain their A all year long.

Low-hanging fruit.

Most Kids Aren’t…

“…kids who aren’t loved at home come to school to be loved.”

Here is our target audience, Boo Boo, get away from the “easy” kid. 

This group—loosely translating that quote—are the ones we get outta bed for. I would say that the vast majority of my students, and yours, are LOVED at home, but might not be properly PARENTED at home. Teenagers today often have too much freedom, too much technology and not enough responsibility at home compared to teens in the past. Not being raised to be respectful to others, they often lack empathy and compassion, thinking only of themselves and what they can “get” from other people. 

These are the kids that act out in school in one way or another. These are the kids who keep their heads down in class so you won’t notice them, and keep trying to sneak a peek at their phone to see if their equally disengaged friends have texted them. These are the kids who roll their eyes at teachers and make excuses for not getting their work done.

This is now the majority of students I am seeing, and we need to turn this tide. We need to work hard motivating these students.

The Common Reasons Kids Appear Uninterested

Motivating students is rarely easy. It’s important that you recognize that these kids APPEAR uninterested, and that has nothing to do with you or the subject matter. Often, it is simply an act of posturing for the teenager to appear disinterested and disengaged with the subject or the teacher. You can use this to your advantage by speaking to the child privately, so you can let them show you what they really are learning in your classroom. Here are some other things I’ve heard…

I didn’t ask for this class

I’ve been an electives teacher for over 30 years, and I’ve heard my share of this particular excuse. Turning this kid isn’t always easy, but if you focus on the workplace readiness skills and life skills we teach in business, you just might get them interested.

I don’t like this subject

Call them out on the lie here. You know they like money, and dream of being rich. Capitalize on that universal truth of teenagers to engage them in the subject matter that will help them make that goal a reality.

I don’t need to know this

A simple Google search of news for the day will show them that they absolutely need the information we have to present. It might not be the flashiest, sexiest subject on the planet for some people, but it will get you through life.

Root Causes Of Lack Of Engagement In School

Let’s talk seriously for just a moment, if you don’t mind. Many, many of our students are facing challenges we can’t even imagine. I’ve told early-career teachers for years to remember that these kids aren’t living the same life they may have led. I, personally, have never gone hungry or worried about violence in the home—I can’t even imagine my students facing that every night before coming to school. I wouldn’t care about balancing a checkbook, either!

Any of the following problems are more about the students’ life and safety than any subject in school. Immediately work with your school and community resources to get these kids the help they deserve. Only once they are “safe” will they be able to focus on anything other than survival.

Food insecurity

The statistics about food insecurity in young people is absolutely staggering—one in six kids—and is often a “hidden” type of problem that students are quite embarrassed about. Keep your eyes peeled for kids who want to hang out in your room during lunch, or who are always asking “for a bite” when kids have snacks. 

Housing insecurity

I grew up in a very rich town, but sometimes Mom and I would go to estate sales, only to find that behind the beautiful front drapes in the house there was little furniture or anything else in the home. That is how people hide financial and housing insecurity—they put on that brave face and don’t let the world in. Having taught children who were truly homeless, I can tell you my subject matter was far less important than the freezing temperatures the night before.

Mental health concerns

One of the very few benefits of Covid is that it shined a bright light on the mental health problems students are facing, and made it more “acceptable” to share your mental health problems. As a result, we are working with more and more students who are working with mental health professionals to become stronger. We need to do everything we can to support those students through this nightmare, while always being on guard to find other students who might be falling through the cracks so we can get them help.

Relationships Matter

So what, Patti, is your secret weapon that helps you act as a motivating force for students within and outside of your classroom? How come you are so successful?

It’s all about relationships. That is our secret weapon and our superpower. 

Work to build rapport with students

You need to make it your priority this year to build relationships with your students—especially the “tough” ones. If it isn’t a priority with you from the first day of school, kids will know you don’t care about them, and they will not respond to your efforts. You gotta be sincere, Conrad Birdie.

The first five minutes

Every single period. Every single day. You need to be out in the hallway greeting students. All students. I comment on a kid going by if they have differently dyed hair! I comment to the teacher across the hall about the weather. I am always talking and engaged with people while I am in the hallway. The fantastic educator LeeLee devised a system of greeting students so that their response would tell them how they were feeling mentally that day, and if they needed assistance. It’s brilliance.

Provide opportunities for success

You need to find the positive in every situation and every encounter with students, so they know that you are an ally in all things. Whether it is commenting on their latest project, or telling them the Math teacher said they were doing great, you need to find topics that are important to the student that you can discuss with them.

Appeal to different learning styles

To really motivate students, you need to let them demonstrate mastery in a way that is comfortable for them. Why would I care whether they write a paper or create a website, as long as they meet everything on the rubric and complete the project in a timely manner? Let them showcase their talents, and they will appreciate your efforts to see them as individuals as opposed to standardized test scores.

Make home contacts positive

Early and often, my friend, you need to reach out to the home. I have learned through hard-won experience that if I make the effort to communicate positively about their child early in the year, a follow-up call about something negative is much better received. Technology makes it so much easier for us to reach out—individually or en masse—so there is absolutely no excuse for not communicating frequently with the family. Not only will the family appreciate the positive interaction, but the student will see that you aren’t just talk.

It Won’t Always Work…

Yeah, well, it isn’t foolproof. Sometimes it doesn’t work. Motivating students isn’t always straight forward.

So what?

You know I sleep very well at night, and that is partially because I know I’ve done everything I can for my students every single day. Maybe they just aren’t ready for someone like you in their lives, or maybe you need to make a referral for more attention from a school or community resource.

It doesn’t matter. All you can do is try your best to share your passion for business with them. At some point, they need to engage.

They will, too. Maybe not this year, maybe not with you, but the light will go on eventually. It always does.

THANK YOU FOR READING THIS FAR!!!

Wow, thank you for reading about motivating students!

Hey, since you’re here! You may as well check out how to make accounting fun, here, and learn about summer boot camps for CTSOs, here! Check out our other topics here! Either way, I appreciate you!

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