How do we help all of our students do the work of learning, with care — as best they currently can? I've spent the past ten 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 and move toward mastery, 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.
Cultivating these five key beliefs in the heart of each learner doesn't mean becoming a miracle worker or a workaholic. Instead, it takes understanding how the beliefs work in the heart of a learner and what evidence-based strategies most efficiently help them to grow.
Participants will:
-Understand how the belief spectrum works to help or hinder motivated student learning;
-Apply simple, robust methods for cultivating the Credibility, Value, and Effort beliefs in every classroom;
-Understand how motivation relates to engagement and why the difference can help us find efficiencies in the face of overwhelming demands on our time; and
-Leave with practical next steps for teaching and learning.
Dave Stuart Jr. is a husband and father who teaches high school in Cedar Springs, MI. His blog, davestuartjr.com is read by over 50,000 educators each month, and his bestselling book These 6 Things: How to Focus Your Teaching on What Matters Most has been cherished by teachers and leaders around the world.