Over the past 20 or so years, I have used every teaching trick in the book to try and get my students motivated. Over those years, the only thing that ever works is when students take control over their own learning. That is, when students say to themselves, "I want to be successful in this subject and only I can be in control of that".
So my thinking now is that once I have given out the main materials for the class, I sit back and ask them what they want to know. I will say to them that they need to decide what should be taught in the class and, to an extent, how. I will get them to agree to a week-by-week program, one aspect will include them setting a personal learning goal and deciding on three behaviours which show that they are achieving their goals.
My theory is that this will force them out of their dependence on me as their teacher and help with the motivation to participate in the classes actively.
We would have to agree on the structure of the class and what work would have to be done outside the classroom. My initial thought was to get them to work out what is required of them for each assessment task, but I would hope that they might be motivated out of sheer interest in the subject matter.
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Just thinking that my current teaching structure is along the lines of:
* Welcome and settling - taking roll, checking Homework and saying g'day.
* Setting the scene for the lesson - rundown of the lesson to come and the expectations.
* Linking to the previous lesson - what were the main points, going over homework exercises.
* Presenting the main ideas - done in chunks sometimes but also in large amounts.
* Having some sort of reinforcement exercise to illustrate the new information
* Perhaps having a practical task to do which also illustrates the main points
* Reviewing the exercise/practical and discussing any questions asked.
* Finishing off the lesson - setting homework, filling in diaries
* Farewelling.
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