Proven Strategies for Motivating Students

Motivation is paramount to education because it influences a student’s ability to learn and persevere when faced with challenges. Studies show that the further a student progresses in their education, the less motivated and interested they become in school. Motivation theories, notably self-determination theory, confirm that an intrinsically motivated student will pursue learning for the pleasure and satisfaction it brings, whereas extrinsic motivation is often dependent on externally imposed rewards or constraints. It goes without saying that your students’ motivation goes hand in hand with your own. Here are the conditions that foster self-determination and promote intrinsic motivation in students:

• A sense of personal efficacy: Feeling that you have the necessary skills to learn the concepts and rise to the challenge. Students assess their own abilities in light of past experiences, successes, and failures.
• A sense of autonomy: Students develop autonomy when they are truly involved in a process and have a sense of ownership. Autonomy is strongest when they feel that they have both a choice and a say in their learning.
• A sense of belonging: Students feel connected to people they care about; they can sense the other person’s care, recognition, empathy, and acceptance in return, which strengthens their sense of belonging.    

The context in which students learn has a direct impact on their motivation. That said, in this instance the overall atmosphere is more important than the space itself. Research has shown that the atmosphere in a class is firmly within the teacher’s sphere of influence—which means that you have the power to create an enjoyable environment that helps keep your students motivated. Here are a few things you can do to improve the atmosphere in your classroom:

• Rearrange the space to make it more inviting: An organized classroom with a few personal touches will foster a sense of well-being and belonging.
• Make meaningful connections with your students: For example, try engaging in active listening by showing an interest in their ideas and concerns, making time for conversation, and getting to know them better.
• Incorporate relaxation into the routine: Taking active breaks and using calm-down strategies can reduce stress and boost concentration.
• Vary the pedagogical approaches and learning styles you use in the classroom: Consider differentiated instruction, outdoor learning, learning stations, the daily 5, the 5 to 7 exercise, cooperative learning, explicit instruction, enrichment activities, guided play, and more!
• Develop a good relationship with your students’ parents: Building trust with all the adults involved in a student’s education is essential so that you can work together and come up with winning strategies to help them succeed.  
• Foster student autonomy: It is important to cultivate a sense of autonomy among your students motivated by their own desire to learn. This does not mean taking a hands-off approach, but rather: 
  • Listening to and affirming their ideas, adding to them where necessary
  • Remaining flexible in order to give them choices
  • Etc.
• Set clear expectations: By communicating clear and achievable goals, you help your students understand what is expected of them. Remember that supporting your students’ autonomy can be compatible with structured teaching. What really undermines students’ sense of autonomy is when controls are imposed too strictly. 
• Support students from disadvantaged backgrounds: In some cases, lack of motivation stems from a student’s daily reality, especially if they are in a vulnerable situation. As a teacher, there are certain strategies you can use to help:
  • Provide the educational materials and resources needed to ensure that all students have the same opportunity to succeed.
  • Adapt your teaching methods to meet individual learning needs.
  • Get parents and other community members involved in the learning process to help students feel better supported.
  • Integrate content into the curriculum that reflects the cultural diversity of your class, so that everyone feels represented and valued.
  • Aim to get the most out of every student, regardless of their socio-economic background or their parents’ level of education.

In order to fully engage students in their learning, you need to give them tasks that they find meaningful and encourage them to become active participants in their academic journey. When a student understands the relevance of what they are learning and sees themself as an active participant in their own education, intrinsic motivation kicks in. This dual approach of combining meaningful activities and self-determination boosts their sense of competence, autonomy, and belonging—all of which are key ingredients to sustaining motivation at school. Here are a few effective strategies:

• Make a connection between the curriculum and the real world. Although this can be a challenge, whenever you are able to contextualize your teaching for students by creating links to real-life situations, you demonstrate the relevance of what they are learning. Here are some ways to put this strategy into practice:
  • Boost your students’ interest in social sciences, math, French, and English.
  • Make links between science and their daily lives, science and the arts, and math and French, and help them understand how various subjects interconnect.
  • Contextualize their French lessons.
  • Teach them about climate justice, biodiversity, and other important environmental issues.
  • Introduce them to the concepts of democracy and citizenship, discuss current events (in elementary and high school), and teach media literacy (in elementary and high school), in addition to the recommended activities for the CCQ curriculum in elementary and high school.
  • Assign useful and meaningful homework.
  • Etc.
• Have your students work on projects that focus on tackling real-world problems or that involve the community. Encourage them to explore topics they are passionate about and come up with their own ideas for projects or research assignments.
• Help your students set individual and class learning goals that are achievable and motivating. Set shared goals together to reinforce their sense of belonging and collaboration.
• Incorporate choice. Whenever possible, let your students choose from a variety of activities according to their learning styles. This can include group work, educational games, or a choice of tools they can use to learn new concepts or competencies.
• Include one of the four Cs that make up the key components of 21st-century skills: creativity, critical thinking, collaboration, and communication.
• Stimulate entrepreneurial spirit among your students by encouraging them to come up with inventions or ideas for businesses that would provide creative and original solutions to contemporary issues.
• Encourage students to get involved in the community. Whether your project was social or environmental in nature, look back on the experience together and encourage them to share their thoughts.
• Teach time management and planning strategies to foster your students’ sense of autonomy. Alloprof has handy printables to support your students with these skills: weekly homework planner, responsibility planner, exam preparation planner, and more.
• Encourage creativity, the scientific method, and experimentation, and help them learn to accept failure as part of the learning process.
• Integrate self-evaluation and feedback by asking students to reflect on their own progress and identify areas where they can improve without being hard on themselves.
• When possible, focus on activities that will not be graded, such as educational games. This removes extrinsic motivation from the equation and encourages students to take part for the fun of it rather than for the result.