Motivation/Commitment
I mentioned this in my post inquiry:
- I find it frustrating when the older children do not show the correct level of commitment and dedication to achieve their goals. Some of the children complain about the grade they are in but then do not show the commitment to attend more classes during the week and better themselves through hard work. I find it frustrating that they expect rewards such as to be entered for exams or to be put on point but are not prepared to take the responsibly to gain the reward for them self.
- I find I also become angry when children/students subconsciously hold themselves back. Many students I have taught over the years have not reached their full potential as they are too scared to perform to their best ability in class. Its seems the fashion these days to not put 100% into your work, it is uncool to appear eager to learn or to be working hard. Why is being the 'class swot' such a bad thing.
- I sometimes can't understand the students lack of enthusiasm and passion, they love to dance they must do. The college where I work is private and unfunded and the fees are expensive not to mention the costs of equipment and exams. Some students find grants while others work after college to fund their education, this takes great commitment to which they surly would not adhere to if they did not love what they do so much. However I find myself pleading with students to perform and discuss passionately things which the feel are important. This relates to what I was talking about previously in regards to student holding themselves back. Is it a confidence issue or a unconscious process? Is there something we can do as teachers to help these students express themselves and work to their best ability or is it simply a maturity problem?
This interests me, I would be interested to find out what influences a students motivation and whether they are concious of their work ethic or aware of external or internal influences that cause them to hold back in class. Although I am not sure whether these are two separate lines of inquiry or if they will work together, more thought is needed I think. Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.
Yes motivation to learning is a key element - begin to google and look at research on our on Library Summon that relates to this - any other sources? How can you combine what you already know with further expertise? Ideas are the important things here - full potential in performance? what is it and how can it be identified? behaviour is a classic educational sign of learning - what about in your filed - so technical ability and … what? Start looking out there - other BAPP bloggers might add to your search - look at some of the archived blogs for inspiration.
ReplyDeleteI can completely relate to this subject! However I found this attitude was most common with 14-18 year olds. As a child I was always encouraged to perform and had alot of experience on the stage. Do the children you teach get to perform to larger numbers often or is it only within a class situation? I find the more experience you have performing to large numbers the easier it is to bring it into a class situation. I also find that a lot of Television that teenagers watch these days exaggerate the 'class swot' to be very negative for example in Glee, the character Lea Michelle plays is a hard working and terrific performer who has great passion for what she does however she is regularly picked on by the more popular kids in her year. Not sure if this helps but just some thoughts on your post? :D xxxx
ReplyDeleteThanks Lizzie,
DeleteI agree with what you say about media influence over children particularly the age group you mentioned. Some children are more susceptible than others and I wonder why that is, peer pressure or lack of confidence maybe? Your right that performance is improved through stage experience, the school where I teach would benefit from more exposure in this area. We largely concentrate on exam work, which can be an equally good motivator if the children are committed. I also teach at a college where students come from a variety of different dance training backgrounds with a broad range of performance experience. The other members of staff and I have still encountered the same motivational problems, and this is from people who presumably want to enter the business, so I do feel there must be other factors contributing to this problem but still a worthy point. I think this relation between performance and motivation is an area I can study more in my inquiry, thank you for your input.