Motivating Students Who Don’t Care, Second Edition by Solution Tree

“I love this book! In this second edition of Motivating Students Who Don’t Care, Allen Mendler has crafted another great resource that masterfully shows how to overcome the three main obstacles to learning: fear of failure, need for control, and boredom. This user-friendly resource is loaded with practical strategies to trigger effort, spark enthusiasm, develop relationships, and make the classroom a place that inspires success.”

pervasive problem teachers face in 21st century classrooms is a aaa lack of student motivation. In the second edition of Motivating Students Who Don’t Care: Proven Strategies to Engage All Learners, author Allen N. Mendler offers practical strategies that K–12 teachers can use to reach every student. From emphasizing effort to building relationships to sparking enthusiasm for learning, each chapter covers one of five key processes to boost student motivation. Disinterested students can discourage teachers, but Mendler’s proven strategies can nurture enthusiasm and excitement for learning and help teachers build strong, trusting relationships with all students.

READERS WILL: z

Understand why students might be unmotivated in class

Examine the five key processes for guiding and inspiring unmotivated students

Learn about the importance of emphasizing effort in the classroom

Use proven strategies to empower students and spark enthusiasm for learning

Support student learning by creating a classroom culture of confidence and hope

—Michele Borba Educational Psychologist; Author, Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine

“In Motivating Students Who Don’t Care, Second Edition, Allen Mendler offers practical strategies for inspiring students to succeed and become their best selves. This book is about not just engaging students but also shifting the mindset of adults to connect with students’ needs and interests to drive their desire to learn. Identifying unwanted behaviors and turning them into possibilities for success will motivate everyone to work harder.”

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/studentengagement to download the free reproducibles in this book.

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—Candice A. Casey Associate Director, School/University Partnership Office, Saginaw Valley State University

ISBN 978-1-951075-43-9 90000

9 781951 075439

A l l e n

M e n d l e r

Copyright © 2021 by Solution Tree Press Materials appearing here are copyrighted. With one exception, all rights are reserved. Readers may reproduce only those pages marked “Reproducible.” Otherwise, no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without prior written permission of the publisher. 555 North Morton Street Bloomington, IN 47404 800.733.6786 (toll free) / 812.336.7700 FAX: 812.336.7790 email: info@SolutionTree.com SolutionTree.com Visit go.SolutionTree.com/studentengagement to download the free reproducibles in this book. Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Mendler, Allen N., author. Title: Motivating students who don’t care : proven strategies to engage all learners / Allen N. Mendler. Description: Second edition. | Bloomington, IN : Solution Tree Press, 2021. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020052607 (print) | LCCN 2020052608 (ebook) | ISBN 9781951075439 (paperback) | ISBN 9781951075446 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Motivation in education. | Students--Attitudes. Classification: LCC LB1065 .M377 2021 (print) | LCC LB1065 (ebook) | DDC 370.15/4--dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020052607 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020052608 Solution Tree Jeffrey C. Jones, CEO Edmund M. Ackerman, President Solution Tree Press President and Publisher: Douglas M. Rife Associate Publisher: Sarah Payne-Mills Art Director: Rian Anderson Managing Production Editor: Kendra Slayton Copy Chief: Jessi Finn Senior Production Editor: Christine Hood Content Development Specialist: Amy Rubenstein Proofreader: Kate St. Ives Text and Cover Designer: Kelsey Hergül Editorial Assistants: Sarah Ludwig and Elijah Oates

Table of Contents

About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Why Some Students Are Unmotivated . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Beliefs That Support Success. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . In This Second Edition. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Questions for Reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

2 4 5 6

CHAPTER 1

Emphasize Effort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Why Emphasizing Effort Is Important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Strategies to Emphasize Effort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Use the Language of Effort . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Avoid Labels . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Build on Mistakes or Partially Correct Answers. . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Allow Redos, Retakes, and Revisions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Separate Effort From Achievement When Grading. . . . . . . . . . 13 Encourage Little Improvements Every Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Show Simple Courtesy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 Reframe Unmotivated Behavior to Promote Effort. . . . . . . . . . 18 Ask for Small Things First. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Change Efforts to Commitments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

vii

viii

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Provide Reasons for Effort. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Celebrate Milestones. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Questions for Reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 CHAPTER 2

Create Confidence and Hope. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 Why Creating Confidence and Hope Is Important . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Strategies to Create Confidence and Hope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Demonstrate the Benefits of Achievement. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Make School-Life Connections. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Find the Right Level of Challenge. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Acknowledge That Academic Achievement Is Not the Only Pathway to Success . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Emphasize the Importance of Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Ensure Proficiency in Foundational Skills . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 Own Your Mistakes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .32 Develop Goals With Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 Help Students Get and Stay Organized. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33 Focus on Success. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 Ensure the End Is in Sight. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Give Before You Get. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Demand More Than You Expect. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Offer Homework as an Optional Bonus. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Encourage and Support Positive Affirmations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Questions for Reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41 CHAPTER 3

Value Involvement and Influence. . . . . . . . . 43 Why Valuing Involvement and Influence Is Important . . . . . . . . 44 Strategies to Value Involvement and Influence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Challenge Refusals Respectfully. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Express Gratitude. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45 Involve Students in Developing Procedures, Rules, and Consequences. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 Defer to Student Power. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47 Ask for Opinions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Invite Students to Teach. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49

Table of Contents

Delegate Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Collect Supplies From Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Deal Effectively With Power Struggles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Welcome Students Back to Class . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Problem-Solve With Students by Phone. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Make Sure Students Know They Have What It Takes. . . . . . . . 55 Use External Rewards Effectively. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Offer Choices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Encourage Mindfulness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 Questions for Reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59 CHAPTER 4

Build Relationships . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61 Why Building Relationships Is Important . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Strategies to Build Relationships. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Be Authentic. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .63 Let Students Know They Are More Important Than Their Behavior. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64 Invite Student Feedback . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 Send Notes to Students. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Offer Genuine Compliments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67 Use Two-Minute Interventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69 Invite Students to Lunch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70 Encourage Students to Support and Motivate Each Other . . . . 70 Support Students in Times of Crisis or Uncertainty. . . . . . . . . 71 Questions for Reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73 CHAPTER 5

Spark Enthusiasm for Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Why Sparking Enthusiasm for Learning Is Important. . . . . . . . . 76 Strategies to Spark Enthusiasm for Learning. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76 Let Students Know You Love Being Their Teacher . . . . . . . . . . 76 Share Your Enthusiasm for Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Demonstrate That You Are a Lifelong Learner. . . . . . . . . . . . . 78 Be Lighthearted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Grab Students’ Interest and Attention. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 Encourage Movement in Your Lessons. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81

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Integrate Drama and Music. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83 Connect With Students Through Popular Topics. . . . . . . . . . . 84 Include Special Theme Days . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Ask Open-Ended Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Implement Digital or Virtual Learning Effectively . . . . . . . . . .87 Embrace Video Games as Learning Tools. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89 Questions for Reflection. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90

Epilogue: Don’t Give Up! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93 References and Resources . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Introduction Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it. —DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

Do any of these comments sound familiar? • “This class is boring.” • “When am I ever going to use this?” • “It’s not fair.” • “Why’re you always picking on me?” • “You can’t make me do this!” More than half of all students in grades 5–12 surveyed in a 2016 Gallup poll reported being either not engaged or actively disengaged in school. A survey by Education Week found that only 40 percent of participating teachers and administrators thought that most of their students were highly motivated. The percentage was far less among educators in high poverty schools (Collier, 2015). It doesn’t take a study to know that just a few years earlier, most of these students were filled with enthusiasm as they began their academic journeys. With rare exception, the students who show little interest in learning were once bright-eyed, eager learners. Most parents of toddlers will find them defiant at times, but never unmotivated. In fact, they are so eager to learn that their parents often need to put up gates, move 1

MOTIVATING STUDENTS WHO DON’T CARE

furniture, and block electrical outlets to contain their child’s curiosity. And usually, most young children can’t wait for their first day of school to arrive.

Why Some Students Are Unmotivated Increasing motivation and minimizing behavior problems remain at or near the top concerns expressed by educators. Virtually every classroom has students who expect success but are unwilling to work for it. During this age of abundance and entitlement, guilt can lead parents to give materially to their children without attaching expectations. Expectations of entitlement are easy to acquire in a culture that too often values what we have rather than who we are. A Maryland-based consumer group found that children learn to nag their parents nine times on average for products advertised on television before getting what they want (Seith, 2017). Even many with limited means feel pressured to get the latest two-hundred-dollar sneakers or newest phone with the most elaborate bells and whistles. When fast and easy replaces work and earn, and parents prioritize their children feeling good about themselves over resilience, persistence, and effort, school can give children a rude awakening, since success at school— and in life—requires preparation, practice, and perseverance. Some students shut down to school because they feel disconnected and see being unproductive as a pathway toward acceptance. For example, a newly arrived English learner (EL), who may be angry and resentful at being removed from familiar surroundings, may find easier acceptance from peers similarly struggling to find their way. Others find learning difficult and may stop working to hide feelings of inadequacy. Many students with an “I-don’t-care” attitude are actually afraid to care because they don’t believe they can succeed. For some students, being viewed as unmotivated or “bad” is preferable to being seen as “stupid.” Some students find power and control in their refusal to work. They may be competent and capable, but their need to be in control is so strong that they employ a self-defeating strategy to express their independence.

Introduction

Depression among children as young as preschool may be overlooked as a cause of poor school motivation. Academic and interpersonal strategies that stick have to address these students’ needs for connection, competence, control, and fun. As an expert on motivation, educators often ask me how to get disengaged students motivated. My answer is pretty simple but not easy: spark interest or reawaken what once came naturally but was somehow interrupted. What makes you want to do something, go somewhere, or have something? Companies can’t make you buy their products, come to their stores, visit their vacation spots, work for them, or get your business. They have to either give you what you want or think you want to convince you that buying their products, visiting their spas, working for them, or signing up for their services will enhance your life. There is a lesson and a challenge in this for educators when working with unmotivated students—most people want their lives to be filled with success and pleasure. To get and keep students motivated, they must derive sufficient pleasure from the effort to learn or see how the learning you offer is likely to make their lives better now or in the future. There are many ways for educators to reawaken motivation, and much of this book is about that. More difficult for some of us is sustaining or reclaiming the belief and attitude that students who have lost interest, and perhaps also hope, are worth our time, effort, and commitment. Students who are hard to motivate and control may make us sometimes wonder why we should bother with them when there are so many others who care and want to learn. They may make us question the worth of reaching out to them when they often sap our own energy and motivation. In addition, they often push our buttons, make us feel defeated, interfere with other students, challenge our authority, and evoke strong emotions that can interfere with reason. Unless we are careful, they can burn us out. Yet our professional responsibility requires that we teach and reach all students, especially those who seem not to care. Just as a good subject area curriculum provides the big picture along with specific units of instruction, this book offers specific methods and strategies that

MOTIVATING STUDENTS WHO DON’T CARE

offer hope, give unmotivated students purpose, and reawaken the joy of learning that once came naturally.

Beliefs That Support Success Successfully motivating challenging students requires that we embrace the following beliefs or tenets. • All students are capable of learning when they have the academic and personal tools to be successful. • Students are inherently motivated to learn, but they learn to be unmotivated when they repeatedly fail. • Learning requires risk taking, so classrooms need to be safe places physically and psychologically. • All students have basic needs to belong, to be competent, and to influence what happens to them. Motivation to learn most often occurs when these basic needs are met. • High self-esteem should not be a goal, but rather a result that comes with the mastery of challenging tasks. • High motivation for learning in school most often occurs when adults treat students with respect and dignity. These tenets are driven by the following five key processes that educators can use for guidance as they create and apply strategies that motivate and inspire students to learn. • Emphasizing effort • Creating confidence and hope • Valuing involvement and influence • Building relationships • Sparking enthusiasm for learning These processes form the framework for this book, with each chapter providing a brief description of why the process is important, followed by several specific motivational activities and strategies you can implement in your own school or classroom.

Introduction

In This Second Edition Like the first edition, this updated and revised text offers many proven, practical, concrete, and effective strategies that are easy to understand and implement. Five specific processes, guided by a set of beliefs, form the framework for the many classroom-friendly strategies designed to inspire motivation in students who are giving or have given up. Consider yourself to be the equivalent of a chef using a great cookbook. As the author, I have kept some recipes from the original as they were. Others offer new ingredients in the form of examples, explanations, adaptations, or uses to enrich the final product. Finally, there are several new strategies that have passed the litmus test of effectiveness and apply to our ever-changing, globally-connected world. Among these is the ubiquitous presence of technology for learning and communicating, along with its impact on virtually every aspect of education. The upside is that it has provided more ways to motivate students, like using self-paced learning and video games. Of even greater consequence is that without virtual learning, schools would have ground to a complete halt during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, there is a downside as well, including increased distractions and the growth of online bullying. There has also been a new appreciation for the role social-emotional factors play in affecting motivation and learning, along with expectations to address these factors with trauma-sensitive methods. While that is a necessary and positive development, it adds to the pressure on teachers to produce academic growth, especially when quantitative test results rather than behavioral outbursts are used as a major indicator for evaluating student growth and teacher effectiveness. Finally, the voices calling for social justice, fairness, and equity, regardless of cultural or economic background, have rightfully gotten louder and louder. In this second edition, I have done my best to reflect on how the strategies we use to motivate students must consider and, where possible, directly address these issues. Ultimately, you are in charge. Some strategies will work well as is, while others might need a bit of tweaking or adjustment to fit the needs of your school, classroom, or specific students. Some strategies conclude with a suggestion that offers specific ideas for

MOTIVATING STUDENTS WHO DON’T CARE

implementation. Strategies without a suggestion can be implemented fairly easily without further support. Although the book is meant to be a comprehensive and practical guide, unanticipated events, such as the global pandemic that began in 2020, can turn everyone’s world upside down and require us to modify or invent new strategies as needed. Remember, you are in charge!

Questions for Reflection Use the following questions to reflect on the information you learned in this introduction. You can reflect on these questions individually or with colleagues. 1. What factors are associated with challenging behaviors, including lack of motivation? Have you or someone you know who has been affected by these factors been successful? What or who helped them get there? 2. Why do you think a high percentage of students begin school enthusiastically but gradually become more and more disengaged as they get older? If you could, what would you change about school to make this less likely to happen? 3. Has the growth of technology tools helped or hindered student motivation in your class? How?

CHAPTER 2

e c n e d i f n

E T A E CR AND

e p Ho Remember that guy that gave up? Neither does anyone else. —AUTHOR UNKNOWN

otivating students is about helping them accumulate and internalize a reservoir of success to the challenges we provide. Those successes build hope and confidence. If you believe you have the tools to be successful and are sufficiently interested, investing time and effort in a task is rarely a problem. By contrast, if confidence is lacking, you must first come to believe that you can succeed. Many unmotivated students lack that belief. Like a child who begins to ride a bike with training wheels to prevent falls, helping students develop belief in their success begins by making it virtually impossible for them to fail. As confidence grows stronger, tasks can be made more and more challenging. This chapter helps you understand why creating confidence and hope are important to boosting student motivation in the classroom. It also provides a series of strategies you can use to instill confidence and hope in students to form a foundation on which they can build their efforts. 25

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Why Creating Confidence and Hope Is Important

Strategies to Create Confidence and Hope The following strategies will help you inspire confidence and hope in students so they feel more motivated to apply themselves in class.

Demonstrate the Benefits of Achievement Showing how achievement benefits students’ lives is the most conventional way of inspiring motivation. “Get a good education,” we say. “Get a good job, make money, and have a good life.” Although some students may not want to believe this, research finds that the higher one goes educationally, the more status and money he or she is likely to earn (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2019). According to the Bureau of Labor statistics (2019), the weekly median income for a high school dropout was $606. It was $749 for a high school graduate, $874 for those with some college or an associate’s degree, $1,281 for a bachelor’s degree, and $1,559 for a master’s degree or higher. So, the difference between dropping out of high school or earning a high school diploma is $7,436 per year on average. Your students might be interested in knowing how many more video games they could purchase, how much more quickly they would be able to buy a car, or where they might afford to live. Data like these can be useful in highlighting the big picture.

Achieving repeated success enhances students’ feelings of competence (for example, “I’m good at . . .” or “I’m getting better at . . .”), which generates hope and confidence (for example, “I’ve succeeded before, so maybe I can again if I use a similar strategy, such as listening, asking for help, or figuring out the directions”). Hope provides the fuel to put forth the effort required to improve any skill. Without hope, there is no incentive for effort, and without effort, there is no meaningful success.

Create Confidence and Hope

Make School-Life Connections

Search for examples or analogies of specific and practical ways for students to use the information they learn in school or how it may relate to them and their future. For example, give them some mathematics problems based on something important in their lives. Teenagers love music, so you might ask them to use area and perimeter to measure the maximum size of an entertainment center for their room, while still leaving space for their bed and dresser. During or after studying explorers from earlier periods in history, students might list the instruments the explorers used to locate a destination and discuss how their lives would be different if they had to use what the explorers did instead of a GPS or Google Maps. A physics lesson might include concepts of weight and leverage if students had to figure out whether a certain sneaker (keep current on popular products of interest to students) provides more support or leverage and whether it is better than a generic brand.

Suggestion Try to have each lesson or unit of instruction end with a practical demonstration on how the content relates to students’ lives. Whenever you can, provide opportunities for students to observe and continued 

Students who are not achievement oriented and who do not necessarily trust those in authority become much more motivated when they see the connection between what we teach them and how it relates to their lives. Getting students to see the relevance of classroom content can be challenging but is far from impossible. In a controlled study, Chris Hulleman and Judith Harackiewicz (2009) found that ninth and tenth graders who wrote essays about the usefulness and value of their science courses to their lives attained higher grades and were more interested in taking future science classes than a matched control group So, getting students to simply reflect on how the content we teach might be useful may often be all that is needed.

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Find the Right Level of Challenge Let’s try a little experiment. Before you read on, get a timer and set it for one minute. After you read this sentence, start the timer and count every and and the in the following paragraph without trying to understand the content. When the minute ends, stop counting and read on. Ready, go! Finding the right level of challenge is one of the most important ways to motivate students. Csikszentmihalyi (1990) and other researchers state that when the level of challenge matches one’s capabilities, motivation is optimal (Qingguo, Guanxiong, & Liang, 2017). Tasks that are too easy are not beneficial. And if a student fails at an easy task, the results are significantly more harmful because the student concludes, “I’m stupid.” When tasks are too difficult, students give up. View each classroom and subject as a mountain chain with peaks of different heights, and try to match the peak with the aptitude of the climber. When challenge matches ability and effort leads to mastery, the conditions are right for students to gain confidence and participate with enthusiasm, even if the task isn’t particularly interesting. The three-five strategy from chapter 1 (see page 9) can help you identify a suitable challenge for each student. Did you complete the task of counting each and and the? How motivated were you on a scale of 1 to 10 (least to most)? How many did you find? How interested are you to know the right answer? Is knowing relevant or beneficial in any way to your life? If you are like most readers, you did the task and are interested in knowing if your answer is correct even though knowing the answer has no relevance to your life and will not add any meaningful knowledge to benefit you beyond satisfying your immediate curiosity. Consider that I probably got you sufficiently motivated to do a meaningless task.

experience people they can relate to doing things in their lives that are related to what students are studying. Invite successful people to visit your classroom to help connect content to their work or simply share their inspirational stories and perhaps provide mentoring at school or in the workplace.

Create Confidence and Hope

Acknowledge That Academic Achievement Is Not the Only Pathway to Success As previously stated, make connections between your content or behavioral strategy and how it may apply to other settings, but recognize that school has different requirements for success than many other areas of life. For example, to make honor roll at school requires a student to be highly competent in virtually all academic areas. But in the world of work, competence in only one area can lead to success. Many students understandably lack this awareness because labels like gifted and delayed are most often based solely on school performance. Your voice is much more likely to be motivating when unmotivated students hear that their teacher understands their struggles but strongly believes in their success.

Suggestion Acknowledge how difficult or uninterested a student may be without attaching a negative judgement. For example, “Janelle, I know reading is tough for you, and I totally get that you don’t want to do it. Like you, I don’t want to do things that are hard for me until they become easier. The only way I know for things to get easier is by practicing, and I promise reading will get easier if you keep at it. Tell me one thing that used to be hard for you but now is easy. Now, let’s get at this reading thing.” You might choose to prompt students with basic tasks they learned to do, such as getting dressed, riding a bike, or catching a ball.

How did I do it? I gave you a novel task with a reasonable challenge that could be successfully achieved in a sensible period of time. While it is highly preferable for a lesson or task to be relevant or meaningful, it is not essential! By the way, in case you are interested, the correct answer is seventeen. Now go back and read the paragraph for its important content.

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Emphasize the Importance of Learning

At a social gathering, one of the most important Supreme Court cases (Marbury v. Madison; Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020) came up in the conversation. I had to sneak away and ask Siri what it was about to feel like I could join in. These once-known facts have undoubtedly been dulled by an aging memory. Grant (2018) states that most of what we learn is forgotten within two years. So in response to students’ questions about relevancy, the best way to respond is to connect the content to students’ life experiences and interests. You might ask students to find connections (for example, “Who has some ideas about how this information could be helpful to you?”). A teacher might answer the “When will I ever use this?” question with a sprinkle of humor by telling students, “I’m not sure, because I don’t know what each of you will do in your life. Probably most of you don’t know yet or aren’t sure, but if you want to give me a list of everything you plan to do and accomplish, I’ll do my best to let you know when we cover something that I think you might use. Many of you may never use this, but you need to learn it because it’s going to be on Friday’s test. At the end of the year, it is probably going to be on the state test, and I want to prepare you as best as I can.”

Suggestion Let students know that not everything you teach will make sense at the time. Although you will do your

“When are we ever going to use this?” is an often irritating yet perfectly valid question students ask. Teachers occasionally can make a sensible connection, but far more often, an uncomfortable silence permeates the classroom. If we were to be completely honest, more often than not, the answer to this question would be, “Beyond this class, probably not a lot.” With rare exceptions, a good deal of information will be gone shortly after the final exam. For example, I would be unable to tell anyone what a polynomial is much less manipulate one, which I learned how to do in eleventh-grade mathematics. I would be hard pressed to differentiate an igneous from a sedimentary rock, which I think I learned in middle school. Yet I did very well in school!

Create Confidence and Hope

Ensure Proficiency in Foundational Skills There is simply no substitute for the acquisition, mastery, and application of basic literacy skills, although technology continually finds substitutes. If you can’t read, you can listen to prerecorded books. If you don’t know directions, just plug in the desired address, and your phone or GPS will get you there. If you can’t do basic mathematics, just whip out your trusty calculator. Want to listen to music or keep up with current events? Ask Alexa. It may well be that the utility of everything we teach can be called to question! That said, the vast majority of students must have basic reading, writing, mathematics, listening, and technology skills as a basis for success in life. Without these skills, there is no amount of support, praise, or encouragement that will sustain learning. Therefore, I suggest making sure students acquire these skills. While I’m not a big fan of rewards, use them if necessary. Earning a bonus coupon that allows for skipping homework if Carly reads two pages in class is probably worth the trade-off if it moves her from refusal to read to reading more than she otherwise would. (Students who refuse to read probably aren’t doing homework either.) There are times when forceful yet dignified confrontation is most effective with students who misguidedly satisfy their need for control or power, or cope with their fear of failure, by refusing to try. Link the refusal to fear and efforts to achieve to heroism. For example: “Juran, students who don’t work and won’t try are usually afraid to fail. Doing nothing is the safe play. It is what some

best to explain when they might use what you are teaching, you might not always know. You might say, for example, “Not everything I teach will always make sense to you right away. I will do my best to explain, and I’ll even try to help you see how you might actually need or use what you are learning. Sometimes you’ll just have to trust that what I am teaching is important to learn for now, even if it seems confusing, silly, or unnecessary.”

MOTIVATING STUDENTS WHO DON’T CARE

Own Your Mistakes We sometimes fail to realize the power of hope that can be conveyed when someone who is successful makes mistakes, acknowledges those mistakes, and shows what they have learned. If students point out an error you have made in your instruction, thank them for noticing. If you have been abrupt with a student, apologize. Find opportunities to acknowledge your less-than-perfect side with your students when they notice, and apologize whenever you regret something you said or did. They will appreciate you more, as you are living proof that success comes from learning from the mistakes you make.

Develop Goals With Students You can facilitate motivation when students create attainable goals that are specific. Ideally, these goals should be measurable and observable to the student. Six specific steps are usually helpful to students in developing effective goals. 1. Decide on a goal that you want to reach. 2. Decide on a plan to attain this goal. What are the steps you need to take, and in which order should you take them? 3. Decide on a reward you will give yourself when you achieve your goal. You can also give yourself smaller rewards after you achieve one or a few steps in your plan. 4. Check your plan with a parent, teacher, or trusted friend. 5. Complete each step in your plan, one at a time. 6. Reward yourself when you have reached your goal.

people do when they are afraid to fail. I can understand that. Sometimes I play it that way too. It takes guts and courage to try, especially when there is no guarantee that things will work out. Knowing you and knowing how tough you can be, I know that once you get going and attack these mathematics problems with the same force that you use to stick up for yourself, you’ll feel proud. Let’s do the first one together.”

Create Confidence and Hope

Suggestion

Help Students Get and Stay Organized Because schools require that students must master a predetermined body of information that may or may not actually interest them, getting and staying organized is essential for success. Unfortunately, many students live relatively disorganized lives outside of school and have not learned how to organize themselves or their materials in ways that are compatible with success. When students are prepared for learning with proper supplies and can anticipate upcoming activities, their chances for success dramatically improve. Many students, particularly those with attention deficit disorder and autism, have great difficulty anticipating upcoming events and tend to have trouble behaving during transitions. There are many ways to help students get organized. Elementary students can benefit from a picture schedule or photos of upcoming activities, and middle and high school students can benefit from a checklist of the day’s schedule. This can also be a helpful way to keep parents informed. You might encourage students to keep a different-colored folder for each subject. The folder can be further organized to define specific tasks. Another option is to provide a daily or weekly assignment sheet for students that identifies what needs to be done and by when. For those teaching remotely, a Google search (keeping kids organized with remote learning) reveals numerous websites offering practical ways for getting and keeping your students organized.

Consider having each student develop an individual honor roll to record improvement when they make progress toward a goal. Like a runner who loses a race but records his or her best time, doing this celebrates growth rather than how far ahead or behind a student is from his or her peers. One teacher I observed created an “on-a-roll” award to celebrate students’ growth and improvement.

MOTIVATING STUDENTS WHO DON’T CARE

Suggestion

Focus on Success I remember observing a middle school teacher who became excited when students made mistakes. It was common for him to say things like, “That is an awesome mistake, and this is why.” When he gave back a paper with a poor grade, his message was, “You got numbers 4, 5, and 7 correct, but you missed numbers 2, 3, and 9. If you want to get your grade up, you can redo those. Awesome job on the ones you did well.” Hope is created and sustained in classrooms that emphasize success. A study by Richard Boyatzis, Melvin Smith, and Ellen Van Oosten (2019) finds that focusing people on their shortcomings or gaps impairs rather than facilitates learning. Using magnetic resonance imaging, they find that criticism triggers the fight or flight response and shuts down learning. Further, learning depends on our understanding of what we’re doing well, not on what we’re doing poorly. Perhaps even more important is the finding that we learn most when someone gets us to focus on what’s working within us and helps us explore how to use it to improve skills or develop something new (Boyatzis, Smith, & Van Oosten, 2019). Although we cannot make it impossible for students to fail, good practice requires that we make it very difficult for students to fail.

With students who lack motivation, the effective teacher selectively picks his or her battles. For example, disorganized students might have completed an assignment, stuffed it in their locker, and can’t find it or forget that they even did it. These students usually do better with specific routines that are defined and practiced. It is best to avoid hassles over whether a student has necessary supplies until after the student experiences success. If appropriate, teachers can invite students to contribute school supplies to help each other out, and teachers should have a few extra supplies like textbooks available.

Create Confidence and Hope

Like a car battery that needs a jolt to get the engine running again, some students need a boost to restart their engine. Success can provide that boost.

Emphasize to students that success is primarily based on showing improvement rather than how one does in comparison to others. This attitude enables us to emphasize success while maintaining high expectations. Give students some goals about success and post them in the classroom, as shown in figure 2.1.

You will be successful if you: • Show up • Prepare, practice, and persevere • Give your best each day • Shut down failure self-talk (for example, “I can’t” or “It’s too hard”) • Keep improving in comparison to yourself

FIGURE 2.1: Student goals for success to post in the classroom. Visit go.SolutionTree.com/student engagement for a free reproducible version of this figure.

Suggestion Set expectations in the classroom so students compete against themselves rather than each other. Let them know that it doesn’t matter what or continued 

For example, after announcing an assignment to the class, privately tell a nonperforming student that you will call on him or her for the answer to a specific problem that he or she is expected to work on for a short period. Then check the student’s answer before you call on him or her to make sure it is at least partially correct. At the appropriate time, ask a question that feeds directly into whatever aspects of the problem you know the student can correctly answer and call on him or her. If necessary, explain the concept or problem in greater detail later. Your goal is to make the student look and feel academically competent with his or her peers.

MOTIVATING STUDENTS WHO DON’T CARE

Ensure the End Is in Sight During the coronavirus pandemic that began in 2020 through June of that year, nearly 41 percent of adults surveyed by the CDC reported an adverse mental or behavioral condition (Czeisler et al., 2020). Among children ages five through eleven (24 percent) and twelve through seventeen (31 percent), there was an increase in trips to the emergency room through October 2020 (Leeb et al., 2020). Having lived through it, there were intervals when many of my friends and I lapsed into periods of depression and hopelessness not knowing when it would end. While it may be a stretch to compare, consider that many unmotivated students may have the same helpless feeling when presented with lessons in which they lack interest or understanding—and that seem to have no end in sight. Success is far more likely with underachievers when assignments and projects have an identifiable and manageable end. Stay away from multistep assignments or too much on a page since this discourages effort by feeling endless and overwhelming. After explaining a concept that may require answering written questions or writing an essay that demonstrates understanding, be sure to get students started by working through the first few problems or sentences to ensure understanding.

Give Before You Get Like it or not, good teaching includes good sales techniques. To inspire motivation among poorly motivated students, we must try to sell them on the idea that working at school and achieving is a good

how anyone else is doing. Like all skills, people learn at different speeds and in different ways. Tell students, “There will be times when assignments and tests won’t be the same for everyone. My goal is for each of you to get a little bit better every day when you prepare, practice, and persevere. Your job is to make progress each day, and my job is to provide lessons, assignments, and tests that will help each of you improve.”

Create Confidence and Hope

thing. We know from experience that people usually buy products because they perceive them as valuable in some way.

We need to borrow from this research with one important caveat in our efforts to motivate students. Avoid resentment by expecting nothing in return. Keep in mind that challenging students have often learned not to trust and are initially wary of people who treat them well. As a result, they are likely to persist with their antics until they become convinced that you truly care. Advertisers know the more exposure there is to their product, the more likely a consumer is to buy it. As educators, we want to influence our students to work and learn. Make it a habit to initiate at least one positive interaction every day. Small favors and appreciations can be very effective tools. Little things can include doing a high five or fist bump, offering a secret handshake, sending a student a birthday card, writing a positive note to the student or his or her parents, sending websites related to a student’s interest, posting a student’s interesting comment or response on a social media platform, or making students valued helpers.

Suggestion Think of all the little things people do to make you enjoy being recognized or noticed. Which of these things might some or many of your unmotivated students enjoy? Think of salespeople you like, admire, or simply go to when you want to buy a product. continued 

Salespeople send us birthday cards or season’s greetings because they know this makes us more likely to visit them the next time we need a product they sell. Supermarkets give out product samples. Ice cream stores let you taste before you buy. In a seminal study on reciprocity, Denis Regan (1971) finds that subjects bought more of something they did not need after they received an unsolicited can of soda while they were involved in another activity. A more recent study finds that when pharmaceutical representatives take doctors to lunch, those doctors order more of the name-brand prescription (almost always priced higher) (DeJong et al., 2016).

MOTIVATING STUDENTS WHO DON’T CARE

Demand More Than You Expect People generally think they are getting a bargain when they get something that is better than expected. This is the principle of contrast, which affects how we perceive a situation and influences how we behave. Businesses use this all the time when they advertise 50 percent off the price of a product or service. The size difference grabs our attention, and if you start out thinking that something you want costs one hundred dollars, but the sale offers it for fifty dollars, the contrast in price can make you think you are getting a very good deal. This principle can be applied to motivating students by establishing expectations that are higher than necessary and then lowering them to reflect what is acceptable. For example, you might ask students to turn in ten mathematics problems for homework when you would be entirely satisfied with five. This enables you to drop down to five when you hear groans from students. Students will think they got a good deal. Asking for ten minutes of solid attention to something that generally requires five makes you a hero when you ease off after five. So, start tougher and then ease up.

Offer Homework as an Optional Bonus Hassles related to homework can be distressing to students, parents, and teachers. Many students complain that homework assignments are boring, repetitive, and often meaningless (Galloway, Conner, & Pope, 2013). Overall, the debate on the value of homework has been going on for many years and is unlikely to be resolved

What characteristics do they have, what do they do, or what have they given you that makes you want to return? Good examples of these might be Steve Jobs for Apple, Bill Gates for Microsoft, Michael Jordan for Nike, and Oprah Winfrey for dozens of books she included in her book club. What might you be able to apply from them to awaken your poorly motivated students to behave or perform more appropriately?

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Teaching new concepts should not be the goal of homework. Show that you value homework by providing feedback within a day or two of receiving the assignment. Anything less reduces its appeal and often its value, making it attractive only to the more motivated students who care because of the threat of a reduced grade if they do not do the assignment. Because middle and high school students have different subject area teachers, these educators in particular should co-plan assignments to avoid overloads. This is much more viable when teachers work together as a team. Perhaps a better option for some if not most homework assignments would be to make them optional based on mastery. A possible exception would be practicing basic reading and writing skills in the early grades because of their critical importance to overall school success. Perhaps you might assign more frequent, short quizzes to assess whether students have mastered the material to be practiced for homework. Students who meet a predetermined standard for mastery can continue to have optional homework. Those who fall below the standard can be required to do homework until they demonstrate mastery. Rather than punish students for not doing their homework, perhaps we should reward those who do it with something like points in a “bank account” that you can add to a student’s grade or test result. Finally, homework may need to be completely redefined in an age of hybrid or virtual learning. Is all work done at home considered homework? How much estimated time for study is allotted to assignments given on days when students are exclusively online? Students

to everyone’s satisfaction. For the purpose of motivation, if you assign homework, the goal should be for practice, review, and possibly extension (such as a research project to achieve content mastery). The purpose should be clear and the time required to complete it reasonable. For decades, the National PTA and the National Education Association (NEA) have recommended ten minutes of homework per grade level (Camp, 2017). My experience is that any more than two hours at the upper grades is a recipe for utter frustration. You should adjust these numbers to avoid frustration for some and insufficient challenge for others.

MOTIVATING STUDENTS WHO DON’T CARE

Suggestion Create two categories for homework. The first represents absolutely essential concepts or basic skills that students must master, and the second is for facts or concepts that are good for students to know but are less essential. Consider making those in the first category required assignments and those in the second category optional. You might establish a reward system, such as the “bank account” point system previously described, for completed assignments in either or both categories.

Encourage and Support Positive Affirmations There is a connection between how we think of ourselves and how we behave. A positive attitude supported by positive affirmations can give students the mental edge they need to be successful. You might present students with illustrations or sayings regarding thought and practice. Some of my favorites include the following. • “I am concentrating and achieving.” • “I am my own person, and I make my own decisions.” • “I am doing my best right now and that’s all that matters.” • “I forgive myself for my mistakes.” • “I am getting better and better at ______ .” • “I am choosing to do my best work today, even if I don’t like it.” • “I can smile and feel good whenever I want.”

who learn through these platforms usually are learning at home, so particularly on days when school is at home, the issue is more about making instruction engaging, meaningful, and comprehensive than it is about deciding how much homework to give. One way to know is to regularly require feedback from each student about the value of homework and how much time it takes him or her to complete.

Create Confidence and Hope

Suggestion

Questions for Reflection Use the following questions to reflect on the information you learned in this chapter. You can reflect on these questions individually or with colleagues. 1. Think of a class when you were a student that you started out not liking but wound up liking a lot. What did the teacher do that helped change your attitude? 2. Think of a student who seems to give up easily or won’t participate because he or she fears failure. How can you guarantee at least one successful outcome for this student every day for one week? 3. What are some ways you can adapt tests and assignments so students’ grades depend at least as much on improvement as on mastery? 4. What kind of support do you appreciate getting from others when you are faced with difficult or challenging tasks? Unmotivated students might appreciate getting this kind of support from you if they do not get it already. Picture yourself supporting at least one such student in this way.

There are many inspirational posters that can adorn the classroom walls to provide thought, reflection, and hope. Many are available on Instagram. Pick your favorites to display in your classroom, on the smartboard, or through screen share to inspire students.

READERS WILL: z

Understand why students might be unmotivated in class

Examine the five key processes for guiding and inspiring unmotivated students

Learn about the importance of emphasizing effort in the classroom

Use proven strategies to empower students and spark enthusiasm for learning

Support student learning by creating a classroom culture of confidence and hope

—Michele Borba Educational Psychologist; Author, Thrivers: The Surprising Reasons Why Some Kids Struggle and Others Shine

Visit go.SolutionTree.com/studentengagement to download the free reproducibles in this book.

SolutionTree.com

—Candice A. Casey Associate Director, School/University Partnership Office, Saginaw Valley State University

ISBN 978-1-951075-43-9 90000

9 781951 075439

A l l e n

M e n d l e r

Motivating Students Who Don’t Care, Second Edition

Articles inside

Encourage Little Improvements Every Day

Show Simple Courtesy

Ask for Small Things First

Change Efforts to Commitments

Reframe Unmotivated Behavior to Promote Effort

Separate Effort From Achievement When Grading

In This Second Edition

Beliefs That Support Success

Use the Language of Effort

Avoid Labels

Questions for Reflection

Build on Mistakes or Partially Correct Answers

Why Some Students Are Unmotivated

Allow Redos, Retakes, and Revisions