Use the Language of Effort

Make School-Life Connections

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.

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

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