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Introduction

Taking part in a course on advanced learners at Pilgrims in summer 2002, one of the questions of my course-colleagues (all teachers) was “How can I motivate my students?” As this is one of the most frequently asked questions by teachers, I would like to summarize a few ideas about student-motivation.

Our experiences on the teacher training course

I led two sessions for my course-colleagues – teachers, as I said. The first one was good, the second one was terrible. Why? I had respected the basic laws of motivation in the first session, and neglected them in the second. What happened was this: In the first session, I gave my colleagues the chance to be active, to be responsible for themselves and for the outcome, and I related directly to their questions and worries. In the second one, I bleated to them about topics that I found fascinating and important about motivation, but I did not give them what they wanted.

And that seems to be one of the secrets of motivation: Do not ever force a topic on your students that they are not interested in. If you now say that this is difficult, please read on.

In the first session, I picked up precisely on the questions my colleagues asked and used them for an activity. For example, they wanted to know: “How can we make our students creative?” I had picked up that very question and used it in the session. How? Read on, if you are interested. What at this point, I would like to stress is: Motivation comes from the answer to an open question or need. Therefore, make sure you know the needs of your students. In the activity (the one that you will soon read about) my colleagues enjoyed the fact that they could use their own experiences and work with them. They were “present” in the activity. When they then, sharing responsibilities after the activity, reported back to the plenum what they had found out, there was a need to talk, and a need to listen. That obviously is another secret of motivation: that you are in charge of doing something for the group, and that you do not work “for the teacher alone”. Let me describe the method I used with my colleagues first, and then let us think about what you can do with this method (or similar ones) in your lessons.

The coloured papers technique

Objective

Getting to know students needs/thoughts/personalities … ideally at the beginning of the term.

Preparation

First, you consider what you would like to know about your students, and what you want them to know about each other. Then you formulate questions or beginnings of sentences, about half as many as you have students. Examples for questions (from our course) are:

• A bad teacher …
• If somebody tells me to be creative, …
• When I attend a course, my motivation comes from …
• What I need most when I'm learning something new is …

For your purposes, it could be any questions, like “My favourite hobby is …” “If a had ten million euros, I would …”, or “The last time I spoke English was …”, “I need English for …”, “I hate lessons which …” or “A successful young person is able to …” Test your questions on some people before you give them to your students – the questions must be easy to answer spontaneously, and they must be clear.

When you have found your questions, put each question for each student on a differently coloured slip of paper. You will need many shades of coloured paper (half as many or a third as many as you have students)! Please, find a photocopier to do the work, otherwise it is too laborious.

Also have a lot of sticky tape ready. Check if it sticks on clothes.

The lesson

If you have e. g. 18 students, you will bring 9 differently coloured piles of paper slips to class. Explain that each student will write on 9 different colours of paper, and everybody should write legibly, as others will have to read their answers. That will take some time. You can join in the activity or not – as you wish. It's fun; I always join in. When you have filled in your own papers, prepare loads of sticky tape for your students. Then, explain that they will stick their papers on their own clothes – wherever people can touch them. Ask them to stick their papers on themselves in such a way that people have to lift the papers in order to read them. Two people (together), or, if you have a big class, a triad, are responsible for the answers to each question – they are to collect the answers and write them down. But everybody can look at more papers than they are responsible for - everybody is actually invited to look at any paper that they find interesting; and everybody is invited to talk to each other.

Everybody then moves round chaotically, talking, collecting, kneeling in front of each other (if one of the papers is tuck to a leg), and taking notes. When everyone has finished, sit down and listen to the report back. As teacher, do take notes, otherwise the precious answers will be lost. And you will need the answers if you want to motivate your students!

Are you interested in some of our report backs on the Pilgrims course?

My colleagues found that “Learning is interesting for them when …”they discover something new, when they can experiment or have challenging and absorbing tasks to do, when there are topics they are interested in, when they have a good time, when the subject is useful, when they like the teacher, when they are successful …. (there were more answers than that).

“If someone tells me to be creative …” was (in most cases) answered by negative things, like: “I go blank, I feel I can't, I feel under pressure, I try hard, I feel worried or desperate, …” (Isn't that interesting? Mind you, these answers were given by teachers, not by “normal” students!)

“Motivation”, my colleagues said, “comes from” deep inside, the rational me, the joy of working together with people I like, the need to learn something new and to get to know people, the interest in the subject, an inspiring teacher … (and many other things).

The outcome

The coloured papers technique – and other, similar methods which allow you get to know the needs of your students – is not only fun, it can help you a lot during the term. You are, for instance, at a loss what to do next? Have a look at your notes. Or you are completely blank how you can introduce a topic that needs to be tackled? Use your notes.

For example: If you want your students to summarise short newspaper articles to each other, introduce the activity with your students' own words. They said, in their coloured papers, they “want to get to know and impress new people”? Use their very words. Say, for example: “Usually it is not easy to get to know new people. Sometimes you are at a loss what to say. If you have interesting facts available, and you can tell them in an interesting way, however, you will have a topic to talk about, and everybody will be happy to listen to you. Everybody will join in – and remember you as the one who started the conversation – you will be able to impress people, if you can tell them facts in an interesting way. One way of talking to new people is to talk about what you have read in the newspaper. So, this is what we are going to practise today….”

It is fascinating how, during the term, people are attentive and motivated when they notice their needs are being fulfilled. If you use their words, your students will feel they have been listened to, and they will feel respected. In this way, you can wrap even “uninteresting” topics into the needs and questions of your students. What you need to do is to consider before you start anything is WHY the topic should be useful for your students. If you find out, tell them (in their own words) before you start, and if you do not find out any use for the topic, do not work with it. Simply skip it. Or use it differently. There is, for example, a section in the book that is outdated but that your headmistress wants you to do? If your students have, at the beginning of the term, said they want to become good at discussions, use that section exactly for that – and make them work with arguments for and against that outdated section in the book.

Conclusion

The technique I have introduced you to here is only one of many ways of finding out about students' needs. What counts is that you do find out. If you are ready to use the results and adapt to your students' needs, your lessons will be interesting and fun, and your students will be motivated. office@karinblauensteiner.com
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