subject: Motivation: Opens The Direction Towards Success [print this page] The word motivation is derived from the Latin word that means movement. Motivation is like the fuel that influences us towards pursuing our goals. Our parents, family members, neighbors, teachers, friends and peers can become a source of inspiration for us. In many cases its been noticed that lives of great man become inspirational resource for us. This is the reason why our parents and grandparents read out stories of great man and historical incidents to us in a young age. Motivation is something that energizes, directs and sustains behavior of the students. Recognition of good behavior from the side of the teacher in the class may work like an energy supplement for the students. If we go through the pages of history, we get host of such examples where the great emperors and fighters were get encouraged by small things. Motivation may be big or small, but it always encourages us.
There are particular ways of motivating the students. In our academic life, both internal and external factors work to motivate us. Getting influenced from the life of great man or realizing the importance of achieving a height in comes under internal motivation. When parents, teachers and other persons try to influence us by means of their conversation or by other ways, these become external motivation factors. There are various ways of motivating the students. In the classroom, the teachers can occasionally arrange for debate or discussion session among the students. They can choose the topics from the school curriculum so that their doubts can also be cleared. The home and school environment also influence the students developmental process greatly. For example, if a child notices the father or mother to read newspapers every day, they also develop this habit.
Whatever may be the kids are of interest, parents and teachers should always try to encourage them. But they also need to be careful about positively encouraging their kids. It is true that kids get motivated both by positive and negative ways. Parents and teachers should not demonstrate ill behavior before the grownups. For example if a teacher smokes cigarette in front of the students, they also can be influenced by that and can do the same. Some research suggests that students will be more motivated when given some control over their learning goals, although this is probably truer for high-achievers. It may also help to give students choices among tasks and activities required in the lesson. The beliefs teachers themselves have about teaching and learning and the nature of the expectations they hold for students also exert a powerful influence. To a very large degree, students expect to learn if their teachers expect them to learn. As parents and teachers, we can do many things to motivate students to learn and behave in ways that promote their long-term success and productivity.
