Essay #2
Kyaw Lwin Soe
ESOL 400 Prof. Shaw
March 16, 2015
Ways to Nourish Students’ Desire to Learn
Motivation is an important factor in our lives. From elementary school to the workplace, we have been studying, working and trying hard to accomplish our goals. We can’t do those things effectively if there is no motivation. Motivation is more important for students because if they do well during their academic careers, it is better for their lives. In the article “Motivation Matters”, the author introduces four conditions that improve students’ motivation (Crotty). Among them, making students interested in the tasks and making them expect for the outcome are the most important ways to nourish students’ desire to learn. Interest is the most important factor for students’ motivation because everyone loves to do the job that they’re interested in. In Crotty’s article, he points out that a student’s interest in the task is one of the four things that increase student’s motivation. If a student is interested in that task, he will never feel bored or discouraged from it because he wants to know everything about it. He will focus on it and try to learn everything about that task. When he faces setbacks or challenges, he will find a way to overcome them because he is interested in it. Therefore, we should encourage students to follow the path they’re interested in or make them interested in those subjects so that they don’t feel bored or discouraged from the path even if they face setbacks. A great accomplishment and a great perseverance are the result of great interest. In her article “The Secret to Raising Smart Kids”, Dweck writes “great accomplishment, and even what we call genius, is typically the result of years of passion and dedication and not something that flows naturally from a gift” (6). Geniuses who completed great accomplishments in their lives also have to spend years of working hard pursuing their dreams. Nobody can spend years working hard on a task that he is not interested. Thomas Edison, who invented the light bulb, failed many times before his great invention, but he never gave up and kept trying. Therefore, students who are interested in their subject will also be able to overcome setbacks and accomplish great things with great perseverance. In addition to interest, expecting for the outcome of one’s action can also improve students’ desire to learn. In the article “Brainology”, the author explains a program that motivates students by telling them the brain can be developed like a muscle (Dweck 4). Training students this way is making them expect for the outcome. Students believe their brains will develop if they study and learn new things, so they study and work harder because they expect their brains to get stronger and smarter. Students’ motivation greatly depends on how much students expect from their academic careers. Therefore, we can try to encourage students by making them expect for the outcome of their academic careers and their lives, and also making them believe that they have high potentials to become everything in the future. Rewarding is also an effective way to make students expect for the outcome. In the article “Paying Students for Achievement: Does It Work”, the authors introduce KIPP program which rewards money to students from urban and poor communities for their additional effort and good behavior and it rewards “KIPP dollars” which can only be used in school facilities like purchasing supplies (Bast, and Walberg). It is really effective because it not only fulfills students’ financial needs but also improves their learning environment. Students work harder because they receive paychecks at the end of every week. It is a good way as money is probably the most important need for students from poor community. Therefore, rewarding like that is also a way to increase students’ desire to learn as they can focus on their school lessons and study without worries about money and other factors.