Do you know how to motivate students to learn? Do you know what drives them? Or what makes them resist learning? Do you know what makes students react to academics the way they do?
Today’s think piece, the centerpiece article on TeachHUB.com, takes a look at the ways students approach learning, and how they think of themselves. Frequent TeachHUB.com (and TeachHUB Magazine) contributing writer Jordan Catapano, himself a high school English teacher in the Chicago suburbs, penned the article, which examines three environments that that examine how to motivate students, which are fixed ability, competition, and mastery.
Jordan also takes a look at how to facilitate the right environment, including:
- Encourage growth
- Include students in the process
- Foster positivity
- And more!
Jordan sums up his article like this: “As we reflect on what kind of motivations drive the school-oriented behaviors of students, we recognize that we possess a great deal of influence on how students see school. We can facilitate an environment that promotes a fixed or competition mindset, or we can facilitate an environment that promotes mastery learning. Often, it comes down to our own beliefs about students. If we believe they can learn and grow, then we can definitely produce the right elements in our classroom that serve this perception.”
How do you help promote mastery learning in your classroom? Share your ideas with our TeachHUB community!
Minecraft in the Classroom Teaches Reading and More
Millions of people of all ages have been playing the sandbox-style video game Minecraft (on a variety of platforms, from the Xbox to the PlayStation to iPads and more) for ages now. But did you know that the game has man virtues that can enhance classroom experiences?
Minecraft, which is an open word game with no set goals for any player to accomplish, encourages teamwork, entices kids to read, and gets them thinking about integral classroom topics like physics and biology.
We recently took a look at the ways that Minecraft can help your students’ day-to-day academic trajectories.
Have you successfully utilized the video phenomenon Minecraft in class? If so, how have you used it?
