Inquiry 2022 - What is Motivation

 My inquiry this year is about motivation. I have been round the school with a note pad asking staff and students what they think motivation is, how they motivate themselves and how they motivate other people.

Staff

• Something that makes me want to do something. The will to do something and the enthusiasm. When you reach the point of success or whatever your goal is.

• Be encouraging and positive towards other people. Thinking about my why and mainly my who. Being thankful and grateful.

• Impetus and having a reason to do something. It depends on what the end result is and if it is needed. Getting something going, pushing.

• Have a reason to get up in the morning. Family.

• Providing structure, day to day and big picture. Enjoying what you do even if it turns to custard occasionally.

• Taking on passion projects. Focus on things that I am passionate about. The ongoing success of these helps me to stay motivated.

• The burst of energy to do something but you need discipline to keep it consistent. Talk to the students about their interests to establish a connection. Are they in the mood to motivate themselves? Asking how the teacher can support them. Getting them to reflect on themselves with goal setting - what motivates them? Ask them about their why.

• Motivation can be cultivated with a classroom culture of hard work and excitement. 65% of it has to come from the students themselves with their buy in to what you are doing. Curiosity and wonder is the place where you need to start. Get them excited to learn and use this to get them to a place where they get to make what they want. Student agency - your planning needs to be flexible to incorporate their interests.

Students

• Inspiring - both the environment and someone's energy. Having a challenge.

• Consistently striving to do something that you desire. I remember situations where I felt helpless and weak and strive to be better than that. I try to be encouraging. I get them to seek help and guide them to places where they can grow further.

• It is difficult for me to get motivated. When I am on my phone I am on Youtube and TikTok. These keep my attention as they have interesting stuff. I learn things from them that I did not know before.

• I think about the past and how I was last year and I want to be better. Teacher nagging helps me a lot. I don't like it at the time but I know it helps me.

• My dreams for the future. I want to keep doing things that I enjoy and use them for a future career. I think back to the small version of me from the past who liked drawing and making things and I don't want to let that version of me down by not doing my best with it.