f I tell someone I am a teacher, I get mixed reactions. Sometimes it is a positive reaction, “what a fulfilling career! And those summers off, that was a good choice in a job” to the unfriendly and negative “oh my, teenagers...middle school was the worst.” Depending on the situation, I usually try to tell them how yes, it is fulfilling, yes it is hard, and as you would suspect, the best part of the job is the relationships you form with students and that what you do everyday matters. The positive influences that good teachers have on students, even if the students never realize it, can never be taken away.
Sometimes I feel like a new teacher, especially this year, as I have made the transition from teaching high school science to middle school. I am now teaching 6th grade math and science. I am overwhelmingly happy with the decision I have made and my professional and personal life have changed dramatically due to this change. In the classroom, the standards are new, the age group is new, and this change has inspired an overhaul in the way I interact with students, the curriculum and my colleagues. Even though I have transitioned into a new school, grade level, and subject, I almost immediately realized that the same question that haunted me as a high school teacher is still lingering everyday as a 6th grade teacher and is one of the problems I would like to explore in my research. Why are some students motivated to complete assignments, stay on task, ask questions and try their best, while other students are seemingly apathetic? I have come to this question by writing down a list of my interests, wonderings, and things that bother me while in the classroom with students. Some of the other items on my list were: After SST meetings (meetings with struggling students, parent(s), administrators, councilors, teachers) there seems to be no change in behavior or habits, students struggle with following written directions and being independent, many or most students do not make up missing work after being absent, no concept (even after review and explanation) that looking back on example problems and notes helps when confused with homework problems, how can I hold students accountable for doing their work and more than just giving a grade. These other items on my list circle around the same main question(s): What causes students to be motivated to be successful, what can I do as their teacher to instill motivation and a desire to be an outstanding student in the classroom? Some things I will need to know to answer that question is my students current level of motivation and their attitude toward school, their past success in school and what other factors (reading level, math index) can influence their success, what the emotional wellbeing of my students is and if that affects their progress, what types of lesson activities they most engage in and why. Some things I already know regarding student motivation is that parent influences can instill an importance in education, having a positive teacher/student relationship encourages students to be more successful, peer pressure and/or peer influences can encourage or discourage students. I also know that praising students can motivate as well using a variety of teaching methods to differentiate instruction. I will spend this spring semester fine tuning my driving question and subquestions, designing how I will plan to study this question, clarifying the purpose of my study, and involving my students in the process, possibly by asking them to set personal goals. I will specify my data collecting method, and finally analyze and reporting my data.
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