10 Unusual Techniques Teachers Can Use to Motivate Children

A motivated organism seeks a goal to attain. A motivated child is thus full of achievement motivation. Since the success of a teacher to a great extent depends on his ability to motivate children to learn, it is essential to list some of the ways through which teachers can motivate children.

1. Teachers need study the network of children's needs in order to understand the nature of needs and how to meet such needs, which in turn, will serve as motivating forces
2. Teachers need to provide incentives to encourage students to learn. These incentives can involve due praises, rewards, commendations, helping students to see the value of learning or education for future occupations and effective living generally.
3. The learning materials or tasks should be too difficult for age, educational experience and ability of children. Teachers should find something every child in class can do that makes him proud of himself.
4. The knowledge of progress (feedback) can stimulate a student to work harder. This feedback should not be delayed unduly.
5. Children need social approval. Teachers can therefore boost student's ego by praising and commending for good performance from time to time, especially good performance in social, non-academic realms.
6. The teacher can at times deprive students of certain needs so as to make students to work hard to meet such deprived needs. Deprivation is a form of motivation but should be carefully handled so that it will not result in punishment.
7. Teachers can appease certain needs through promoting healthy competition in the class. Ruthless and savage competition frustrates rather than aids or motivates. If a high premium is placed on achievement, most students will see the need of competing keenly in doing well in school. But when competition is too intense, it leads to emotional disturbances for those who cannot cope.
8. Reinforcement of behaviors that are desirable, positive and goal-directed. Motivational forces can be negative too and result in negative responses. Teachers should discern positive behaviors and reinforce them accordingly so that such behaviors can represent themselves.
9. Teachers should introduce the different and the new (novel) from time to time to arouse students. Methods of teaching should vary and seek new and different but relevant materials.
10. Teachers can invigorate the learner's behavior by grading the task in such a way that the learner moves from the simple, known to the complex and novel. In this way, the beginning may look familiar and relatively easy to encourage the learner to move on into deeper waters

These ten techniques are supposed to assuage the restlessness caused by unsatisfied need. The major task of the teacher is to understand the need of the learner and use that understanding to motivate learners towards goal attainment.