For Those Who Lack Motivation

• Part 1: For Those Who Lack Motivation
• Part 2: Effects of the Lack of Motivation on School and Home Behavior
• Part 3: Theoretical Framework for the Lack of Motivation
• Part 4: Developmentally Appropriate Strategies to Meet the Lack of Motivation at School
• Part 5: Developmentally Appropriate Strategies to Meet the Lack of Motivation at Home
• Part 6: Keeping Track of Motivational Progress

Part 1: For Those Who Lack Motivation

It can be tough losing the will to struggle through more math work. Sometimes, you realize you are stuck and you do not know where to turn. Lack of motivation exists where scholars do not want to do much of the work that is being asked and expected of them. It can exist through external or internal stimuli, either the presence of risk factors or the absence of resilience factors. These can include a series of home-life conditions that are more of a chosen priority to focus on. A death of a parent, for example, is one situation that can lead to a lack of motivation.

“Motivation ‘kick starts’ the process, ‘lubricates’ the parts, and ‘fuels’ the engine to keep it running” (Vibulphol, 64). Motivation can be provided through means of humor, creativity, incentives or connection. While behaviors and instructional practices can help curb the lack of motivation in scholars, sometimes we need to address their environments as well to provide a measure of safety for improvement (Desautels, 2014). The lack of motivation, then, ends up being the result of some other possible concerns to have. Still, these concerns may be subsided by following along in this series.

In Part 2, we will explore some effects of the lack of motivation in school and at home.

Some sources for this series:

American Psychological Association. (2015, October 29). Frequently monitoring progress toward goals increases chance of success: Publicly reporting or recording progress has an even greater effect, study says. ScienceDaily. Retrieved June 7, 2020 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/10/151029101349.htm

Berger, K.S. (2018). The developing person through childhood and adolescence, 11th ed. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Cheng, Z & Southcott, J. (2016). Improving students’ intrinsic e motivation in piano learning: Expert teacher voices. Australian Journal of Music Education, v50 n2 p48-57. ISSN-0004-9484

Desautels, L. (2014). Addressing Our Needs: Maslow Comes to Life for Educators and Students. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/addressing-our-needs-maslow-hierarchy-lori-desautels

Ford, V. B., Roby, D. E. Why Do High School Students Lack Motivation in the Classroom? Global Education Journal. Franklin Publishing Company. 101-113.

Overbaugh, R & Schultz, L. (2016). Bloom’s Taxonomy. Old Dominion University. https://www.odu.edu/content/dam/odu/col-dept/teaching-learning/docs/blooms-taxonomy-handout.pdf

Usher, A. & Kober, N. (2012). Student Motivation— An Overlooked Piece of School Reform. Center on Education Policy. Graduate School of Education and Human Development. The George Washington University.

Vibulphol, J. Students’ Motivation and Learning and Teachers’ Motivational Strategies in English Classrooms in Thailand. Canadian Center of Science and Education. Vol. 9, No. 4; 2016. doi: 10.5539/elt.v9n4p64

Vygotsky’s Theory of Child Development (http://www.ethicalpolitics.org/wits/vygotsky-development.pdf) from ethicalpolitics.org