hello, i teach 8th grade students math. i just don’t see much motivation from many students. when i go over math problems, step-by-step, many of the students seem to tune me out. i have to be able to go over the problems, but it seems pointless if they aren’t going to pay attention. plus when it comes to them working independently they groan when they have to do 10 problems. i start to have some behavior issues with students. some just don’t care and slump in their seat. some of these students claim they don’t know how to do it, but i had just gone over many examples and had them take notes. i don’t mind going to each student and helping out, but when i have students start to talk across the room as i am trying to help others, i just can’t do it. i also feel that they are doign what i call learned helplessness. they feel that nothing can be done on their own. i have test material i must cover and am responsible for my students to pass this test, so if i have students who just don’t care or pay attention (when they are able to do the work if they would just pay attention) what can i do? any tricks of the trade? please help!
Re: they have no motivation, what to do?
Agree with des. I answered this with a long post on the Teaching Math board.
>see much motivation from many students. when i go over math problems, step-by-step, many of the students seem to tune me out. i
Well motivation is a complex thing, imo/ime. It isn’t just motivation (ie do I give a rat’s a** about that). First of all, middle school kids are at a VERY difficult stage, they often care more about the peer group (in fact, they should) than to you. So some way of motivating the kids thru group
rewards might be useful. Another thing is that sometimes lack of motivation is really inability to do something, esp. at that grade. They’d rather say “I hate this” or “I don’t want to do it” than “I can’t”. Make sure they CAN do what you ask. That they understand it in a more complete way than just being able to follow some pattern to get the correct answers. I disliked math in school but really I didn’t understand it.
Another thing is knowing the why and trying to make the subject relevant to the kids.
>slump in their seat. some of these students claim they don’t know how to do it, but i had just gone over many examples and had them take notes.
Because they have taken notes and been given examples doesn’t mean that they do understand it. Unfortunately it is quite possible that the kids don’t have the basic skills so that the more complex skills are going to be difficult if not impossible. If you don’t really understand division say, it is pretty likely you will not really understand algebra, division of fractions, etc. Sadly I’d rather guess this was the case, and that you are just going to do what you can. Unfortunately you have to cover the material for the tests. I might recommend an alternative approach or something but it might be hard to do in your situation.
>students start to talk across the room as i am trying to help others, i just can’t do it. i also feel that they are doign what i call learned helplessness. they feel that nothing can be done on their own.
It is only learned helplessness if they really do know how to do the work. I don’t know that you can assume that.
I think you can safely assume that many of your class is behind in math skills. You might test this more closely. But again I do see a difficult dilemma of having to go thru test material when your kids really might need work in basic skills.
—des