Educator and school psychologist Allen Mendler, Ph.D, says the root causes for unmotivated students are factors outside of the school.
“Dysfunctional families, garbage on T.V, unsupportive parents, corrosion of morals and students believe that school won’t make a difference are some of the main reason students are unmotivated to learn,” Mendler said.
In his online seminar Motivating Unmotivated Students for Inside the School Mendler outlined five pillars for motivating tough students. They are relationship, relevance, success, safety and fun. There are many classroom management rules an educator can implement, Mendler believes these are key.
To build a relationship with a student Mendler recommends investing two minutes of every day for ten consecutive days to get to know them personally.
“Don’t discuss behavior and motivation. Get to know them. It really cuts through the barriers to get connected with adults,” Mendler said.
Privately correcting students by developing hand signals so you don’t have to call them out in front of the entire class is a great strategy to establish a relationship and build trust. Mendler recommends pulling a student aside to discuss signals and abbreviations that they both understand but the rest of the class won’t.
“Make a ‘C’ with your hand in the direction of the student and they know that means to calm down. You can discretely say to a student Z-Y-L and the student knows that means Zip-Your-Lip or K-I-O which means Knock-It-Off,” Mendler said.
The two keys to motivating are leverage and persuasion. Mendler says most schools use the leverage method. Leverage is enforcing punishment to keep students on track whereas persuasion involves more give-and-take from the student and negotiating.
“Most schools lean on leverage. There is nothing wrong with that but many unmotivated kids just don’t care about the pressure. Lower grades, time-out and threatening to call the parents will not work on all students,” Mendler said.
Classroom discipline articles indicate persuasion can often times be more effective with unmotivated students than leverage.
Mendler reviewed three strategies to getting through to unmotivated students. His first strategy is emphasizing effort and praising mistakes. Mendler discussed an instance where a teacher had success with students because of positive reinforcement.
“One teacher regularly thanks students for making a mistake and uses it as an example to show the entire class what the student did well,” Mendler said. “In one instance a student received 60 percent on an assignment and the teacher said how well the student did on the problems they got right and took the blame for the problems the student got wrong by admitting she did not do a very good job of teaching it.”
When students learn, they’ll make mistakes. It’s an opportunity for teachers to employ another of Mendler’s strategies: challenge the failure mentality. He recommended that teachers take students aside to let them know that she’s not going to give up on them and their education.
“Eighty-five percent of conversations people have are with themselves. If an unmotivated person is being negative 85 percent of the time, it can lead to a failure mentality,” Mendler said.
The third strategy Mendler recommended in his seminar is to notice and build on strengths. It takes work because students, like most people, don’t enjoy change.
Mendler said to talk to the students directly.
There are many beneficial classroom discipline forms that Mendler recommends. The third strategy Mendler recommended in his seminar is to notice and build on strengths. It takes work because students, like most people, don’t enjoy change.
“Say to the student: It takes a lot of courage to hang in their when you are struggling. If you hang in their, one day you will get it. I will never give up on you and will not let you give up on yourself,” Mendler said.
“People resist change when they are forced to let go of the familiar. When an unmotivated student does something well you need to build on that and show the student they can succeed. It is important to see the positive side of students,” Mendler said.
Seeing the positive side means reframing old assumptions. That means teachers shouldn’t assume they are motivating lazy students, but rather reframing the student’s behavior as strong-willed, Mendler said. Believing a student is lazy changes a person’s reactions to the student. Reframing the behavior in a positive way changes teachers’ perceptions of the student and the student’s perceptions of herself. Being strong-willed can be a strength, he said.
Mendler also recommends never assuming or thinking a student is lazy. Rather, understand they are strong-willed. If you do believe they are lazy it can lead to a different reaction in yourself. Educators should commend students that are strong-willed because sometimes it is good to be.
“If someone wants you to jump off a bridge – then it is good to be strong willed,” Mendler said.
Allen Mendler, Ph.D. has worked extensively with children of all ages in regular education and special education settings. Mendler has consulted to many schools, day and residential centers, including extensive work with youth in juvenile detention. Mendler has given many workshops and seminars to professionals and parents, and is highly acclaimed as a motivational speaker and trainer for numerous educational organizations.
He is the author or co-author of 13 books including Power Struggles: Successful Techniques for Educators, What Do I Do When…?, Motivating Students Who Don’t Care, Connecting with Students, Discipline with Dignity for Challenging Youth and More What do I do When. Mendler has been recognized for his distinguished teaching by the Bureau of Education and Research, and was a recipient of the coveted Crazy Horse Award for having made outstanding contributions to discouraged youth.
Inside the School provides practical resources for middle and secondary teachers online (http://www.insidetheschool.com) in free weekly e-zines, online seminars, articles and printable reports.
