Sixth confession: where there’s a will there’s a way.

The other day I was listening to the radio, when I heard the news about Einstein giving two advice-filled notes to a bellboy as a tip because Albert was short on cash. One of the notes says “a calm and modest life brings more happiness than the pursuit of success combined with constant restlessness” the other one says “where there’s a will there’s a way.”

Those sentences have been in my head for weeks, especially the second one. If a person is willing to do something, that person will try their best to make it work. If a student is motivated, feels the need to learn, he or she will seek the means. With this in mind, I consider that motivation is a key factor that influences students’ disposition to work inside the classroom. As Drexler (2010) states “A student’s success depended upon his or her motivation but also greatly on the strategic guidance of the teacher.”

       Honestly, I really never realized how much I motivate my students, I probably do it most of the time without noticing it, or perhaps I do not do encourage my students enough. But, is it part of our job to be also motivators? I consider that we do have to motivate students in order to have a good learning environment. However How to motivate those students who are not willing to learn English? It is really frustrating to hear a student saying “I do not like English; I don’t really want to learn it.” It happened to me last week with one particular student.

students practicing word stress 

Since motivation is an important element for learning, I decided to search information about it and I came across with two articles, on the web, that were really interesting. Both of them were pointed out that using a variety of (students-centred) teaching activities, setting realistic performance goals, praising students and giving them as much control over their own education as possible are significant when encouraging students.

students doing a task

In a previous post I said that my students needed to be motivated to learn the language and use it in their oral performance inside and outside the classroom, I also mentioned that I was going to plan my lessons in which the learners would use their mobile devices, videos, chats, social networks (Edmodo) and discussions forum.

some students doing a PPT presentation

I have been with my new oral English classes groups for almost 5 weeks by now; I started to implement Edmodo, which is a virtual learning environment (VLE), four weeks ago. Why am I using Edmodo? Because a VLE can encourage students to collaborate and communicate among themselves, create a community where learners can share their ideas, to use it as signposting for having relevant information about the course and class and give support outside the classroom.  

students interacting on QQ

Having said that, have I used Edmodo properly in these five sessions? I partially have; why? Because I have not motivated my students enough to use Edmodo as a VLE; I have used a variety of activities during my classes using technology but I haven’t used a variety of activities in Edmodo, additionally at the beginning of the course I did not set clear goals for using Edmodo in our classroom because I did not know what a VLE was and finally because I have not given the control over their own learning inside this VLE. Frankly, I just understood what a VLE is and how it works a couple of weeks ago.

students doing pair work using their phones

On the other hand, students have been using smart phones, instant messaging applications and power point presentations to enhance their English oral performance during these five weeks. As it can be seen, there are a variety of digital technologies inside the lessons. But, have I applied them to be part of students’ learning process and motivate them to speak in these five sessions?   Since my point of view, students have been motivated to use them inside and outside the classroom to practice their oral English; however I do not have real evidence to support my perception.

another student-centred task

Additionally, smart phones, instant messaging applications and power point presentations have motivated learners to create their personal learning environment (PLE). According to Drexler (2010) “PLE are systems that help learners take control of and manage their own learning.”   With this in mind, I have seen that students are using their classmates’ power point presentations to study the topic and check vocabulary, besides they are using QQ (instant messaging application) to connect with their classmates and talk about the class and share links given by the teacher in previous classes, additionally they have used their smart phones to record their voices and after the teacher has given them feedback they go back to their phones and listen again to themselves ad check their own pronunciation mistakes. Once again this is based on my perception and observation however I do not have strong evidence to support my ideas.

students looking for some information

All things considered, I have to say that I need to improve my motivational skills; I must give students more advice about being independent learners, changing their roles and using VLE, at the same time I have to tell them what the performance goals are before each class, praise them more and give them more control over their own learning process. I have to confess that there are many things I should improve in order to reach my teaching goals; what’s more I need to improve the implementation of the digital technologies chosen in my class and find a diverse methodology to encourage students to use them to improve their oral English.

Reference

Drexler, W. (2010) the networked student model for construction of personal learning environments: Balancing teacher control and student autonomy. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology

What is a VLE? (2012) http://tools.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/downloads/vle/what-is-vle.pdf

Condron, Annie. How to Motivate Students: Top 12 Ways. Teachhub.com http://www.teachhub.com/top-12-ways-motivate-students  

Centre of teaching Website of Vanderbilt University motivating students, strategies for motivating students.  https://cft.vanderbilt.edu/guides-sub-pages/motivating-students/