Google survey Case about successful practices of the Fulbright Distinguished Award in Teaching Progr

When the proposal for the capstone project was outlined in 2014, one of my main goals was to research about successful practices of highly motivated teachers and it seemed very logical to interview this group of unique teachers from around the world in order to describe and write about their own philosophies and approaches in their classrooms.

In October 2015, I designed the survey using the google forms application. It was a 10 questions survey that took two weeks to be designed and one month to wait and collect the answers. It was sent by email and collected automatically in the summary of the responses.

Brief analysis:

Twelve teachers, the seventy percent of the group answered it. I sent it and waited 3 weeks and resend it again.

Facts:

The 12 DAT teachers work in elementary and high school level. 41 % of them has between 15 and 19 years of experience and the other 32 % has more than 20 years of experience.

91 % of the DAT teachers describe themselves as a highly motivated teacher. They motivate students by promoting high expectations about the students and their students’ future. The other use positive reinforcement in their home works and in the classroom and with personalized and detailed feedback.

7.- Could you please describe, in a more detailed form, how do you motivate your students to learn?

I use mostly high expectations and this is reinforced by detailed feedback and positive reinforcement in the classroom. We also have a major prize giving event each year that all students, their families, the community and local politicians participate in, we celebrate success in very public ways

I will praise the child for the effort he makes in completing the task .

By allowing them the opportunity to determine their own learning goals. By working with them to create realistic expectations. By showing them a world that is beyond the school. Simply by showing them that someone believes in them.

By ensuring almost every lesson is an engaging one filled with rich questioning, affirmation, encouragement, wonder and laughter.

Make them care about the issues being studied.

I am a fair and consistent teacher. Students know that. They respect teacher who set that kind of expectations for them and show them how to achieve it. If students have problems, they are willing to approach me to seek help. I do not turn any student away. I often inspire the love of learning to my students and I think that motivates them. There are some small extrinsic and intrinsic motivation as well. Students are often encouraged through praises and also small tokens to remind them of their success. They are students after all!

I talk to them about their future. In every sentence that I write I try to give just positive ideas, positive feedback. It is very important to describe ideas that take them further, that make them to realize how important is time and goals. I give feedback about their homeworks, I read everything and they feel that they are important because I take my time and I give an opinion about how they work and how to improve. My evaluation system is very clear, every home work counts in their grades, I respect them and they know it. SO they work, they learn, they pass.

I try to learn a connection to real world and listen to them what they already know about the theme we are learning.

In several ways like giving them positive words of encouragement and letting them know that they have done a good job and also encouraging them if they have not done well.

I try to provide them with materials with topics that interest them. I also find giving positive feedback for students and creating an encouraging environment really important. Making mistakes in my class is okay, since you can always learn from them.

I tell them my life story. That I was once a student like them. I tell them about my struggles with certain subjects (Math for example) and I let them know that the bad grades never damped my resolve to graduate from high school with flying colors. I also have them keep a journal where they write about their dreams and aspirations and how they plan to realize them. I have seen that kids are more eager to try their best when there is something in it for them. I also have one-on-one meetings with all of my students. I tell them I care about them and tell them my expectations of them. I also ask them to tell me their expectations of me as their teacher.

I think the first step to motivate students to learn is to build up trust. With the trust, students are more willing to listen to you and are therefore more open to the suggestions you come up with. To build up the trust, I normally spend a lot of time talking with students, to understand their background, their interest, their strengths and weakness and countless other details. Once the bonding is connected, I then proceed to offer them my suggestions and ideas. I also welcome them to challenge my teaching pedagogies and provided me with their reflections. In some ways, I have encouraged them to think critically but not in a judgmental way as well. In addition to that,

I'll give awards, prizes or presents for motivating their learning as well.