Success is the foundation of motivation
Every math teacher wants to increase their students’ motivation to learn math. Sometimes it can seem like the teacher cares more about learning than the students. This can be very disheartening for any teacher. So, the big question is this- how can we as teachers increase motivation in our students?
My basic underlying philosophy when it comes to motivation is that success creates motivation. So, when you read this article keep that idea at the top of your mind. As far as I am concerned, there’s no better motivator in the math classroom than students experiencing success. It’s so important to help students experience and recognize their successes, no matter how great or small. Let me show you what I mean.
My experience
If I’m honest, I wasn’t an extraordinarily motivated math student in junior high and school. It wasn’t that math felt difficult to me- it didn’t. It’s just that once I got to junior high math, it felt more boring and I got much more interested in my friends. I did well in math, but not as well as I could have if my class experience felt different. Nothing about math class felt motivating to me. The teacher would give a lecture and assign some practice problems Then we’d do more practice for homework and start the process over again the next day.
The sad part is that I had loved math. From kindergarten to 6th grade, my mom wrote in each year’s family Christmas letter that math was my favorite subject in school. And I was really good at it… until junior high. I didn’t understand it at the time, but as I look back I can see just how much my enthusiasm waned in junior high math class. It felt to me like my teacher was going through the motions, and I can imagine that she was probably complaining about our lack of motivation in the teacher’s lounge.
The truth of the matter is that she didn’t set-up the class to be engaging, interesting, or motivating. Her classroom wasn’t a bad place to learn, and she was doing her job the way she thought she should. But, I now believe that having a classroom where most students enjoy doing math and participate in the learning requires specific choices and systems. An engaged, motivated classroom doesn’t just happen without effort and design.
Designing the progress tracking experience
One of the best ways to create an environment that motivates students is to encourage them to recognize and celebrate success. Then, as Mia Hamm said, “Success breeds success.”
When students feel success, even with something small, they’re motivated to move forward and keep working. This makes progress tracking a powerful strategy to increase students’ motivation in the math classroom.
When we design a progress tracking system it’s important to remember that the root of data tracking is to help students see their progress. When they see that they’re gaining and being successful they’ll want more of that. So, we need to make sure to avoid turning tracking into drudgery (and for heaven’s sake it shouldn’t be grade imho.)
To get started, think about one thing that students can track. It should be something where any student can easily have success. Starting with something small helps build confidence.
Also, make sure the tracking procedure is easy. I’d recommend a sheet that is taped, stapled, or glued into their notebook. You have to carve out time to explain it, do it, and reflect on the experience. Again, the ultimate goal is to motivate students by celebrating success and progress.
In this picture- We used Quizizz for daily skills practice. Students kept this simple tracking sheet in the back of their notebooks. I conferenced with them periodically to discuss what trends and progress they were seeing.
What to track
One thing that teachers can do to motivate students is to have students track their progress (not their grades). You can find different things for them to track. Some of the things I would suggest are I can statements, pre-tests and post tests, progress monitoring like the STAR test, and daily quizzes. Or, if you’re using an online skill building program like IXL or Prodigy, then can have a simple paper to keep track of their progress in the program. This strategy works with anything where students can see progress.
Above you see the student tracking sheet I use with my test prep review at the end of the year. Students see 12 problems each day reviewing key concepts and then track their progress by topic. What I love about this form is that by Day 3 students can see their own strengths and weaknesses. As we review these skills in class, they also get the pay off of seeing their daily scored improve. It’s so fun to see!
How to track it
I’ve had my students track their progress using I Can Statements for many years. At the beginning of the unit we read through the learning objectives written as “I Can” statements. We underline the verb and circle the direct object so students know exactly what we need to be able to do. Then, students evaluate their understanding and performance with these objectives.
We refer back to this page just about every day for students to reflect on their progress. Seeing how previously foreign concepts become mastered skills gives you as a teacher a chance to help students tie their effort to their progress. Plus, students feel pretty good about themselves as they realize just how much they’re learning.
To get a FREE set of I Can Statements for 7th or 8th grade math, click the link below. You’ll get 20+ I Can Statements for grade level topics, plus more free downloads & teaching tips sent right to your inbox:
- Get the 7th Grade I Can Statements for student notebooks
- Grab the 8th Grade I Can Statements for student notebooks
Seeing progress and gains from pre to post tests can also motivate students. If a student even goes from 3 correct to 5 correct that is a gain. We should celebrate this! When you celebrate progress with the little things, you’ll see students want to continue to make progress.
As a math interventionist I’ve always progressed monitored students with the STAR Math test. We track our scores on a graph so they can see their trends. There are ups and downs, but students love to see that they’re improving overall.
If you use a daily quiz or some sort of online program, start having students record their progress. This keeps them accountable and gives them motivation to do better, with very little time invested. One tip- make sure that when you’re tracking progress that you keep it individual. When students start comparing themselves to others, motivation goes out the door.
Framing the results
Also, you will need to help students with framing of the results. Every student isn’t going to show progress every time. You have to encourage them to see the big picture and to measure their progress over time. This approach puts the teacher in a position as a cheerleader for their students. It can help you shift from feeling like all you do is nag students to get their work turned in to working toward a goal together.
Often the student looks to the teacher to know what the data means. I can’t tell you how many times I share a test result with students and they ask, “Is that good?” In that moment I get to frame it for them. In other words, the way I explain things will affect how they interpret their results. So, I make sure to frame our conversation in terms of improvement and effort. I remind them (and myself) that small growth over time can add up to something tremendous.
One example of the importance of framing comes from my 4-year old playing a carnival video game. He can’t read and at the end of the game he doesn’t know if he has won. So what does he do? He looks at his avatar to see the avatar’s reaction. If the avatar is happy, then he’s happy. But if the avatar is sad, then he’s sad. He’s getting his framing from the reaction of a computer character. In much the same way, students look to us as the teacher for their emotional response. Finding a way to frame their result in a growth oriented way, especially if you know how hard they worked, can keep it a positive experience.
This simple progress tracking sheet, plus more simple resources to help students reflect on their learning and stay engaged in learning math, can be downloaded here in the 7 Tips and Resources for Math Intervention. Just click here, enter your email, & download these 7 tips & resources that can be adapted to any secondary math classroom.
Framing in action
Over the past few weeks, my students have been completing a diagnostic for the first time through the IXL program. When students finish, they get an overall diagnostic score and then recommended skills in a few different areas based on their diagnostic results.
As my students started finishing, I noticed that many of them were receiving recommended skills that were far below grade level- labeled as 3rd and 4th grade, for example.
I knew how demoralizing that could be, so I tried to get ahead of the curve by framing that result. I explained to them (and then repeated the same message over and over again to the whole class and individually) that they would be getting recommended skills, and that many skills would be below grade level.
Then, I said that these were skills that they likely had already learned but needed to quickly review since it’s been awhile. I encouraged students to look at these recommendations as an individual review plan. The last thing I wanted was for them to get it in their head that they were at a 3rd or 4th grade level based on this one set of data. I wanted them to look at what they could do with this information, not just accept it as a label. This has paid off as I already can see students happy to knock off (and track their progress towards!) these recommended skills.
A few warnings
As powerful as student data can be, don’t overtrack. Remember, you’re not tracking for trackings’ sake. The purpose behind tracking progress is to create motivation. If you miss a day or week of tracking just pick-up where you left off. Make sure your voice is the loudest when talking about why you class tracks their progress.
Talk to students in private about their results. They love to share and compare. This can actually undo the motivation you’ve worked so hard to create because insecurity should not be the linchpin of this exercise.
Final thoughts
You can start tracking progress today with your students. Don’t make it a big production and remember, you’re doing it to help the unmotivated feel success. Many students have low self-esteem when it comes to math and you have the power to change that. You can show them that they individually have the ability to get better and be successful.
Show students the way by tracking small successes, explaining to them how they’re growing, and giving them a chance to experience more success.
To get an editable tracking sheet, plus more simple resources to help students reflect on their learning and stay engaged in learning math, be sure to download the 7 Tips and Resources for Math Intervention. Just click here, enter your email, & download these 7 tips & resources that can be adapted to any secondary math classroom.
Thanks so much for reading. Until next time!
