Monday Motivator #29 2025-26

Take It on the Road… I Dare You!

Monday Motivator #28 2025-26

 

Pausing for Renewal Throughout the Day

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/pausing-for-renewal-throughout-the-day/

Self-care means giving yourself permission to pause. —Cecilia Tran

The buzz of everyday school life can easily have us running around without much focus. In my role as a teacher leader and instructional coach who travels to different buildings within our district, my days are filled with voices, questions, and concerns.
Every day is different, and it is easy to feel overwhelmed. I enjoy working with people, and I’m outspoken and highly engaged wherever I am. But I’m also an extrovert with introvert tendencies, which for me means that I need alone time to recharge and refocus.
In a world of high demands and a variety of voices, I can’t help but ask, “How are we renewing our thoughts as educators every day?” Here are three things I have learned and tried throughout the years. I understand that when it comes to self-care and renewal, consistency is the key. But I also understand that just having a set of tools to draw from helps me understand what to do when I start feeling crowded with thoughts.

Inspiration

The Notes app on my phone has become one of my favorite tools. Not only  does it serve as a great ongoing to-do list, but I can also organize information in folders that I can access anywhere. I like to add to one folder powerful statements from professionals I admire. Recently, I added this one to my repertoire:
Our kids aren’t going to outgrow us. If we want our kids to get better, we have to get better ourselves.  —Cornelius Minor
Such a powerful reminder from Mr. Minor that as educators we are always becoming and that we must continue to grow professionally.
Another powerful quote I currently have is from Justin Talbot-Zorn and Leigh Marz, who were inspired by the work of Ta-Nehisi Coates: Generating good ideas and quality work requires something all too rare in modern life: quiet.
This particular quote has served me many times when coaching teachers. I must respect their quiet and processing time. They deserve it.

Visual Reminders of Strength

In my cloud folder, I keep an album of photos of students who inspire me to do this work daily. Some of them are photos from former students who remind me that they show up every day despite the work being difficult. Other photos are of current students who are keeping me curious about teaching and learning.
Whenever I receive a card or a letter from a student, I take a photo and add it to this album. It reminds me that someone does notice what we do, that what we do matters. I also like to keep a pocket chart in my office or in my classroom to add any thank-you cards or notes I might receive throughout the year from other staff. It lifts me up to reread those cards. Every time.

Disconnect for Five Minutes

I have learned this strategy from a colleague who goes on a walk around the school every day (yes, even in winter). I would often sit in my office and, from my window, see her taking a relaxed walk around the school. No music, no headphones, no cell phone, no distractions. I decided to try this myself. Even if it just meant that I would sit outside and catch some sun for five minutes. It didn’t cost me anything. I didn’t have to change schedules for it to happen.
In no time, I learned that those five minutes provided me with the calm and  clarity I sometimes needed. Some days I just sat in my car and listened to my favorite song.
These three simple tools have helped tremendously during the year. There were times when I felt overwhelmed with other teachers’ voices. I couldn’t hear my own. And that bothered me.
There were other times when a situation with a child tested my patience and I needed to remind myself why I was in his or her life. Other times an extra five minutes of sun just kept me grounded and reminded me that people are just people.
Renewing my thoughts daily is my responsibility, because there will always be noise, questions, concerns, or simply complaints that take away any calm or serenity I had first thing in the morning. I can’t control what happens, but I can choose what to do when those moments arise.

Monday Motivator #27 2025-26

 

How To Handle A High Energy Class

March 13, 2026 by Michael Linsin

Having energetic students isn’t a bad thing. In fact, there are three big advantages:

• They’re primed for learning.
• They’re fun to teach.
• They’re eager to participate.

However, they’re also prone to excessive talking and disruptive behavior.

Therefore, even if you have solid classroom management skills, there are three adjustments you need to make.

1. Pause often.

Timely pausing keeps students focused on you. The momentary silence interrupts their racing mind, slowing it to a more absorbent state and improving interest, understanding, and retention.

It also keeps them grounded in the moment, stopping them from moving on mentally before they have all the information they need to successfully work independently.

Furthermore, it strengthens the discipline to delay gratification, which is a learned ability that can predict academic success.

2. Restrain your energy.

Your students will take their energy cue from you. Calm presence transfers and fills every classroom you enter. It soothes frayed nerves and anxieties.

It also signals to students that you know what you’re doing. They can relax because a competent leader is running the classroom. Thus, they don’t have to.

It also pays to limit your movements. Avoid pacing, tapping, buzzing about, and talking your students through every this and that. 

3. Get them moving.

Get your students up and moving at some point during every lesson. That is, before releasing them to work independently.

Have them model along with you or playact, perform, sketch pictures, maps, or diagrams on an easel, or teach others. Make them prove they grasp it.

Experiencing learning deepens understanding far better and more permanently than simply sending them off after you’re done talking.

Good Teaching

Yes, all three are just good teaching.

However, they may need to be exaggerated with certain groups of students. You may need to increase their frequency or take them further than you would otherwise.

The point is that no matter how energetic your class, there are ways to embrace its advantages while curbing the potential negatives.

Adjusting to the needs of your class, after all, is just part of being a good teacher.

https://smartclassroommanagement.com/2026/03/13/high-energy-class/

Monday Motivator #26 2025-26

 Interesting, brief video on the power of tone, and your face is the remote control.

How to add tone to your voice. 

(It pulls up on Facebook, but you don't have to have an account, just click the x to close out of the log in if it pops up)

Monday Motivator #25 2025-26

The secret of your future is hidden in your daily routine.

—Mike Murdock

What Routine Will You Create?

I keep having the same conversation with educators. It goes like this:

 

Me: How’s your year been going?

Educator: It’s going.

Me: What’s something that brings you joy?

Educator: Ummm…

 

After a pause or a little chitchat, the educator tells me a version of this sentiment: You know, I’m tired. I’m not sure why, but it just seems like I’m exhausted before I even begin.

 

I understand. When stress mounts, fatigue settles in. It’s easy to look around life and blame the circumstances. We might think that if our supervisors communicated sooner, we wouldn’t be so tired. Or if the weather would just warm up, we would feel better. Circumstances can be stressful. I’m living in a season of circumstances outside of my control that feel heavy and unfair. 

 

What I’ve recognized is that although I cannot change the circumstances, there is something I can control that will change the load I carry. I can control the routines of my day.

 

We all have routines that stack together throughout our days. Perhaps your school day begins with checking email and reacting to each message. Before you know it, the halls are full of students, and you jump up to quickly post the day’s learning target. You dig out the materials for the day and rush a greeting to some students. You forgot to grab a cup of coffee, so you rush to the workroom. The announcements begin, and your day continues down this path of reacting to one moment after another. 

 

This is a routine many of us tolerate.

 

By contrast, I think about Tammy Mulligan’s morning routine. She arrives in her classroom and turns on the SMART Board, opening the morning’s agenda for students to see. She organizes the day’s materials, making them accessible for students. She has plans to meet with two or three students who need extra phonics or fluency practice. Students come in and read the morning message, preparing for the day. Tammy finishes the tailored phonics practice as the morning announcements begin. The day starts with intention and joy. 

 

This is a routine we can create.

 

The quality of our days depends on the routines we create or tolerate. If you’re feeling overwhelmed and fatigued, rather than wishing you could change your circumstances, consider a routine you could create. I was having a difficult time focusing on the most important tasks of the day, so I created a routine to end my day. I place three sticky notes on my desk and write the three most pressing tasks to complete the next day. When I arrive at my desk the next day, I know exactly what to do. 

Ruth Ayres
Editor in Chief

https://choiceliteracy.com/big-fresh/

Monday Motivator #24 2025-26

 

Supporting Perseverance in Our Students: Before You Say ‘Keep Going,’ Pause to Consider

“Just keep swimming.” This popular quote, which Dory chants in the movie Finding Nemo, is often used to remind students to keep going with something that gets difficult, to push on through and to persevere. Yet, is this message enough to inspire our students to stick with something when it gets challenging?

My daughter recently expressed an interest in learning to braid. While playing with her doll collection, she shared her vision of braiding the dolls’ hair as they sit in salon chairs. She proceeded to watch as I braided one doll’s hair and secured the hair tie so she could see it. A few minutes later, I could hear the frustration in my daughter’s voice as she tried to braid another doll’s hair. Before the words Keep going left my mouth, I paused to consider what she needed to move forward. She was invested in learning to braid and had an example of a braid in sight. Was she aware that I was there to assist her in the learning experience? Did she know that there are other materials she can use to practice and learn the braiding technique?

All too often, our students get stuck. They look to us for guidance and support in removing the stickiness from the experience before they give up. When we observe our students giving up and hear the frustrations, before saying the standard Keep going!, pause, look around, and ask yourself these questions:

Do our students…

• have a purpose? Do the students know their why for engaging in the task?
  • If so, ask them to say it and have them write it down. 
  • If not, prompt them to consider the reasons why the task is important and meaningful to them in their life. 

• have a vision? Do the students know what they are working toward? How will they know they have successfully achieved the task?
  • If they do know, encourage them to create or print an image of the vision and post it in their work environment.
  • If they don’t know, work with them to collect and display options of what the vision could look like and ask them to choose one. Then have them post it in their work environment. 

• have a mentor? Do the students have someone they can look to for guidance, feedback, and advice? Someone who will be their accountability buddy and provide frequent check-ins?
  • If so, help the student schedule times and co-create action steps for sharing with the mentor throughout the process. 
  • If not, help the student find someone who is knowledgeable in that area and accessible for support throughout the process. 

• have a variety of options? Do the students have additional tools and materials, techniques, and strategies available for them to use when one way doesn’t work well or when they get stuck?

• • If so, invite the students to consider these materials and list these techniques and strategies in a central location for easy access.
  • If not, help students gather additional materials, strategies, and techniques. Watch videos online to see how others are engaging in the task differently. Interview others with experience and collect ideas for revising the approach to the task.

Yes, my daughter had a purpose for learning to braid—to braid her doll’s hair. Yes, my daughter had a vision for achieving the braid—the model braid on the doll.

Does she have someone she can look to for guidance, feedback, and advice? Noticing that she didn’t follow through with asking me for support with another trial of the braid, I encouraged her to reach out to me or her grandmother as she continues learning how to braid.

Does she have additional tools and materials, techniques, and strategies available to use when one way doesn’t work well or when she gets stuck? She kept trying to braid the doll’s hair but was frustrated that there was too much hair to work with. If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got. This saying reminds us of the importance of trying new ways, new tools, when a challenge arises. So together we thought of other materials that would work for learning to braid—string, rope, pipe cleaners—and we gathered them in a central location of her workspace. 

Observing our students on the verge of giving up and hearing the frustrations muttered from their mouths is hard for us as educators to witness. Our automatic response might be to support the students with words like Keep on going and You’ve got this. But what if those words are not what they need to hear? Before saying the standard Keep going!, pause, look around, and ask yourself these four questions to respond with greater intentionality and impact on their perseverance. And if you answer Yes to all four questions, then by all means cheer on the student—Keep going, You got this,  Just keep swimming!

https://choiceliteracy.com/article/supporting-perseverance-in-our-students-before-you-say-keep-going-pause-to-consider/

Monday Motivator #23 2025-26

 

New Teacher’s Guide to Motivation & Engagement

by Curtis Chandler · Published 01/11/2026 · Updated 01/29/2026

I still remember the first time my mother made tater-tot casserole. She loved new recipes and poured her heart into it as she browned the beef with onions and garlic and then folded in the sour cream, soup, and colorful vegetables.

She then hand-arranged the tater tots in perfect, military rows and blanketed them with grated cheddar cheese before placing the dish in the oven. It was a labor of love.

However, her enthusiasm didn’t transfer to my plate. I just sat there, poking at the odd combination of textures and smells. To me, it was just a strange, unappealing mixture. I pushed it around with my fork, unwilling to engage with the meal she had worked so hard to create.

This scene plays out daily in classrooms across the country. We pour our energy into refining learning experiences, yet we’re met with blank stares or “disengaged” sighs. The hard truth is that instructional design is only half the battle (Huang, Muhamad, & Nawi, 2025); if we don’t understand the internal mechanics of student motivation and engagement, even our best-laid plans will stay untouched on the plate.

The “Fuel and Vehicle” of Learning

While often used interchangeably, motivation and engagement describe two different parts of a student’s learning experience. Understanding the distinction helps us identify whether a student lacks the “spark” to start or the “tools” to keep going.

Motivation represents the “why” behind a student’s behavior, serving as the internal “fuel” or drive that initiates the desire to learn. This internal spark typically stems from two distinct sources: intrinsic motivation, which is a genuine, personal interest in a particular learning task, or extrinsic motivation, which is the desire to obtain a specific reward, such as a grade, or to avoid a negative consequence (Lai, 2011; Ryan & Deci, 2020).

Engagement, on the other hand, is the “vehicle,” or observable process and behavior that results from motivation. It encompasses the intensity and quality of the student’s involvement in a learning activity, which can manifest as behavioral (e.g., participation, effort), emotional (e.g., interest, belonging), and cognitive (e.g., deep thinking, problem-solving) investment (Reschly & Christenson, 2022).

Understanding the distinction between motivation and engagement is essential. Put simply, motivation is the fuel – the underlying desire to act – while engagement is the vehicle moving, or the act of involvement itself. When approaching learning tasks, students can have a tank full of fuel without the car moving.

Because of this, effective learning requires a dual approach: teachers must not only provide the “why” to spark student motivation but also carefully design the “how” to keep them actively engaged. For a quick reference, the table below outlines key aspects of motivation versus engagement.

Moving from “I Can’t” to “I Will”: Building Student Confidence and Purpose

Students often experience low motivation when they feel a task is too difficult or when they don’t understand why the work matters. To support them, we can use scaffolding to break down complex assignments into manageable steps and provide direct, clear instructions on the strategies they need to succeed (Graham et al., 2012).

Beyond clear instruction, we can boost engagement by (1) showing students the “why” behind their work by connecting classroom lessons to real-world goals and interests; (2) giving specific feedback that shows students exactly how to improve, and (3) whenever possible, providing autonomy and choice in topics, materials, and how they demonstrate learning.

At its core, motivation is about a student’s belief that they can succeed. This is why we must help them attribute their “wins” to things they can actually influence, like the work they put in and the tools they use (Weiner, 2000). When we link success to specific actions – like saying, “Your focus on the rubric really shows in this draft” – we give them a roadmap for next time.

You might also point out their problem-solving process by saying, “I noticed you tried a different approach when the first one didn’t work. That seemed to have really paid off.” We can also help our students view mistakes as temporary detours and empower them to move past the “I can’t” mindset and develop the persistence needed to grow.

Student motivation is largely driven by an interaction between a student’s behavior, their environment, and personal factors, such as self-efficacy, or their belief in their own ability to succeed at specific tasks. Educators can build their students’ confidence by providing “mastery experiences,” or frequent success.

This can be accomplished by breaking complex assignments into small, achievable sub-tasks, ensuring students feel frequent success early on. Educators can also use modeling to narrate their own thought processes through “think-alouds,” making the invisible mental work of a task clear and attainable (Graham & Perin, 2007). (Also see Laura Robb’s “Using Teacher Think-Alouds.”)

Designing for Connection and Control

Students enter our classrooms with different mindsets that dictate how they handle challenges. While some are driven by a desire to master new skills, many are focused on simply finishing a task, earning a specific grade, or avoiding the social “risk” of looking incapable (Dweck & Leggett, 1988).

To shift this focus toward true learning, we should design assignments that value progress over perfection. By allowing for multiple attempts and revisions, we teach students that learning is an ongoing journey rather than a one-time event.

Creating this safe, low-stakes environment is essential because when students feel socially and emotionally supported, they are more likely to engage in “academic risk-taking,” such as asking for help or trying a difficult strategy (Rimm-Kaufman et al., 2014). This shift helps students move past the fear of failure and toward a sustainable habit of persistence.

Research also suggests that students are most naturally motivated when three basic needs are met: autonomy (feeling in control), competence (feeling capable), and relatedness (feeling connected to others) (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

We support these needs in our classrooms by offering meaningful choices such as letting students pick their own research topics or choose their preferred presentation format –  and by providing a clear, structured path to success.

Additionally, we can foster a sense of connection through collaboration and authentic assignments (like projects that impact the local community) to help students feel their work has real-world value. When these needs are met, motivation shifts from simply “doing it for a grade” to a genuine, internal desire to learn.

Serving a Lesson They’ll Want to Finish

Just as a perfectly prepared casserole requires more than just high-quality ingredients to be enjoyed, effective learning experiences require more than just strong instructional design. By distinguishing between the “fuel” of motivation and the “vehicle” of engagement, we can better diagnose why a student might be hesitant to take that first bite of learning.

When educators prioritize a student’s need for autonomy, competence, and connection, we move our learners beyond “pushing food around the plate” and create an environment where they are eager to participate and persist.

As we step into our classrooms tomorrow, remember that our role is part chef and part coach. By scaffolding difficult tasks and celebrating the “wins” found in the process rather than just the final product, we build the confidence students need to move from “I can’t” to “I will.”

When we provide learners with both the spark to start and the tools to keep going, we help each of our students move one step closer to becoming self-directed learners who view every challenge as an opportunity to grow.

Illustrations

Google Gemini. (2026). [Cartoon clipart of a boy poking at a tater tot casserole while a smiling woman in an apron looks on]. Generated using Gemini 3 Flash from https://gemini.google.com
Google Gemini. (2026). [Cartoon clipart of a car being fueled up with motivation]. Generated using Gemini 3 Flash from https://gemini.google.com
Gemini. (2026). [Cartoon illustration of a female teacher using a thought-bubble “think-aloud” to model mental processes for teenage students] [AI-generated image]. Google AI.

References
New Teacher's Guide to Motivation and Engagement Curtis Chandler • MiddleWeb • 1/11/26
Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The "what" and "why" of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological inquiry, 11(4), 227-268.
Dweck, C. S., & Leggett, E. L. (1988). A social-cognitive approach to motivation and personality. Psychological review, 95(2), 256.
Graham, S., McKeown, D., Kiuhara, S., & Harris, K. R. (2012). A meta-analysis of writing instruction for students in the elementary grades. Journal of educational psychology, 104(4), 879.
Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing next-effective strategies to improve writing of adolescents in middle and high schools.
Huang, Q., Muhamad, M. M., & Nawi, N. R. C. (2025). Impact of instructional design on students’ critical thinking and engagement in online English reading classes: mediating role of motivation and moderating role of language proficiency. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1644126.
Lai, E. R. (2011). Motivation: A literature review. Person Research’s Report, 6, 40-41. Reschly, A. L., & Christenson, S. L. (Eds.). (2022). Handbook of research on student engagement (pp. 3-24). New York: Springer.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2020). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation from a self determination theory perspective: Definitions, theory, shedding light on organic processes and clinical applications. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 61, 101860. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2020.101860
Rimm-Kaufman, S. E., Larsen, R. A., Baroody, A. E., Curby, T. W., Ko, M., Thomas, J. B., ... & DeCoster, J. (2014). Efficacy of the responsive classroom approach: Results from a 3-year, longitudinal randomized controlled trial. American educational research journal, 51(3), 567-603.
Weiner, B. (2000). Intrapersonal and interpersonal theories of motivation from an attributional perspective. Educational psychology review, 12(1), 1-14.