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. 

Monday Motivator #22 2025-26

Creating Habits of Effective Classroom Practice

Download available here

Monday Motivator #21 2025-26

 

5 Things I’ll Remember When I Feel Unmotivated

by MiddleWeb · Published 07/25/2023 · Updated 09/04/2023
https://www.middleweb.com/49323/5-things-ill-remember-when-i-feel-unmotivated/

By Sarah Cooper

At the beginning of last school year I found myself in a bit of a funk. Usually teaching is a high point in the thick of the administrative work I do, and the 8th graders’ energy buoys me. But for whatever reason – the pressure of other responsibilities, coming into our first “normal” year for a while, or not spending enough time prepping – I felt I was seeing students through a fog.
For me to keep my sanity as a teacher, this could not continue. If I lost my zest for teaching, I would be reckoning with losing a big part of my sense of self.
Slowly, over December and into January, with deliberate steps each day, I recovered my joy. I remembered that lesson planning didn’t have to feel like a slog and that the minutes could fly by in class if I got swept into the flow with my students.
So how did I wrench myself through this transition? Gradually, sometimes haltingly, remembering some of these mantras – which I hadn’t forgotten but found hard to implement that first semester.

1. Connect individually each day with each kid, even briefly.

After doing a survey where I realized a handful of kids weren’t feeling my commitment to knowing who they were and how they were learning, I turned up the volume on my connection.
Generally I say hi by name to each 8th grader as they come in, and often goodbye as they leave, but I added more smiles and checked in with individual kids about how they were doing – even about something silly like what they were looking forward to eating at lunch.
I also remembered to share what was happening with me, just a little bit – what was giving me energy or what was on my mind.

2. Laugh together.

The one element I’ve kept from Zoom teaching is a daily pair-and-share chat. This usually takes the form of a simple question, such as what students are excited or not excited about for the weekend.
As I was trying to come back to myself, I spiced up these prompts, even when I didn’t feel like being lighthearted, and the answers ended up boosting my mood.
Some questions that ignited students’ brains in a different way included: “What temperature would you be today if you were an oven, 0 to 500 degrees, and why?” and “Which animal do you feel like today?” and “What has gone better than expected for you this week, even something super small?”

3. Embrace the mess.

Recently I’ve been teaching in a new room that has nice light and space but doesn’t always feel the coziest. Last year I started with two-person tables in rows because this seemed the most logical way to arrange the furniture. One day in December, though, we moved the tables into a big rectangle for current events discussions. The kids loved it because they could look at each other more, and a quick survey said they felt more of a sense of connection. I never moved the desks back.
Was it noisier? Yes. Did we lose a couple minutes of “productive” class time each day because of this new configuration? Likely yes. Did I feel more connected because I could walk around the outside or the inside of the square? Absolutely.
And, when we were working on a project, I encouraged the kids to sprawl around the room. This is what I missed during Covid – that middle school sprawl that still facilitates learning and creates a buzz.

4. Never underestimate middle schoolers.

This principle is so basic for me. I’ve spent my whole career, it feels, telling people how much these tweens and young adolescents are capable of. So what happened? Did I forget? Did post-pandemic gaps in writing and reading skills trip me up?
I don’t know. But as students worked on projects during second semester, I remembered how much they understand, how many strengths they have, and how much they can teach me (even something small like clicking at the top right of my browser to find which tab is playing video or audio).
For one research project I gave a slew of written directions – on finding and taking notes on reputable sources – that I thought would overwhelm the kids. The research was hard work, especially for some of the students who approach learning in unconventional ways. But I was so overcome by their dedication at the end of one class that I said, “I’m so proud of you.”

5. Find a way to love your students.

Two years ago I wrote a piece for EdWeek about advice I would give to new middle school teachers. But last year, I almost forgot it myself.
I had more students than usual who came into class a little off the wall – quirky, unusual, figuring out the world in their own distinctive and wonderful ways. And yet I realized as I worked to connect more: I wasn’t seeing them. I wasn’t looking enough for all the ways to love each one of them. To appreciate how one kid doodled video game characters every day while still paying total attention to what’s going on – and another raised their hand anytime they perceived an injustice, whether current or historical – and another approached every history research topic as if it were a Big Data analysis.
And the things I love about all of them: how they cluster before the bell, and spread out during class, and lean into and out of each other as they talk and wonder and grapple. Ultimately, really, how I was lucky enough to be in the room with them as they’re growing up.

Giving yourself love and grace

In Gholdy Muhammad’s soul-affirming book Unearthing Joy: A Guide to Culturally and Historically Responsive Teaching and Learning (Scholastic, 2023), she emphasizes a similar message: “This work starts with love – loving yourself, being yourself, being kind and gentle with yourself, and showing yourself grace as you carry out this work.”
What was missing for me at the beginning of last year was not just demonstrating love toward my students but accepting my missteps as I tried to do so. What’s different now is that I’m trying to show myself more grace in the trying.

Monday Motivator #19 2025-26

 

8 Small But Impactful Classroom Management Shifts

How using subtle gestures, spatial awareness, and tone of voice can nudge your classroom towards smoother operations.

By Youki Terada

April 25, 2025
https://www.edutopia.org/article/small-but-impactful-classroom-management-shifts

Learning how to manage a classroom full of kids takes time and patience.

Novice teachers, understandably, “tend to focus on behavioral management (e.g., controlling student behavior and establishing rules),” while expert teachers have developed a “more comprehensive understanding of classroom management and its complexity,” researchers explain in a 2021 study. By the time they’ve reached the middle of their teaching careers, educators tend to think about discipline holistically—how it’s intimately connected to the clarity of their lessons, the effects of peer dynamics, or even the organization of their physical classroom spaces.

Misbehavior in the classroom, meanwhile, is not always what it seems. As students navigate the social terrain of the classroom, it’s normal to expect occasional moments of defiance, says Stephanie Jones, a developmental psychologist at Harvard. Acting out is “not always a sign of intentional disregard or disrespect of others or of the rules” and can be a healthy part of a child’s social and emotional development as they test boundaries, learn what consequences are, and assert their independence.

There’s no silver bullet to keeping students on track and disruptions at bay—a 2021 study notes that being an effective teacher “requires the adaptive application of a repertoire of different classroom management strategies.” Here are eight portable, easy-to-deploy strategies that can make a big impact as you attempt to keep the class focused on the vital academic work at hand.

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1. ‘The Look’

“Sometimes situations don’t warrant words—mere eye contact or going to stand next to where a student is seated will do,” writes Rebecca Alber, a teacher trainer at UCLA’s Graduate School of Education. “Nonverbal classroom management tactics like these help keep everyone’s dignity intact in the room.” It’s important to use “the look”—an arched eyebrow or a stern glare directed at misbehavior—moderately, both to maximize its effectiveness and limit its (modest) potential to stigmatize students if overused, says Alber.

Drawing on Jacob Kounin’s concept of “overlapping,” the researchers in a 2025 study suggest that experienced teachers often choose to respond quickly and unobtrusively, “without interrupting the intellectual flow of the instruction.” By shooting a quick look, moving closer to the problem area, or deftly inserting the student’s name into the lesson—“We’re focused on the slope of this line, right, John?”—the teacher “conveys several messages the student and the classmates immediately understand (e.g., ‘I saw that,’ ‘Stop it,’ ‘First warning’) while still carrying on with instruction.”

It can feel awkward, but younger teachers can practice techniques like “the look” at home and then try them out in the classroom before refining their techniques. Other educators we’ve interviewed discuss their preferred nonverbal cues directly with students, describing the intended effect of hand signals and glances to model expected behaviors.

2. Tone of Voice

What may sound authoritative to you may come off as authoritarian to your students.

In a 2022 study, researchers studied how elementary students reacted to typical classroom instructions—“It’s time to start the lesson” or “Listen carefully,” for example—delivered in tones ranging from demanding to neutral to supportive. While neutral and positive tones led to a warmer, more supportive classroom culture, stricter tones undermined trust and discouraged kids when it came time “to share secrets with their teachers,” who subsequently missed out on important information related to bullying, hardships, and even the work students were proudest of.

Finding your voice will take time and practice, but “developing a calm, neutral, assertive voice is part of the teacher’s own self-regulation,” which in turn allows students to be “self-regulated and secure in the knowledge that the teacher will be receptive to them, but also in control,” explains Linda Darling-Hammond, former professor at Stanford and current president of the Learning Policy Institute.

At Van Ness Elementary School, teachers actively work on tone of voice and then model self-regulation through its strategic use. “If we’re talking in a voice that is too aggressive, we might accidentally be using fear to manipulate children’s behavior,” says Cynthia Robinson-Rivers. “Instead of helping them to gain that intrinsic motivation to do the right thing for the right reasons.”

3. Getting to Clarity

Preparing a well-thought-out lesson with very clear instructions doesn’t just grease the academic wheels, it also helps to minimize student disruptions. In a 2018 study, researchers discovered that 15 percent of misbehavior was attributed to instructional factors such as “an instructor’s failure to provide clear expectations or command of the classroom.” 

Christopher Pagan, a high school physics teacher, regularly surveys his students to gain a clearer sense of the clarity of his lessons. “The purpose of the survey is to give my students a voice to tell me what changes I can make and what practices I can implement to help them perform better in class,” he says. The survey “has nothing to do with content. There are no questions about physics.” A 2019 study backs his approach, revealing that highly effective teachers audit their materials regularly “to identify what was working or not.” For academic work that involves complex instructions, ask students to talk you through what they think the steps are, and take notes on the whiteboard while offering clarifications.

Classroom transitions are another source of classroom calamity; clear routines are an effective way to minimize these disruptions. “Difficulties with transitioning may manifest in… avoidance, decreased attention, resistance, or fight-or-flight,” writes occupational therapist Lauren Brukner. Consider displaying visual scaffolds like anchor charts to remind students of your expectations, spend some time recording yourself to spot areas for improvement, or visit the classrooms of mentor teachers to draw lessons from their experience.

4. Greeting Students at the Door

Spending a few moments at the beginning of class welcoming students—by greeting them as they enter the class or scheduling a morning meeting, for example—not only sets a positive tone, but also can boost engagement and reduce disruptive behavior. In a 2018 study (replicated with older students in another 2018 study), positive greetings at the door increased academic engagement by 20 percentage points while decreasing disruptive behavior by 9 percentage points, effectively adding “an additional hour of engagement over the course of a five-hour instructional day,” according to the researchers.

More recently, researchers in a 2024 study explain that low-intensity classroom management strategies such as positive greetings at the door are effective at “defusing problems rather than exacerbating them” and allow students to see teachers less as arbiters of discipline and more as mentors and guides. When students feel welcome in the classroom, they’re more likely to put genuine effort into their learning, the research shows.

5. Keeping Distractions In Check

In the battle for student attention, you’re not going to beat the lure of electronic devices and whirring, flashing fidget toys. In a 2020 study, students who were seated by a classmate browsing the internet on a laptop scored 9 percentage points lower on retention tests than their distraction-free peers. Even those who couldn’t glimpse the laptop screen were distracted, suggesting that they picked up on the subtle cues—a stifled chuckle or slouched posture—that signaled a lack of academic focus, the researchers found.

At the beginning of class, math teacher Rebecka Peterson asks her students to deposit their devices in a cell phone holder. “Don’t make phones a big deal; it’s just another procedure,” she writes. If keeping devices out of reach isn’t an option, you can create firm boundaries: “I have a doorbell in my classroom… and students know it means to put phones away and take AirPods out of their ears,” writes educator Sarah Said.

Finally, be wary of fidgets that make noise, light up, or can be thrown. “There is not sufficient support for the implementation of fidget toys in the classroom,” researchers explain in a 2023 study. That’s because students who fiddle with fidget spinners, poppers, and balls—the most distracting of the bunch—tend to score significantly worse on academic tests and often affect the performance of nearby students, a 2019 study reveals.

6. Warming Up Your Cold calls

Many students are wary of participating in class discussions, often because they’re shy, afraid to be seen as incompetent, or simply not interested in the topic. It’s not uncommon to ask a question and hear crickets in response. Yet not all teachers approach cold calling the same way—a 2022 study found that the practice generally fell into one of two categories: “Encouraging and engaging on the one hand” or “confrontational and intimidating” on the other.

If you want to keep class participation on track, try warming up your cold calls. In the study, middle school teachers who couched their cold calls in an inviting, respectful manner—using language like “I’d like to hear some ideas,” for example—were able to assuage their students’ fears and anxieties about being put on the spot, leading to more fruitful conversations in which students felt “safe to take risks.”

Over time, well-executed cold calling can decrease anxiety levels and increase class participation, since “once a student has participated a few times, it becomes easier to participate,” according to a 2013 study. In fact, when teachers regularly integrate cold calling, participation increases from about 50 percent to slightly above 90 percent, the researchers found, and the approach can be especially helpful for typically quieter students, such as girls, according to a 2019 study. 

7. Break Time!

A short break after a long lesson can keep students more engaged throughout the day, while reducing classroom disruptions. Brain breaks aren’t a fad—they’re backed by science and trusted by experienced teachers. A 2024 study, for example, found that 91 percent of K–2 teachers rely on intermittent breaks to refresh student attention spans and improve information processing.

In a 2021 study, scientists used brain imaging to analyze cognitive activity after elementary students engaged in short brain breaks—tossing balls, pretending to be cars and zooming around the classroom, or playing Simon Says, for example. They discovered that short brain breaks improved “children’s neural activity efficiency,” leading to “significantly higher odds of being observed on-task” during later instructional periods.

Even older students benefit from brain breaks. In a 2020 study, a brief exercise break reduced off-task behaviors among high school students—gazing off, staring into space, or putting their head down on the desk, for example—by nearly half, making it “a feasible and practical approach” for older adolescents.

8. Let the Small Stuff Go

Trying to catch and fix every minor disruption might seem like a good classroom approach, but it often leads to more misbehavior in the long run. A 2016 study shows that calling students out for minor issues like daydreaming or brief chatter can erode their feelings of connection to the classroom, leading to even more misbehavior down the road. For some students, this negative attention can actually lead to a “negative reinforcement pattern” that “actually amplifies students’ inappropriate behavior” over the long haul.

While a stern approach to classroom management may be necessary to combat severe or repeated infractions, it’s better to start small and focus on de-escalating or defusing the situation.

When teachers react defensively to student behaviors, they “may become locked in a power struggle or an ineffective pattern of communication,” writes special education teacher Nina Parrish. Remain calm and avoid using statements that begin with “You”—for example, “You never listen and follow directions. Don’t get out of your seat again!”—which typically triggers defiant behavior. Instead, rephrase it to an “I statement”: “I would like for all of my students to sit down, listen, and follow directions so that they know what to do next.”

When kids inevitably push your buttons, take things slowly and approach each situation with calm and compassion. Educator Emily Terwilliger suggests playing out tense moments ahead of time: “Think through scenarios that might happen in your classroom and how you want to respond before the start of the year,” she writes. “It will make those first redirects and interventions less intimidating.”