Motivation plummets to a minimum
Jana Hill
Issue date: 11/11/09 Section: Forum
Steward went on to say, "Then it gets to this time of year and you begin to see two more weeks until Thanksgiving break and then after that three weeks I think. It just becomes, 'I have to endure this rather than being motivated. It's more of an endurance kind of thing.'"
I know that I am guilty of wearing the glazed over look in the classroom even when it is not nearing the end of the semester, so I can imagine that in many other classrooms during this time of year the glazed over look is more common than not.
Steward went into more depth about the signs that she receives from students in the classroom when motivation starts to taper.
"Well, there's the obvious sleeping in class, or putting their heads down, totally disengaged," said Steward. "But even things like performance, you see that their performance is lacking. You know that they are not doing what they started the semester doing, not doing nearly as well as what they were doing previously. Those are definite signs in the classroom that you can begin to see the motivation lag."
No survey was taken and no students were interviewed or polled for this article, but I know that I have seen many students in past and present classes sleeping during the lecture, and yes, I have even been one of those students.
Professors are not blind to this. They see that we are disengaged as Steward said, and also that we do not care.
We finally came to the point in our conversation when I asked Steward what she thought could help students fight through this swamp of heavy un-motivation.
"First and foremost, I think getting rest at this point in the semester," said Steward. "There's a lot going on, and so just taking a Sunday and saying, 'I'm going to go to church, and then I'm going to rest.' Obviously, you have to plan to do that. If you have a test the next day, that's not a good decision.
"At this point in the semester, I think it's good for students to re-evaluate what they were wanting to accomplish this semester, how have they progressed in that, and do they need to do more to move forward and accomplish that goal."
This time of the year is tough to be motivated and to keep that motivation with which we began the semester.
We can do it, though. Philippians 4:13 says we can. The end is approaching and if we are called to run the race that God has called us to, let us do it with all we have in us.
Jump over those hurdles that are in your way, and if need be, get rid of some of them. We can finish strong, so let's do it.
I know that I am guilty of wearing the glazed over look in the classroom even when it is not nearing the end of the semester, so I can imagine that in many other classrooms during this time of year the glazed over look is more common than not.
Steward went into more depth about the signs that she receives from students in the classroom when motivation starts to taper.
"Well, there's the obvious sleeping in class, or putting their heads down, totally disengaged," said Steward. "But even things like performance, you see that their performance is lacking. You know that they are not doing what they started the semester doing, not doing nearly as well as what they were doing previously. Those are definite signs in the classroom that you can begin to see the motivation lag."
No survey was taken and no students were interviewed or polled for this article, but I know that I have seen many students in past and present classes sleeping during the lecture, and yes, I have even been one of those students.
Professors are not blind to this. They see that we are disengaged as Steward said, and also that we do not care.
We finally came to the point in our conversation when I asked Steward what she thought could help students fight through this swamp of heavy un-motivation.
"First and foremost, I think getting rest at this point in the semester," said Steward. "There's a lot going on, and so just taking a Sunday and saying, 'I'm going to go to church, and then I'm going to rest.' Obviously, you have to plan to do that. If you have a test the next day, that's not a good decision.
"At this point in the semester, I think it's good for students to re-evaluate what they were wanting to accomplish this semester, how have they progressed in that, and do they need to do more to move forward and accomplish that goal."
This time of the year is tough to be motivated and to keep that motivation with which we began the semester.
We can do it, though. Philippians 4:13 says we can. The end is approaching and if we are called to run the race that God has called us to, let us do it with all we have in us.
Jump over those hurdles that are in your way, and if need be, get rid of some of them. We can finish strong, so let's do it.
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