Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers to Classroom Challenges

I'm reading this as part of an online class through Heritage Institute. Wow! This is great stuff . As teachers we spend a lot of time trying to motivate our students. We do all the work. This book shows how to put that responsibility back on the students to motivate themselves and teaches them how to do that. It goes on to talk about Higher Level Thinking, games and technology. It's easy to read and has good lesson plans as well as online links. I wish I had read it years ago.

So many practical ideas & lesson plans already worked out for you. Book arrived on time & in the condition listed.

No problems!

Confession: I'm a Larry Ferlazzo follower. Not a disciple, because Larry isn't much into that, but a follower who's read most of his essays and books on good teaching practice, including several I edited for the Education Week Teacher website. I've also interviewed Larry for a blog I help with. I've had dinner with Larry and his wife and fascinating conversation ensued. I loved his earlier book on parent engagement. So that's my transparency.Here's the thing about Larry: He doesn't just get outside the box, he turns it INSIDE OUT. This excellent book is a good example. There are 100s of motivational books and articles you could buy and read, and when you boil most of them down, they're about external motivators -- rewards, guilt, atta-boy/girl strategies. They may work for a small number of students but they're not very sticky. Very few advice-givers take Larry's approach to motivation, with the teacher or advisor acting in ways that promote and nurture INTRINSIC motivation, the kind that begins to hang out in the adolescent brain/heart and eventually takes up full-time residency. Yes, it takes more effort on the part of the teacher/advisor -- but it's not wasted effort, like so many other approaches turn out to be.In his hugely popular blog for educators, Larry is famous for his "How Do You..." posts (if you don't know about that blog, set aside a few hours to visit [...]). "Helping Students Motivate Themselves" uses the same how-to approach. It has two parts, Classroom Culture and Classroom Instruction, populated by 13 practical chapters presented as Questions, with specific, action-oriented answers. Take Question 5: "How do you help students see problems as opportunities, not frustrations?" Topics: Immediate Responses/Giving the Student Feedback; Setting the Stage/Helping Students See Their Own Growth; Grit & Growth Mindset Lesson Plan; Improvement Rubric Lesson Plan. Eight wise pages.There are also plenty of online resources and downloadables available from the publisher's website. Plus: Visit Larry's blog and click on the book cover and you'll discover free excerpts and related essays, an audio interview with Larry about student motivation, and more.My short version? This book is huge resource for teachers who are serious about changing students' lives by helping them become self-actualized learners.

As a veteran teacher and author of,  Our Kids: Building Relationships in the Classroom , building relationships with kids is my stock-in-trade. It is how I survive the day with the coming-of-age-crew. Larry Ferlazzo's book is a great way to do just that. This is a well written classroom resource that gives some real insights and tangible lesson ideas to help kids become authentic learners and take true ownership of their educational careers. I applaud Mr. Ferlazzo's book and his genuine love of kids. Giving a child's education sort of back to themselves is the best way to build a closer and more effective community of learners.