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motivation and engagement

October Is “Shakedown” Month!

October 1, 2023

October Is the Most Difficult Month… Are things getting a little “intense” in your classroom? Are your kids stressed out at home? Several years ago, my daughter’s 1st grade teacher, Robert, sent an email update: This week was something of a challenge. Tears and arguments cropped up on several occasions. By Thursday, I was fairly exhausted. Then…

Conquer Summer Brain Drain: Let Go of the Guilt!

May 21, 2023

Summer vacation is coming—for some of us it’s already here—and that means it’s time to tackle Summer Brain Drain again. How do we keep our kids’ brains active for the three months that they’re out of school? How can we make the gap between school years an advantage, and not just dead space? Most parents…

The Motivation Circuit: How Motivation Works

March 12, 2023

The Motivation Circuit Video Transcription “Motivation” is the term we use to describe a power surge from the emotional region of the brain. When the emotional region of your brain is happy, comfortable, and engaged, it makes a lot of brain chemicals. This provides a hefty power boost the rest of the brain, making learning…

How to Solve Our National Motivation Crisis

February 20, 2022

The United States’ Motivation Crisis is so pervasive; we look right through it. A fish is the last one to know he swims in water. Likewise, the solution is so simple, you might miss its full power. How to Solve the Motivation Crisis We simply need to “change the conversation!” We need to stop focusing on deficiencies…

Student Motivation Is a National Crisis…
and NO ONE Is Talking About It!

February 13, 2022

Student motivation is a national crisis! Across every boundary: gender, racial, geographic, academic, and socioeconomic… students simply don’t care. Everyone knows our education system is in turmoil. It’s critically disconnected from the real-world. People attempt to improve education with STEM or STEAM programs. Or, they try to build “critical thinking skills.” But no one is talking about the…

Why Middle School Sucks for Most Students

September 2, 2019

My name is Kylie, I’m an intern at SOAR® Learning. I vividly recall the first days of middle school. Like many middle schoolers say about school… “It sucked!” Here’s why… Like lots of students I loved fifth grade, being the oldest and coolest kids in school was so fun. My teacher cared about me, I…

2 Questions to Unlock Motivation & Change Mindsets

August 10, 2019

It was my last semester of college. “Senioritis” had fully kicked-in.  I was ready to graduate. It was also the first day of EAD 315, “Student Leadership Training.” Waiting for class to start, I was focused on the friends I was meeting after class. The instructor began. He asked us to move our desks into…

Importance of Practice & Feedback in Education

May 9, 2016

When you were a child, how did you learn how to ride a bike? Did your dad or mom (or whomever taught you) sit you down, grab a piece of paper and write down the steps of what you should do? Did they draw a diagram with equations of how fast to move your legs?…

Student Motivation: “Only 25% of My Students Are Motivated!”

September 8, 2015

“Only 25% of my students are motivated! The rest don’t care about anything. They don’t respond to anything.” Vivian -a veteran teacher- shared this concern in a recent consulting call. Vivian teaches students with a very low socio-economic background. But, her concern is echoed by teachers and parents all over the country. Student motivation is…

Motivation & Engagement: How Working with Partners Gets Better Results

August 24, 2015

We’re continuing our series on motivation and engagement.  Today, the focus is on doing “more with less.” We’ve talked about how paired collaboration works in our business.  It can also work great in the classroom! (See our article “Working in Pairs; the Most Powerful Productivity Tool Ever!”) More examples about the power of pairing are…

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