Emotionally Committing to Learning

 There are so many positive things I want to happen in my classroom. If I can help my students to be emotionally connected to learning than I think a lot of the goals I have as a teacher will naturally follow. I think that if a student is emotionally committed to learning than this will be the students primary motivation to learn. This might be the best example of intrinsic motivation which is a higher and more enduring motivation than any type of extrinsic motivation that students may have due to rewards or grades.

The important question is how to emotionally commit students to learning. I teach middle school social studies and to me it is all about relevance. It is about connecting history and geography to the student through issues that the student can see and understand and feel. I am a big proponent of using the computer lab across the hallway from my classroom. I think that the computer and the internet can maybe be the most powerful tool to connect history and geography to individual students emotionally. If students can be immersed in history and geography using academic sites on the internet and then use current event and news sites to learn about world issues today this can happen. I have included a section of a great article below addressing this concept of emotionally committing to learning written by Clark N. Quinn, Director, Quinnovation.

 "We must engage learners from the very beginning. What we do currently under the guise of "course introductions" is, at best, woefully inappropriate. At worst, it's downright learner abuse! Good introductions engage learners' hearts as well as their brains.
One of the worst sins we commit is the pre-test. Why should learners have to take questions on material we've already determined they likely shouldn't know? There's no valid reason other than to allow learners to skip some sections of a course's content.
We know that learning is more effective when learners are emotionally committed. So in addition to addressing individual learning styles, we must address motivation. We should make learners see how new skills will help them actually do things, beyond whatever value others may place on these skills.
As an additional element of emotional maintenance, set expectations about what's to come. Let learners know how much time they'll be spending, and what their expectations should be about the overall experience. This helps learners maintain focus throughout the experience. If they know ahead of time there's a tough stretch ahead, for example, they're much more likely to persevere."

 To read the rest of this excellent article follow the link below:
http://www.elearnmag.org/subpage.cfm?section=best_practices&article=35-1