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This piece was adapted from by Larry Ferlazzo, available April 22 from .

A teacher thinks: I work so hard at trying to get these kids motivated. Some are, but so many aren鈥檛. They just seem to want to get by鈥攊f that. I try to encourage them鈥擨鈥檓 their biggest cheerleader! But it can get so tiring. I feel like I鈥檓 pushing a rope with some of my students. Why can鈥檛 they just want to achieve instead of having to be pushed into it?

How many of us educators have said, felt, or thought something similar?

Strategies that teachers will often use in these efforts to motivate students include offering incentives and rewards鈥�"If you read a certain number of books you鈥檒l get a prize!"鈥攐r cheerleading relentlessly鈥�"Good job, Karen!鈥� It鈥檚 also not unusual for teachers to just 鈥済ive up鈥� on some students鈥�"They just don鈥檛 want to learn!鈥�

One of the lessons community organizers learn is that you might be able to threaten, cajole, badger, or bribe someone to do something over the short-term, but getting someone to do something beyond a very, very short timeframe is a radically different story. Organizers believe that you cannot really motivate anybody else. However, you can help people discover what they can use to motivate themselves.

This is very similar to what Edward Deci, one of the premier researchers and authorities on intrinsic motivation, wrote: 鈥淭he proper question is not, 鈥榟ow can people motivate others?鈥� but rather, 鈥渉ow can people create the conditions within which others will motivate themselves?鈥�

When we are trying to motivate students鈥攐ften unsuccessfully鈥攖he energy is coming from us. When we help students discover their own motivation, and challenge them to act on it, more of the energy is coming from them.

In fact, this perspective is in keeping with the original roots of the word 鈥渕otivation.鈥� It comes from 鈥渕otive鈥� which, in the 15th century, meant 鈥渢hat which inwardly moves a person to behave a certain way.鈥�

Community organizers call it the difference between irritation鈥攑ushing people to do something you want them to do鈥� and agitation鈥攃hallenging them to act on something they have identified as important in their lives.

The Dangers of Incentives and Rewards

Many studies have shown that鈥攃ontrary to what many of us believe鈥攑roviding rewards to induce desired behaviors can result in long-term damage to intrinsic motivation. As Daniel Pink summarizes in his book, Drive:

Researchers believe this loss of intrinsic motivation happens because contingent rewards鈥攊f you do this, then you鈥檒l get that鈥攆orce people to give up some of their autonomy. Deci, Pink, and William Glasser all highlight this need for learner autonomy as crucial for students and for all of us. As economist Russ Roberts commented in an interview with Pink, 鈥淣obody wants to feel like a rat in a maze.鈥�

Rewards (and punishments) have been found to be effective, however, in getting people to do mechanical and routine work that can be accomplished simply. For example, they can result in employees working faster on an assembly line or, in the classroom, getting students to make basic changes in their behavior. However, as Pink and others , rewards can be destructive in advancing anything that requires higher-order thinking.

Of course, we all expect and need what Pink calls 鈥渂aseline rewards.鈥� These are the basics of adequate 鈥渃ompensation.鈥� At school, these might include students expecting fair grading, a caring teacher who works to provide fairly engaging lessons, or a clean classroom. Pink writes:

None of these points mean that students cannot be recognized and celebrated for their successes. The key is not holding it out as a 鈥渃arrot,鈥� but instead, providing it as an unexpected 鈥渂onus.鈥�

The word 鈥渋ncentives鈥� comes from incendere, which means 鈥渢o kindle.鈥� The dictionary says that 鈥渢o kindle鈥� means 鈥渢o start a fire burning.鈥� The idea is not to tell students that they will die from the cold or from being eaten by wolves if they do not start a fire right now and right here and in this way. Nor is the idea to say that, if they do what we tell them, they will get an extra bag of marshmallows to toast. Instead, the goal can be to find out where they want to set their fire and why, and perhaps help them learn how to use matches or a flint, and give them advice on the best place to find some dry wood.

Applying What We Know About Motivation in the Classroom

What can this look like in the classroom? In my book, Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers To Classroom Problems, I share many short, research-based, engaging, and academically rigorous lessons that can easily be integrated into a literacy curriculum to help get at these sources of intrinsic motivation. These include lessons on the effect of learning on the brain, self-control, the importance of sleep, and the roles of perseverance and personal responsibility in future success.

I also share suggestions for reinforcing student self-motivation on a regular basis. These include:

Praise Effort and Specific Actions
If we only praise students in general鈥�"You鈥檙e very smart"鈥攎any will then try to avoid taking risks and stretching themselves. They will focus more on maintaining their image and believe that they will embarrass themselves by making mistakes. Praising effort鈥� 鈥淵ou worked really hard today"鈥攐r praising specific actions鈥�"Your topic sentence communicates the main idea"鈥攃an make students feel that they are more in control of their success, and that their doing well is less dependent on their 鈥渘atural intelligence.鈥�

Build Relationships
Teachers build relationships with their students by showing that they care about them, and by learning about their lives, dreams, and challenges. This is a key element of helping students motivate themselves. Numerous studies have shown that caring relationships with teachers can help build resiliency (the capacity to persevere and overcome challenges) among children. By learning about student interests, teachers can also help connect what is being taught in the classroom to students鈥� lives and discover their short-and-long-term goals.

Use Cooperative Learning
Teaching engaging lessons is a 鈥渂aseline reward鈥� expectation of students. Boring lessons will not assist students to develop their intrinsic motivation to learn. That does not mean, however, that teachers have to put on costumes and become entertainers. It can, however, suggest that teachers consider keeping lecturing to a minimum and, instead, use many of the teaching strategies that have been found to be more effective for student learning. Many of these methods include some sort of cooperative learning. These can be as basic as 鈥渢hink-pair-share鈥� to as ambitious as problem-based learning or project-based learning.

Show Students the Economic and Health Advantages of Doing Well in School
Multiple studies have shown a wide income disparity based on educational attainment. For example, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, adults with advanced degrees earn four times the salary of those with less than a high school degree. There are similar differences between the likely length someone will be unemployed, one鈥檚 overall health, and even how long people will live. Research demonstrates that just showing students this kind of information can result in students being more motivated to learn.

Creating Opportunities for Students to Help Make Decisions
People are more motivated and confident when they feel they have more control over their environment. Inviting students to have a voice in classroom decisions鈥攚here they sit, what day a test takes place, in what order units are studied, or even where a plant should be placed in the classroom鈥攃an help them develop that greater sense of control.

Years ago, a volunteer leader in one of our community groups was comparing two organizers with whom she had worked. She learned a lot of information from Ralph, she said. 鈥淏ut Johnny taught me how to think.鈥�

Perhaps if we鈥檙e able to keep some of these concepts in mind, our students will describe us more like Johnny than like Ralph. And perhaps they鈥檒l say we also helped them light their own fires.