Ask any teacher - good student motivation sits at the heart of successful learning. Without motivated students teaching becomes increasingly difficult, with too much time spent on ‘crowd control’ rather than engaging with learners.
In reality though, for many schools and teachers, students are not always motivated, and as a result behaviour is a problem. This eats up teaching time, with behaviour management dominating the classroom process. As a result there is often a focus on the negative aspects of behaviour management and a lack of recognition for student success. Information on students is stored in a variety of places leading to a fragmented, incomplete picture of each student, and what information there is can sit exclusively with the teacher. Parents are only involved when things escalate and have little engagement with their child’s school experience.
It's a very simple equation: Better motivated students will lead to more focus and less poor behaviour, meaning that teachers can teach, and learners can learn.
So what are the requirements for successful behaviour management? Above all, motivation needs to be the primary focus. We need to make it easy for teachers to recognise, reward and track the achievements of their students. This means finding an alternative to stickers in books or bits of paper handed out for house points for example - these all take too much time to manage and collate. Technology can provide a quick and simple solution to simplify this process and make it easy for students to see and celebrate their progress over time.
Teachers want more time to teach and this can be done by giving them the tools they need to manage their students and classroom activities in one accessible space. Too often teachers are having to move between different platforms and tools which is time-consuming and complicated to manage. Whether it's registering a class, organising groups, or structuring activities, teachers need the relevant tools at their fingertips, in the environment they are teaching in. This will give them more time to focus on teaching their subject, rather than managing their classes.
Visibility of each student's learning journey is crucial, and this needs to be available for everyone involved - teachers, students, parents and school leaders. Most schools are now moving away from traditional markbooks and adopting an online system for tracking their students' grades. However, this doesn’t always provide the full picture and is often visible only to the teacher. The right technological solution will make it easy for the teacher to share information with everyone involved in the learning process and provide a holistic overview of the child, encompassing all aspects of their school experience, whether this be after school clubs, achievements beyond the classroom or feedback on a particular piece of work. Parents in particular need to be given the visibility and understanding they need to support their child and celebrate their successes.
Student motivation and behaviour management are inextricably linked. As teachers we need to address both in order to provide a positive school experience for everyone involved. When we get this right, students are excited to learn new things and the standard of work improves. Teachers have more time to help students make better progress, and behaviour is no longer a problem at the school; everybody feels safe and supported.
Epraise is part of the Firefly family of tools and is the learning engagement platform at the heart of hundreds of school communities around the world. Transforming the way teachers engage their students, Epraise makes it easy for schools to motivate students, engage parents and save teachers time.
Epraise is quick and easy to set up so you can start to see the benefits for your teachers, students and parents almost immediately. Why not book a free consultation with one of our experts and find out what Firefly and Epraise can do at your school?
