Motivation 

 
You've already had a few lessons with absolutely different children: some of them 
understand the importance of programming and came to fulfill their dream, 
some were brought by parents who "made" them dig into the world of computer 
technology, and some came just "because," without any specific motivation. 
This video will be dedicated to motivation. 
 
Motivation is an urge to act; to motivate your students means to touch upon the 
interests most important to them, to give them a chance to fulfill themselves in 
the learning process. The task of every teacher is to ​AWAKE THE INTERNAL 
MOTIVATION​ of the child that the child carries in them regardless of the external 
environment. To do this, you need to understand what E ​ XTERNAL MOTIVATORS 
can and should be engaged when working with the group and with every child 
individually. What influences motivation? 
 
1. Motivation can be influenced both by a ​ n extremely easy task and by an 
extremely complicated task;​ apart from the result, it is very important to enjoy 
the process. 
 
2. Result. M​ ost likely, even you sometimes find it difficult to force yourself to work 
hard for a result that you don't know how to apply in the future. And this is 
especially true for your student; that's why it is important to make the process 
as enjoyable and interesting as possible. 
 
3. Success and failure.​ Desire to achieve success and fear of failure can serve as 
equal urges to act and to learn. Motivation for success is positive in its nature. 
With such motivation, the student's actions are aimed at achieving positive 
results; their activity, in this case, depends on the need to achieve success. The 
fear of failure, on the other hand, is a negative motivation. With this type of 
motivation, the student seeks to avoid disapproval and punishment. Before 
doing anything, the child is afraid of a possible failure and thinking about how 
to avoid it, not how to succeed. 
 
4. Different age. L ​ earning motives in schoolchildren of different ages are 
different. In primary school, emotional and cognitive motives prevail; in middle 
and high school, volitional and social motives are added and become stable. 
 
Every child can have a different motivation, and this is normal, but motivation 
always depends on the child’s ​needs. F ​ or clarity, let's analyze the entire system 
using Maslow's Pyramid—this is a visual tool showing how a person depends on 
their needs at various levels. 
 
Now, let's look at it in more detail using the Maslow's Pyramid as an example: 
1. Physiological needs:​ these are food, sleep, well-being. Often, students don't 
want to do the tasks not because they are lazy, but because the teacher didn't 
 cater to their basic need for fresh air, activity, or change of activity. We can 
visualize this using the emotional intelligence scheme, where the lizard 
represents the "reptilian" brain, responsible for survival and safety, the dog 
symbolizes the limbic system, responsible for emotional reactions, and the owl 
means the cerebral cortex, responsible for thinking, and regulation and and 
control of mental processes. The "reptilian" brain responds to stress, making 
the child unable to think clearly and realize what they are doing; after times 
where this brain is activated, they often cannot remember what happened. The 
kid wastes all their energy on fighting stress. Until the lizard feels safe, there will 
be no space for the dog and the owl. Be sure to air out the classroom, pay 
attention to lighting, and position the desks in such a way that every student 
can see you and the board. You can actively use the space on the walls, placing 
all sorts of motivational posters and relevant memes there. 
 
2. Comfort/safety needs. C ​ reate an atmosphere in which the child feels 
comfortable and no one offends them. The student must trust the teacher and 
see authority in them, so be active, energetic, and always honest when 
communicating with the child. If your student has failed, give them competent 
feedback and recommendations on how to improve the result. 
 
3. The need for belonging and love​ (of the group, teacher). Create a team 
activity where there will be cooperation instead of competition. Pay attention 
to group work on projects, and prepare several interactive and team-building 
games for your group. 
 
4. The need for esteem:​ this means that the child’s achievements are valued and 
they are not ashamed to be accountable to their group mates. Think of an 
interesting assessment system (points, stars, rating), and let the children realize 
that they are important. How to do this exactly: 
- Encourage them to ask questions 
- Thank them for giving opinions 
- Ask questions yourself to learn more about the students 
- Use phrases like "I've heard you", "How can I help you?", etc. 
 
5. Cognitive need, or need for self-actualization: t​ he child wants to study this 
subject more, to implement their goals and abilities, to develop their own 
personality, and to make decisions about the future. Prepare and use 
additional materials; help every child to evolve. You can make such a child a 
teaching assistant, helping them with self-realization this way. Needs and 
motivation are expressed differently in all the children, so work carefully with 
every level. 
 
6. Don't forget that y ​ ou yourself are a source of the strongest motivation for 
the children.​ If your eyes shine, and you are not indifferent to your subject, and 
you include interesting work forms and surprise the children, then your 
students will follow you and their motivation will increase.