How to Motivate Reluctant Learners

Jackson, a former high school teacher and middle school administrator who runs a professional development firm for teachers and administrators, explains how to motivate the most reluctant learners. Rather than discussing rewards systems or ways to entice or cajole students to do their work, she outlines a plan to get students to invest in their own learning and engage in the classroom. She views students' knowledge, effort, abilities, and interests as "currencies" they can invest in to obtain additional knowledge, skill, or other things, and sees motivation as the decision students make each day to invest in those currencies. She shows teachers of any grade level how to determine what investments students need to make, shape the classroom to make it more likely students will do so, identify and address resistance, and invite students to invest and sustain their investment. There is no index. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)