THE 6 C’S OF MOTIVATION

Stephanie Jerrick

ED5700

Teaching with Technology

WHAT ARE THE 6 C’S OF MOTIVATION?

The 6 C’s of Motivation centers around giving students choices to encourage intrinsic motivation.

When the school assignments include the personal interest of the students, they are motivated to complete the assignments.

The choices that the teacher gives needs to be significant to the students, whether by feelings (level of enjoyment) or value (gaining knowledge).

WITHIN THE 6 C’S, THERE ARE:

Choice

Challenge

Control

Collaboration

Constructing Meaning

Consequences

CHOICE

With choice, the teacher gives students the freedom to choose from a variety of

ideas or topics.

Allow the students give you their own topics or ideas.

Offer various sources of media choice as a way to

complete the task.Encourage collaboration

with peers as an option for students.

CHALLENGETeachers should have expectations just ahead of the student’s current skill level because this encourages motivation.

When the assignments or tasks are too tough, the students tend to become nervous or stressed. On the other hand, if the assignments or tasks are too easy, the students will be bored. Teachers need to find the balance between challenge and boredom.

In order to give the students a steady challenge, the teacher needs to actively monitor the student’s progress, goals, and student feedback.

CONTROL•Allow the students to take ownership & be responsible for their actions. This enhances decision making and allows them to take part in their learning experience.

•Give the students options to choose projects or let them propose their own ideas.

•Encourage self-evaluation

•Ask for input when it comes to due dates. Be flexible, but firm at the same time.

COLLABORATION•Allowing students to work in pairs or groups enhances motivation and inspiration.

•Collaborative pairs

•Peer evaluation

•Jigsaw

•Give the students the opportunity to teach their classmates.

CONSTRUCTING MEANING

Give students the opportunity to look for the importance in the assignments that they are completing. This helps them to be motivated

and construct meaning.

Hold conferences within groups or individually to talk about the significance of

the work that the students are doing.

When learning various tasks, have peers display how the skill is important in life.

CONSEQUENCESSome think consequences as a negative, but in this case it is positive!

The final result of a learning adventure. The students have the chance to display what new skills/concepts they have learned.

Display the students’ work

Create performances

Publish students’ work

Celebrate when the task is completed

FINALLY…These strategies are used in various classrooms already. When put all together, they truly make a

difference in the classroom motivation levels. Using the 6 C’s of motivation can enable better classroom management because the students have ownership over their work and are really

interested in it.

Give it a try!