After School Activities is Important

Do we really need after school activities for our children? This is the question that is in the minds of most of us. Most of us think that it would be a burden for children to go to after school activities, after the stressful learning and sport activities in school. You can still figure out that the culture of after school activities is increasing day by day.

The main reason behind this success of after school activities is that the parents don’t have enough time for the children as in most of the houses both parents are employed. There are children who spend near about twenty to twenty five hours alone at home in a week. Usually, such children who are alone at home fall in the hands of wrong company or are indulged in wrong activities such as alcohol, tobacco, drugs or crime. Therefore parents put their children in after school activities so that they are busy most of the time. This decreases the tension of parents as their children are secure in the hands of professional people.

Children needs protection from 3 to 4 p.m. as most of the crimes happens at this time after school and if children are alone they may fall prey to it. Moreover, group activities in after school activities encourage them and increase their motivation to compete in true spirit.

Recent studies have revealed that the obesity in children is growing at a fast rate due to the consumption of junk food and less exercise or activities. After school activities help to cure this problem as many activities are involved that has enough exercises for the children to make them fit and strong. Children are not fascinated to television or computer games if they spend their valuable time in valuable activities such as after school activities.

This helps to develop sense of social responsibility in children and promote social awareness among them. Such after school activities are helpful in producing responsible citizens who are away from every type of wrong activities.

All parents want their children to excel in every field, either its academics or sports or other activities. Therefore, such parents enroll their children in the after school activities to make them more responsible. The expectations of parents may be due to their own weakness or due to some other reason. Whatever may be the reason but after school activities help to improve the overall personality of the child.

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Who Teaches The Teachers? Motivation for Teacher

In these days of budget cuts, classroom overcrowding, and compulsory high-stakes testing, teacher motivation is more and more difficult to sustain. Many teachers decry the lack of control they have over their classroom scheduling due to federally, state, or district-mandated programs. Not only is their classroom time rigidly controlled, it is also often very complex, with students being pulled out or sent in for enrichment or ability-grouped mini classes. Sadly, the lack of effective teacher motivation is a prime factor in experienced teachers looking for work in other fields. If your school wants to keep its teachers happy, here are a few ideas.

Of course, one of the biggest ways to show support or to motivate a teacher would be by paying him a salary commensurate with his worth. With so many budgets constricted at a district level, though, there is often little a principal or parents’ group can do in this regard. What they can do is to make things easier on the teachers. If a support staff is truly supportive, they limit classroom interruptions, extracurricular requirements and faculty meetings and streamline procedures so that the teachers can concentrate on teaching.

Maintain a positive school environment for the adults as well as the children. Celebrate together when you can, but treat everyone on the staff as professionals in and out of school hours. Morale is crucial; since teaching requires a great deal of “giving,” a nurturing environment will help to replenish the teachers.

If you are in a position to do so, encourage teachers to get training to improve their skills. This applies to all walks of life of course; people like to feel that their employers invest in them as well as in their business.

Feedback is a vital part of teacher motivation. Everyone wants acknowledgment that they are doing a good job, and suggestions on how they can do even better. Thank your teachers sincerely when they have done something well – appreciation is the greatest gift of all.

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Student Motivation

Student motivation refers to a student's interest, desire, compulsion, and need to participate in and be successful in the learning process. It is generally accepted that student motivation plays a key role in academic learning.

Highly motivated students actively engage more in the learning process than less motivated students. Motivated students have a positive impact on learning. They take advantage of a given opportunity and show intense effort and concentration in the implementation of learning process. Also, they reveal positive emotions such as excitement, enthusiasm, interest, and optimism during learning.

On the other side, the less motivated were found to be less interested in participating in the learning process. Most of them were physically present in the class room but were mentally absent. They often failed to actively engage themselves in the learning tasks. Such students were more likely to stop learning. Less motivated students should be guided so as to develop a favorable attitude towards the learning process.

A teacher or an instructor has a significant role in guiding less motivated students. A technique called attribution retraining, which includes modeling, socialization, and practice exercises, is used to restructure less motivated students. Its aim is to help students to concentrate on the learning task without the fear of failure.

There are two types of student motivation such as extrinsic motivation and intrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is defined as the motivation to engage in an activity in order to obtain rewards or to avoid punishments from an external source. Extrinsically motivated students undertake an activity for the sake of getting good grades or a teacher's approval. Extrinsic motivation is again divided into two such as social motivation and material motivation. Social motivations include approval of teachers, parents, and friends. Good grades, future education, or job security come under material motivations.

Intrinsic motivation refers to engaging in an activity for its own sake, for the pleasure and enjoyment it provides. To be more precise, a student who is intrinsically motivated carries out an action for the learning it permits. Compared to extrinsic motivation, intrinsic motivation is more desirable as it is the motivation to engage in the learning process for the enjoyment of learning without considering its consequences.

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Intrinsic Student Motivation, Teacher Must Know!

It has become very difficult for teachers to engage students in their classes and create interest in them for the subject. There are different motivation methods, some are called extrinsic and others intrinsic.

Intrinsic student motivation, means that the motivation of the person comes from inside, it means that he is motivated because he has a genuine real interest in the subject and wants to know more about it.

On the other side if the student just has extrinsic motivation, it means that he is motivated by rewards or short term motivators like punishments, extra points and grades.

The teacher needs to focus more on intrinsic motivation because that will create a real interest in the student and he will want to contribute more and will get better grades.

Usually it is more difficult to create an intrinsic motivation, however the teacher can encourage motivation by giving interesting activities to do, investigations, challenges and creating an environment of collaboration in the classroom.

There needs to be a real interest in the student to learn more or to like the subject. You won't be able to create intrinsic motivation in all your students, but you can certainly help to create it.

Other methods of motivation like punishments and rewards are sometimes necessary, especially when you are dealing with difficult subjects, however those methods are short term motivation and do not guarantee good results from the students.

I think the easiest way to encourage intrinsic motivation is to show live case studies to the students of the subject that they have to learn. If you can apply what you are teaching to real live examples, students will more likely become interested and contribute to the class.

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First Day of School: Prepare Your Child

The first day of school for your child is going to be a big day for both of you, and for some it may cause some fear and anxiety. As a parent, you can do a great deal to help your child get through this time of change and new experience by helping them prepare for school. If you fail to prepare your child for their first day, it will be more difficult for both of you, but a child that has been adequately prepared will deal much better with this new change in their life. The following are some helpful ways that you can help prepare your child for their first day of school.

Take a Tour

One of the best ways to prepare your child for the big first day of school is to take them to the school so they can take a tour. It will be a big help for your child to see the layout of the school where they will be going, so the first day will not have them in a totally strange place. If they are able to take a tour, they will be able to visualize going to school instead of fearing the worst.

Meet the Teacher

Another great way to help your child prepare for their first day of school is to take your child in to meet their teacher. Most teachers are skilled at dealing with children and will be able to make your child feel at ease. It will be helpful to your child to have a picture in their head of their teacher on the first day of school. This will help them to be able to find their teacher easily and the teacher will not seem like such a stranger, since they will have already met.

Play School

Playing school together, or roleplaying, may be a great way to help your child mentally prepare for their first day of school. Make the roleplaying fun and exciting so your child feels excited about going to school. Playing school together will help communicate to your child that school will be fun and exciting, and it will be much less scary for them on the first day.

Make School Supply Shopping Fun

Part of preparing for school includes shopping for school supplies, and getting your child involved in the school supply shopping will be fun and will help them mentally prepare for school. Talk about all the cool supplies that they will be using in school, and use the shopping trip to further a positive outlook on the first day of school.

While the first day of school may not be without it’s challenges, you can definitely make it an easier process if you take the time to prepare your child for what is going to happen. If you take the time to properly prepare your child for the first day of school, you should have a child who is excited to go to school and enjoy the fun.

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