Helping Students Motivate Themselves | MiddleWeb

Helping Students Motivate Themselves | MiddleWeb:

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AMiddleWebBookReview

Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers to Classroom Challenges
by Larry Ferlazzo
(Eye On Education, 2011 – Learn more)

Reviewed by Becky Bair

I was very excited to have the opportunity to read Helping Students Motivate Themselves: Practical Answers to Classroom Challenges by Larry Ferlazzo, a California teacher who writes the blog Classroom Q&A for Education Week. The book confirmed many of the strategies and tools I use in my classroom and emphasized the important roles that relationships and metacognition play in motivation and successful classrooms.

From the beginning Ferlazzo is clear that “This book is not designed as a road map; rather, it should serve as a compass to point us and our students in the right direction.” To point readers in the right direction, the book is set up in a format that is very easy to follow. Each section begins with a hypothetical question or statement you might typically hear from a teacher. For example:

I work so hard at trying to get these kids motivated. Some are, but so many aren’t. They just seem to want to get by—if that. I try to encourage them—I’m their biggest cheerleader! But it can get so tiring. I feel like I’m pushing a rope with some of my students. Why can’t they just want to achieve instead of having to be pushed into it?

Ferlazzo then offers background information and perspective that teachers can use to develop a better