How do we motivates students to study?

That was our dilemma this week with our 10th graders.

We know there are plenty of intrinsic motivators like autonomy, competence, and relevance. But, we often have an "assessment dilemma"; Sometimes students have to do tasks which:

A) Are common assessments that don't allow a lot of autonomy

B) Require motivation and effort to build competence

C) Are hard to reframe as deeply relevant to their lives (if they don't care about grades, per se)

So, we had to turn to a different strategy to boost drive for our students: Positive peer pressure

Positive peer pressure taps into the intrinsic motivator of relatedness. When my peers are relying on me to contribute, my drive increases to maintain social capital.

Here are three "R's" that build positive peer pressure. Each requires students to understand, apply, and synthesize their learning:

Rankings

Start by having each student independently rank a list based on a set standard

Examples:

Characters from a story they've read, ranked most to least dynamic
Physics formulas, ranked from most to least useful for a given task
Events from the Roaring 20s, ranked most to least impactful on the decades that followed

Then have students pair up, compare, and come to consensus on a new ranking of the list. You could end there or keep going: pairs join into a group of 4 followed by a whole-class ranking.

Re-Orders

Give students a jumbled up sequence, model, or graphic relevant to your content.

Examples:

Plot details from a story
Components of the carbon cycle
Historical movements in visual arts

Students work in pairs or groups to re-order the sequences or models.

Review Games

Team, group, or pair students up for review challenges. Here's my list of some great no-tech, collaborative review games:

Affective Teaching in Action

So here's how we put positive peer pressure into practice:

Students had a quiz over 4 dystopian stories. I plugged the stories into NotebookLM and had it create 10 plot statements for each story (I had to tweak a few). Then, I printed the statements, cut them into separate strips, and mixed them together.

In groups of 4-5, students were given the pile of 40 strips and a 3 step process:

Identify which plot statement goes with which story
Once separated, reorganize each set of plot details into chronological order
Come to consensus on which story is the best example of these rhetorical strategies (each story can only be used once):

Foreshadowing
Juxtaposition
Situational Irony
Pathos

It was so rewarding to hear their conversations, see their collaborations, and know that they were doing some deep cognitive work in the process. The bonus was a typically apathetic student saying, "Can we do this again? This was fun!"

Bonus Strategy: Coin Toss Collab

Here's a related strategy I learned from a teacher in Irvine, CA: Use this small tweak to increase positive peer pressure (and cut your grading in half!)

The Peer Pressure's On!

Now it's your turn. Give one of these three R's a go this week. What could you have students re-order or rank? Which review game could you schedule in?

Channel some positive peer pressure to boost drive. And as always, message me back with your experiences and examples!

With that, I'll see you next week 💪

Your nerd next door,

Chase Mielke