by Holly Smith
Lloyd: How ya doin’ Miss Evans?
Miss Evans: You missed every one of your career counseling sessions. Call me obsessive-compulsive, but let’s do this right now.
Lloyd: No way.
Miss Evans: Lloyd.
Lloyd: What?
Miss Evans: I got statistics I can show you, I got graphs I can show you. That’s all the stuff I can show you, it all says the same thing. You have to decide on a career.
Lloyd: My dad’s a lieutenant colonel in the army, he wants me to join, he wants to pull some strings. I mean, there’s no possible way.
Miss Evans: We’ll just make an appointment for you at Seattle Junior College.
Lloyd: Yep. I’m not going to go to Seattle Junior College. I mean, I’ve gotta be honest with you, I’m not looking for that, I’m looking for something bigger, you know? I’m looking for a dare to be great situation.
Miss Evans: Lloyd, everybody in that party put something down on their record except you.
Lloyd: How many people really know what they want though? I mean, a lot of them think that they have to know, right? But inside, they don’t really know, so, I don’t know. But, I know that I don’t know.
Miss Evans: Hang tough, Lloyd.
I always remember this scene in Say Anything. First, I remember being appalled that a school counselor was attending a graduation keg party. But, more than that, I remember watching bemusedly as Lloyd Dobler tripped his way through this conversation, revealing himself to be an unmotivated high school graduate who was okay with knowing how disengaged he was from his life. It was clever writing and acting that carried Lloyd through the movie to fly off in the end as the hero. And, even then, he was flying off to support his girlfriend’s future, linking his to hers with no sign of his own direction...other than East.
Unfortunately for teachers, you don’t have witty writers telling the story of your students, nor do you have merely one “Lloyd Dobler”. Unmotivated students are a growing problem; and, unlike this movie, you want to reach them prior to graduation. How can you reach these students? Let’s start by identifying them.
Unmotivated students exhibit similar characteristics. They can be disorganized, forgetful, or just plain passive. Maybe they are hyperactive or aggressive. Sometimes unmotivated students are your rebellious students who show repeated signs of resentment about everything. They may also appear withdrawn or lonely. Believe it or not, an unmotivated student can also hide behind a mask of perfectionism. You are probably conducting a mental inventory of your students and pulling out names that show these signs. Maybe you have a list larger than you’d like. Maybe, at times, you even fall into one of these categories. Now what do you do?
There are many ways you can increase motivation within your students (and yourself). Most important on the list, creating a climate that values learning is key. If the things you’re teaching aren’t valued and presented in such a way that your students can see the importance, that knowledge will never become a part of your students’ learning experience.
Other methods to help students find motivation are:
- Celebrating success daily
- Emphasizing what the students are learning rather than their performance
- Making lessons interesting and relevant
- Linking learning to students’ interests
- Applying learning to the students’ futures
- Offering students choices and opportunities for autonomy and creativity
- Keeping presentations alive by adding variety to routines
- Mixing learning styles
- Finding ways students can interact
“Hang tough, Lloyd.”
References
Brooks, James. L; Germain, Paul; Marks, Richard; and Platt, Polly (Producers) & Crowe, Cameron (Director). (1989). Say Anything [Motion Picture]. Century City, CA: 20th Century Fox.
Snobarger, Amanga. (2007). Motivating the Unmotivated Student. Presented at a Regional Workshop for School Counselors for the Indiana Department of Education.
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