How To Motivate Students Part II



The students from Buffalo Public School #3 were in the National Honor Society
 as well as the YWAP Relationship Mentoring Program.

Weight Lifters Part II

     Lifting weights, jogging, studying, having patience, losing weight are generally not considered easy tasks to undertake. You will struggle willingly to accomplish a goal. These types of struggles could be called "Voluntary Struggles." In our last chapter we talked about lifting emotional weights, in this chapter we will show you how embracing your "Involuntary Struggles" will make you stronger.

     Examining the beauty of the struggles of nature gives us a pretty good clue about how natural our struggles really are. A Mother pushes through her contractions of labor to bring a baby into the world that is unique to all humanity, past, present and future. A butterfly struggles through a metamorphosis that includes being entombed in a cocoon until it emerges as flying eye candy. A diamond is formed under high pressures and high temperatures until it is shaped into jewel of high value. An oyster embraces an irritant and manufactures a pearl. In the eyes of a great Teacher, the student is a pearl of great price. A great Teacher will give everything to see that student succeed. Students need to be shown how their struggles will make them stronger and help them deal with other issues of life.



Students who are motivated become honored as Bright Spots in our society. 



"Cast Aways"

     As weight lifters, we help each other carry our weights as we get stronger. Most students think they are alone and that nobody else shares their particular burden. To help students realize that they are not alone and utilize the power of Positive Peer Influence, we lead them through an exercise called "Cast Aways." It is similar to "Weight Lifters" in the sense that a weight will be lifted. Each student takes a piece of paper and is told to write down the worst thing that they have ever gone through or the worst thing that they are going through now. When they are done, they crumple the paper in to a ball and throw it at the Mentor in the middle of the room. This can be fun if the Mentor plays along as the target (let them try and throw the wad of paper at your mouth, just don't open too wide!) After all of the papers have been thrown, the students are instructed to retrieve a piece of paper making sure it is not their own. After returning to their seats, each student will read their paper out loud. At that point the audience is given the option of identifying themselves as the author of that particular note and expounding on their problem. The other option is for that person to remain anonymous and the class gives answers or comments regarding that issue. As a team, we give supportive answers and we all benefit from collective wisdom.


     Cast Aways and Weight Lifters are relationship building tools. You would not use the same tools in back to back sessions. The first time you use Weight Lifters would be in the beginning of your program as a combination Relationship Builder and an Ice Breaker. Cast Aways would be used in the middle of a semester or whenever the Mentor feels a need to have students unload built up pressures.

How do Weight Lifters and Cast Aways help to motivate students? It's worth repeating from Chapter I:

A student who has learned how to deal

with emotional stress and pressure,

will have more freedom to

focus on academic achievement.

In Our next Chapter we will go into greater detail regarding "Motivation Elevation."