Motivation

Braden wants to become a professional snow mobiler so others will admire him.

Preslie wants to be an accountant because she likes working with numbers.

Jorden wants to become an actress because she thinks acting is fun.

Kyle wants to be a veterinarian because he loves animals and wants to help them.

Aaron works hard in his classes because his parents have promised to buy him a car if he gets at least a 3.5 grade-point-average this year.

Melissa loves to play the viola and so she practices for at least an hour every day.

Tammy Lyn takes physics because she wants to become an engineer and make a lot of money.

Alyssa does her math homework faithfully every night because she likes her teacher and wants to please him.

Mr. MacNeil reminds students in his class on automobile repair that a good auto mechanic can always find a job.

Ms. Newton writes in the margin of Tamara’s paper that she needs to work to improve her spelling.

Ms. Chang offers a bag of popcorn to the group of students that finishes its cooperative group project first.

Ms. Downey tells Kristin that her research report was excellent and that she should be very proud of the job she did.

Have each student read a different character’s lines when the class is reading the play Our Town.

Show students a scientific phenomenon that is not what they would expect to happen given their existing beliefs about the world.

Tell students that occasional failures are probably due to circumstances beyond their control.

Ask students to imagine what it must have been like to live in medieval England.

Brandy has just gotten an A on her final exam in world history and is feeling very grateful to the teacher for her good grade.

Sabrina has just gotten a good grade on her geography test. She is proud that she did so well and glad that she studied hard.

Richard has just gotten a good grade on his math test and he is glad that his mother got him a math tutor.

Kyle’s teacher has just told him that he will be the group leader for his reading group next quarter. Kyle is glad his teacher is in a good mood today.

Peyton tells herself that she is getting low grades in math because, like her mom, she just is not any good at math.

Cory believes he is having trouble in music because he has been absent the last two weeks. He knows he will have to work extra hard to catch up to his class.

Tyler tells himself that he failed the last history test because the substitute teacher constructed a bad test. He expects to do better when his regular teacher returns from maternity leave.

Maya thinks that she was the last one to be chosen for the baseball team because she had not been practicing enough. She vows to do better next time.

Ms. Browning asks her third graders to develop some class rules to ensure that all class members will have a chance to express their ideas openly.

Mr. Elliot reminds his students that they cannot participate in the extracurricular sports program if their grade-point-averages fall below 2.0.

Mr. Diaz gives his students enough practice with basic arithmetic facts that they learn them to a level of automaticity.

Mr. Crowell explains to his middle school students why good writing skills are important in the business world.

Sarah is pretty sure she can learn if she tries.

Lee's older brother almost drowned last year.

Abi's parents promise her a new bike if she can learn.

Antonio plays for hours on end in the bathtub.

Krista thinks her teacher asked her to play too hard a piece.

Bryanna is afraid of how embarrassed she will be if she makes a mistake.

Brittney takes piano lessons mainly because her parents insist that she does.

Charlene thinks she can impress her friends by playing well.