Motivation
‘Failure gives you the reason and motivation for success. People who succeed don’t just succeed but they have reasons why they should succeed.’
Often we hear from our parents,teachers,relatives and elders that
‘Study hard!!,this is the only time to score marks’
‘Look at that student (often one of your relative’s child),
she/he is so intelligent!’ ‘What will you do in life if you do not get
good result’?
Look at your brother/sister,learn something from him/her. And so on…
And a student’s reaction to all of this is – Why compare your child to someone else?There may be infinite reasons for unsatisfactory performance of the child.
This is just not an appropriate approach to encourage or motivate a child to study.Students need a reason or reasons for acting or behaving in a particular way.This is called Motivation.If a student is motivated in proper legitimate and effective way,then the results could be prodigious and incredible.
Below are some useful ways to motivate a child to study and perform well:
– Show keenness in your child’s interest
– Help your child to explore and research to select a subject as per his/her interest.
– Provide the child with new and latest types of learning methods.
– Do not teach the child in traditional chalk and board method.
– Celebrate the child’s triumph, be it big or small
– Introduce rewards every time your child does something good.
– Let your child/student participate in class.
– Do not make fun of the child,even if he gives an incorrect answer.
– Communicate and interact with your child.
– It is very important to help the child set his/her goals
– Create a friendly and good enough environment for the child.
– Always promote and use language of appreciation, encouragement and motivation.
– Try to emphasise learning at home.
– Let the child experiment, learn through trial and error and then come to a solution-this will help the child to retain the concept for long.
– Get involved with the child.
– Foster and stimulate curiosity in the child.
– Give prompt and immediate praise to the child.
– Take the child for a field visit related to subject or topic to help him understand the concept in a better way.

Ms Vaneet Kaur is working in G D Goenka Public School,Greater Noida, where she teaches Business studies and Entrepreneurship to the senior classes. She has B Com (Hons) and M Com degrees from the Delhi University, and has also done B Ed and M Phil. Currently she is pursuing Ph d in Commerce and Management. She has won many prizes – foremost among them is the first prize in Inter School Teachers’ Quiz Contest and an award from the former HRD Minister, Smt.Smriti Irani, for excellent class results in Business Studies. She has written many articles for students about how to score good marks and how to prepare for board examinations.