On-Demand
Session
Empowering educators to joyfully fulfill their God-given calling
2 Powerful Methods to Motivate Your Students
with Dave Stuart Jr.
Motivating our students can feel like an uphill battle. Do they even want to learn? Dave Stuart Jr. firmly believes they do, and that you really can help motivate your students! In this session he shares how to use Mini-Sermons and Moments of Genuine Connection to cultivate student motivation. These methods will help you connect with your students and help your students catch the vision for why learning, school, and your class are important to them.
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About Dave Stuart Jr.
Dave Stuart Jr. has taught secondary English and social studies for nearly twenty years, most of which have been in Cedar Springs, MI, where he builds a life with his family. His blog, DaveStuartJr.com, is read by tens of thousands of educators each month, and his bestselling books These 6 Things and The Will to Learn have been cherished by teachers and leaders around the world. As a practicing teacher himself, Dave seeks to create PD experiences that are meaningful, encouraging, and actionable, and he's led PD hundreds of times both overseas and in nearly every US state.
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Dordt University is a Christian university located in Iowa that seeks to equip students to work effectively toward Christ-centered renewal in all areas of life. Dordt offers a Master of Education, Master of Special Education, and Master of Arts in Teaching—all taught 100 percent online and from a Christian perspective. Dordt is known for its affordable and engaging online master’s programs and excellent faculty. Dordt is also home to 1,500 undergraduate students with more than 88 percent living on campus. Students can choose from over 40 programs of study, and education is one of the largest majors.
Dordt University also runs the Center for the Advancement of Christian Education (CACE) which serves as a Christian education resource for schools, churches, families, and professionals.
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This vibrant, quick-reference guide highlights the six pillars of the Science of Reading and provides practical tips to support effective learning in each area. Keep it by your desk or with your lesson plans to help students thrive and become confident, capable readers.
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This was so encouraging. I loved the ending reminder to see teaching as a blessing and opportunity for the Lord to make us more like Jesus.
I realized that my zeal for the institution of school was dimmed by focusing on the deficits and I will be praying asking the Lord to embrace this high calling of teaching and to share the value and beauty of learning with care, competence and passion for the glory of God!
I like the idea of Moments of Genuine Connection (MGC) and tracking these moments. That truly is life changing and can make a huge difference in our relationships with students. Also, the mini-sermon concept to briefly give a rationale for the certainty and worthwhile value of our work, and why it matters in life. Definitely will be working on how to incorporate this in my craft. Looking forward to connecting with Dave on his newsletter as well. Thank you for this great session.
I appreciated these ideas for short intentional interactions with students in order to motivate them not just in the short term but over the long term of their educational journey. This advice is meant to be cumulative and transformative in nature.
Students want to be seen, heard, and valued. It is important for adults to show them they see them, hear them and value them. This can be incorporated into routines, like greetings at the door, one-on-one check ins during work time. I liked keeping a checklist so that you can hit all students. Also, I learned that students want to know why to what they are learning. We can help them by instilling a 30 to 60 second why message. This is something we can all do is speak they why to show the value.
This is great and just a reminder to be mindful of what my students are going through good and bad. I want to be more intentional of getting to know them and bring smiles into the classroom.
Important takeaway for me is that I need to remember to be joyful about what and why I teach. It will be contagious.
Loved this presentation about the side et models and strategies!
Thank you.
I have always tried to make connections with my students, but I realize now that I need to be more intentional about it and not leave anyone out. I truly enjoyed this session, and I already receive messages from Dave, and they are such a blessing.
Wow! That was awesome! My key takeaway is that I need to be more intentional about connecting with my students to show them that I value them as individuals that God created. Then, I will have more equity in their eyes to be the teacher they need me to be.
I enjoyed his presentation about MGC and his book, The Will to learn.
Such great ideas he has and I also receive his emails! So glad I have learned and continue to learn from Dave Stuart Jr.
Such good advice to connect with students. This is the area that is really conflicting for me- I spend 75 percent of my time focusing on that 25 percent of students who are high demand either educationally or behaviorally and I want to flip that. It’s not fair to the 75 percent who need and deserve my attention. Thank you!
Key Takeaway: Track moments of genuine connection and make sure that you are connecting with even the compliant students.
This was a great session! The example of students pressing the mental “garage door” button will stick with me for a long time!
I love the idea of mini sermons. It would look different in the primary grades, but is so important to build the foundation of the importance of education.
Dave Stuart Jr.’s sessions are always must-watch for me during the summit. This time, two things stuck out:
1) Presenting an apology (in the apologist sense) for education as a whole, including that it’s grounded in God creating us to be learners and not downloaders
2) Tracking moments of genuine connection
Thanks!
Mmmm… learners not downloaders. Yes.
Thanks for the tip on mini lessons often. It lets kids know the importance of learning without seeming like a lecture.
This session was really good and a wonderful reminder of the importance of making sure students feel connected as teachers help them to feel valued and to value education even more.
I am a firm supporter of Moments of Genuine Connection being essential for the teacher to do for students. The results in this is so amazing that you cannot even imagine how much of a difference it helps students to see the classroom as a place of belonging and safety.
Love, mini-sermons, keeping them brief to 30-60 seconds. Students will tune out the teacher if it goes any longer. We want to get to the point but keep it enjoyable. I have never heard of the apologist, winsome, and sure method when it comes to the teacher, but what a powerful way to see that connection.
The tracker was an awesome idea, because I have not thought of that to keep up with students I share those MGC’s with and those who I may have missed. Also, love the competition for colleagues to do with the index card, this will motivate teachers to see the importance of helping students make connections and value education better.
Thank you for this session!
I love the idea of “mini sermons” about the importance of the learning. I’ll be working on joyful, confident responses to this question.
Also the MGC for a few students is better than not at all. It seemed like a daunting task, so you gave some reassurance to taking time to let the kids know they are seen. Thanks.
Thank you for sharing those tips on motivating. I have been praying about ways to motivate my 4th graders. They have been used to a different approach and do not like the new curriculum. I have been trying to have talks with them, but I think I go too long. I felt God telling me I’m talking too much in these moments, and this is just confirmation about that. A few years ago, a parent that started going to my church said something that has stuck with me. She said that Jesus taught with parables. I can see this being part of the 60 second sermon.
The whole session was good and very encouraging. If enough teachers became better apologists for learning, maybe we could put a dent in the core crisis in American education. I loved how you ended by asking God, how do you want to use teaching this year to sanctify me? I will be asking him and remembering this calling is a blessing even when it is hard. Praying for you and thank you for sharing and motivating us to motivate our students.
I need to get back to inviting God to partner with me in my teaching plans. His plan is much better than ours and He knows what I students need more than we do.
Stephani, thank you for your prayers. I have the same feeling in my soul that this work could put a dent in the core crisis in American education. And I think you’re right in saying that that’s what this is.
This was a fantastic session. I found all of it to be so helpful and confirming. I don’t mean to sound arrogant in any way (all glory to God alone 1 Cor. 10:31!), but I have to say that based on student and family testimony, I have had a very successful teaching career. However, now I can pinpoint why, thanks to Dave’s excellent insight and vocabulary. I am a naturally mini-sermon guy; now I just need the vocabulary. Thank you! Secondly, that pyramid is amazing. I’m eager to share this with my Spiritual formation team. As the head of the department, I know this info will be a game-changer for us. God’s grace and peace to you.
Patrick, I have often thought of the ways the pyramid applies to our motivation in pursuing Jesus and practicing the new life. Be in touch as you explore in the directions you are describing as I’d love to hear how it goes.
The Rainbow of Why (which was only briefly mentioned) is a beautiful resource.
Love the mini sermons!
I appreciated when Dave said “Something is a lot more than nothing.” It was a good reminder that doing just a little goes a long way with the students, the key is that we really do care for our students and are intentional about letting them see that.
I really liked the simplicity of the Moments of Genuine Connection – they don’t have to be extensive yet they do make students feel seen and valued. I have done simple things like this but appreciate the encouragement to make a pointed effort to do it with each student and make this a part of every day. The mini sermons are ingenious! I have given small “lectures/talks” about the importance of a subject or school but the format of making it 30-60 seconds in an apologetic, winsome, and sure manner is very good and I am excited to put this into practice. I am grateful that these motivators seem quite simple and doable, not some big additional task to add to my day.
These are such great, simple strategies to intentionally connect with students and demonstrate why what you are teaching them is important. I will immediately start doing this in my classroom! Thanks Dave and Linda!
Showing the joy of what I’m teaching–so good!
Excellent session! One wonderful takeaway for me was being an apologist winsome and sure. I like the mini sermon concepts for scattering seeds. We must use our moments wisely!
I have used these two methods of motivating students before, but never thought about tracking the number of students I make an MGC with or the number of mini-sermons I give about the relevance of my class.
Denise, that’s a great comment — I find that most teachers DO these things but don’t keep track or quantify or increase the quantity. There’s such a need for many many repetitions of these two strategies. For Christians these two strategies can become a kind of spiritual discipline or a liturgy.
What a fantastic session! Dave has a great “teacher voice”: calm, clear, slow enough to follow, and easy to engage with. I got so much from this session: tips that are clear, realistic, and actionable.
Rhapsody thank you for sharing and I am so grateful it helped.
Oh my goodness, this was so good! My biggest takeaway was that it is so important to intentionally and regularly speak to my students about the importance of learning in a way that is winsome, joyful and confident. Just expecting them to come in motivated to learn is not realistic. I love how Dave continually pointed us to the Lord for perspective, truth and strength. Thank you so much!
Lori, I’m so glad and grateful for you sharing that this helped. -Dave