A motivation can be verbal from other individual or can be by
fulfilment of the needs he or she have. Motivation gives an individual the
power of hundreds of elephants to tackle all the challenges life throws at you.
Motivation has been studied by psychologists since the early
1970’s. Any action of human beings needs motivation. A motivated person does
his or her activity properly. When we talk about the children, who are the
future of our country or say the ambassadors of world peace, they need
motivation for learning as well. Even we need motivation at times to finish a
task or to learn something new. This motivation is the central factor in the
process of learning. It brings out the interest of an individual to learn.
Motivation is the crucial factor in classroom management; it affects learning
and the behaviour of students.
The term motivation originated from a Latin word motum, which
means motion. Motivation arouses the interest in learning and doing something.
By doing something unusual and learning continuously we become more wise and
humble in our life. Motivation is the inner state of arousal which energises
the individual to act on the goal attainment. Motivation works at the level of
subconscious mind and help individual adapt to things faster.
To further understand the concept of motivation let me quote an
example of two situations.
Situation 1: A person surrounded with negativities.
Situation 2: A person supported by people with positivity.
Let’s discuss both the situations:
In situation 1, the
person is surrounded with negativities. People who are too judgemental. People
who de-motivates the individual, who back bite him and finally causes him to
feel insecure. What do you feel, isn’t motivation an important need that
affects an individual so much? Consider situation 2, the person is supported by
people with positivity. People who are positive and have good attitude towards
things will help each other and build each other. Finally motivating and
strengthening each other and finally leading to a much better society. We need
to understand the fact that we want leaders for our growing economy, we need
leaders who will bring world peace and join the nations. Every individual and
his or her actions and behaviour affects the society, nation, world and the
universe. We all are a part and parcel of it.
Now imagine a situation where we are talking about children in
this context, tiny little creatures taking so much of negativity. They cannot
even express the pain due to lack of words and maturity at that age. It is
important to understand that the first contact of the child i.e. the parents,
grandparents, relatives and maids at home and then the second contact of the
child i.e. the teachers, principal, peers etc. Everyone matters in the process
of growth of an individual and children as whole. Children are like sponges.
Whatever you speak before them, they just absorb.
Maslow
(1971) argued that a humanistic educational approach would develop people who
are “stronger, healthier, and would take their own lives into their hands to a
greater extent. With increased personal responsibility for one’s personal life,
and with a rational set of values to guide one’s choosing, people would begin
to actively change the society in which they lived”.
In today’s scenario we are complicating the situation with extra
case towards the children. It is true that motivation, love and affection are
important but with that over flooding the needs, will lead to a difficult
situation. Parents should keep a proper gateway to the needs that are being
provided to a child. Every human has to struggle finally in his or her life to
achieve whatever he or she wants. We are making their life so easy and simple
thinking its care and concern. But during harsh time, when they face a problem
or a challenge they are becoming handicapped literally and giving up or ending
their lives.
Think about the same
child, who fought for 9 months in the womb of his or her mother just gave
up...….
Giving up is very easy in life, what is to be taught is to find
ways to fight back and to stand strong; these are the life skills which need to
be taught to the children. It has a greater impact when taught by parents than
the teachers. To teach the children that we need to be like water. Flexible
like water, attaining the shape of a container. Teach the child to adapt to whatever
situation lies before. Being a parent or teacher the best advice we can give to
a child is, move ahead I am with you!! What more does he or she needs than
motivation.
On the same contrary
correcting the child is also very important but positively without comparing
the child, without being too judgemental recollecting the odds of past. Every
child is unique, different and special. Once we understand this fact, that
makes the child unique and special from others, handling the child becomes very
easy. We can make a child do anything and everything, the only point is to find
the unique factor and the proper direction to be given.
Abraham Maslow (1954) had developed a hierarchical order of
needs from physiological to self-actualization needs. Maslow’s theory is also
known as ‘Self-actualization Theory’.
Maslow classified the needs starting from the basic survival or
lower order needs to higher order needs. They are Physiological needs, Safety
needs, Love or belongingness needs, Esteem needs, Cognitive needs, Aesthetic
needs and Self-actualization needs. Maslow says that these needs can be
arranged in a hierarchy. A man is never satisfied by all his needs. If one need
is satisfied another need will arise and it is a human tendency.
I even want my audiences to understand the fact that we cannot satisfy
any individual 100%. Don’t stress so much upon yourself, rather do things that
make you happy at first place or fulfil your needs and make you feel motivated.
Going back to Maslow’s Theory:
Maintenance needs: The first four needs such as physiological
needs, safety needs, love or belongingness needs and esteem needs are
considered to be maintenance needs or motives. These needs are strong and are
recurring. They become very strong, when they are denied. These needs basically
are granted or denied by external factors.
Growth needs: The other three needs cognitive, aesthetic need
and self-actualization needs are considered to be growth needs and they spring
and bloom from within. They are mild and continuing. They grow strong if
fulfilled. With respect to children, maintenance needs should be satisfied
among students when they are educated. Growth needs should be made realized of
by teachers to students for their benefit and future goal accomplishment.
In the hierarchy if the first need is satisfied the next becomes
dominant and reaches self-actualization need, which is the highest level of
functioning. Let’s discuss each need briefly.
1. Physiological Needs: These are the most potent of all and are
the basic needs required for the existence of an individual. These needs are
also called as biological needs. Need for food, water, oxygen, rest, sleep,
elimination of wastes from body is fundamental for the survival of the
individual.
2. Safety Needs: Once the physiological needs are granted, these
needs become dominant. It includes security and order. E.g. when the child goes
to the school for the first time, he/she weeps and cries of losing the safety.
3. Love or Belongingness Needs: These needs emphasize the
gregarious nature of human. Everybody has a desire to love and to be loved. It
helps in motivating the individual and maintains a pleasant and happy relationship
with others.
4. Esteem Needs: It means prestige, social status, reputation,
self-esteem, self-respect and self-regard. Every individual wants to look high
in the eyes of the others. One feels hurt, if his/her self-respect is injured. Esteem
need also include an individual’s achievement. Every individual manifests the
need for achievement. The achievement of an individual depends upon his talent
and the environment.
When a child enters a school, the most important thing for
him/her is to overcome the emotional pain which he/she experiences. Providing
him/her with food and safety will satisfy him/her partially. Love, care and
belongingness of a very higher order which can replace the emotional pain that
the child is experiencing can do wonders..... Curriculum makers need to give
that extra space to child to settle first. Once the child becomes teacher’s
pet, to mould the child is not difficult. This logic applies to all the
schools, colleges, universities and professionals as well. Time can settle
things in a better manner than unnecessary hush and rush.
5. Cognitive Needs: It includes knowledge, understanding, curiosity,
exploration, need for meaning and predictability.
6. Aesthetic Needs: Aesthetic needs mean appreciation of beauty and
order of things or arrangement of things appropriately. Every one derives
pleasure in appreciation of beauty, music and nature. E.g. poets.
7. Self-actualization Needs: Self actualization means maximum
development of an individual, whatever he or she is capable of. It means to
fulfil one individual’s nature in all its aspects. A self-actualizer is free
from all the restrains of a society and wants to attain perfection in all the
aspects of the life. It is the highest need. For Maslow,
a person is always 'becoming' and never remains static in these terms. It’s
actually a dynamic process. In
self-actualization, a person comes to find a meaning to life that is important
to them. In this stage they try to challenge the reason for their
existence. As each individual is unique, the motivation for self-actualization
leads people in different directions (Kenrick et al., 2010). For some people
self-actualization can be achieved through creating works of art or literature,
for others through sport, in the classroom situation, or within a corporate
setting.
8. Transcendence Needs: When an individual helps others to reach
self-actualization. Person is so much motivated by values which transcends beyond
the personal self. E.g. service to others.
Every individual is capable and has the desire to move up the
hierarchy towards a level of self-actualization. Unfortunately, progress is
often disrupted by a failure to meet lower level needs. Life experiences, challenges
and loss, may cause a person to fluctuate between the levels of the hierarchy. Therefore,
not everyone will move through the hierarchy in a one-directional manner but
may move back and forth between the different types of needs.
Before
a student's cognitive needs can be met, they must first fulfil their basic
physiological needs. E.g. a hungry student will find it difficult to focus on learning.
Students need to feel emotionally and physically safe and accepted within the
classroom to progress and reach their full potential. For effective learning all these
needs are to be satisfied. It is the responsibility of the teachers to check
with the students whether all these needs are satisfied for the smooth running
of the class.
Students must be shown that they are valued and respected in the
classroom, and the teacher should create a supportive environment. Students
with a low self-esteem will not progress academically at an optimum rate until
their self-esteem is strengthened. Earlier there were fewer numbers of schools;
now a day’s every street has one. Selecting proper school that really caters
the needs of the child is mandatory, it is not important whether it is a well
equipped branded school or a normal school. In this hi-tech generation, parents
are so busy with their jobs and lives that they are just sending the child to
school without proper understanding of what are his or her needs.
Parents have huge expectations from the tiny creatures, who are just
settling. I have heard stories from my personal involvement with parents
saying, “As a child, I and my husband did wonders, don’t know why my child is
so?” Growth, development and maturity happen at different levels for each
individual. Today a slow learner or a back bencher or a weak student can be
tomorrow’s brilliant scientist, world leader or can be a great human. We should
stop judging and start accepting the uniqueness. The same thing applies for
individuals around the world.
Love humans without conditions or judgement. The more you judge people;
your mind will start accepting the negativities and slowly the subconscious
mind will make a wrong picture in your mind which can’t be corrected.
It is very easy to speak lies about someone and imagine very hard
for that someone to prove himself back. So make life easy for others. Bloom
with positivity!!
May God bless you all!
Thank You,
Srividya Gurugubilly.
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