I agree with Meggie in that I like to use positive classroom management and make it known when one or more students are doing a really great job. This usually causes the other students to also want recognition or to please the teacher and they too get on task.
Besides that, another motivator I have found is turing lessons into games or activities. If students think what they are doing is a like a game or a challenge activity it seems to get them more motivated to want to participate. I turned what could have been a dull social studies lesson into something really fun by using magic ink on the Promethean broad and challenging students to come up with the same summary sentences that I did while reading certain sections in their books. Students were very excited to get to come up to the board to "reveal" the secret answers. Also, for math class I found an Algebra game online and made game boards to use in class. Students played the game on Thursday and were very engaged the whole hour. Students were essentially practicing solving two-step algebraic equations, but were having fun because they were playing the game Sequence against their partner.
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