Motivating & Inspiring Students. Robert J. Marzano

      Robert J. Marzano, PhD, is the cofounder and chief academic officer of Marzano Resources in Denver, Colorado. During his forty-nine years in the field of education, he has worked with educators as a speaker and trainer and has authored more than forty books and 250 articles on topics such as instruction, assessment, writing and implementing standards, cognition, effective leadership, and school intervention. His books include The Art and Science of Teaching, Leaders of Learning, The Classroom Strategies Series, A Handbook for High Reliability Schools, Awaken the Learner, Managing the Inner World of Teaching, and Collaborative Teams That Transform Schools. His practical translations of the most current research and theory into classroom strategies are known internationally and are widely practiced by both teachers and administrators. He received a bachelor’s degree from Iona College in New York, a master’s degree from Seattle University, and a doctorate from the University of Washington.

      Darrell Scott is the founder of the Rachel’s Challenge organization. He has spoken to over five million people in live settings around the world and reached millions more through TV channels such as CNN and programs such as The Oprah Winfrey Show, Larry King Live, and The Today Show. He has authored or coauthored numerous books, including Awaken the Learner: Finding the Source of Effective Education, Rachel’s Tears: The Spiritual Journey of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, Rachel Smiles: The Spiritual Legacy of Columbine Martyr Rachel Scott, and Chain Reaction: A Call to Compassionate Revolution, and meets with politicians and educators regularly to discuss issues of school violence.

      Tina H. Boogren, PhD, is a former classroom teacher, English department chair, teacher mentor, instructional coach, professional developer, and athletic coach. She has presented at the school, district, state, and national levels and has been a featured speaker at Barnes and Noble Educators’ Nights and the International Literacy Association Annual Conference. Dr. Boogren was a 2007 finalist for Colorado Teacher of the Year and received the Douglas County School District Outstanding Teacher Award seven years in a row, from 2002 to 2009. In addition to writing articles for the National Writing Project’s The Voice and The Quarterly, she authored Supporting Beginning Teachers and In the First Few Years. She is a contributing author to Richard Kellough’s Middle School Teaching and Robert J. Marzano’s Becoming a Reflective Teacher. Dr. Boogren holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Iowa, a master’s degree with an administrative endorsement from the University of Colorado Denver, and a doctorate from the University of Denver in educational administration and policy studies.

      Ming Lee Newcomb is a coauthor of Teaching Reasoning: Activities and Games for the Classroom. She has experience mentoring groups of students at the high school level and tutoring students at the elementary and postsecondary level. She has published education policy briefs with the National Conference of State Legislatures, served as an editor for Leviathan Magazine, and written articles for the Catalyst Newspaper. She holds a bachelor of arts degree in English with a concentration in fiction writing from Colorado College.

      About Rachel’s Challenge

      Rachel’s Challenge is an organization responsible for a series of empowerment programs and strategies that help students and adults prevent bullying and allay feelings of isolation and despair by creating a culture of kindness and compassion. The programs are based on the writings and life of seventeen-year-old Rachel Scott, the first student killed at Columbine High School in 1999. During her life, Rachel reached out to those who were different, picked on by others, or new at her school. Shortly before her death she wrote, “I have this theory that if one person can go out of their way to show compassion, then it will start a chain reaction of the same. People will never know how far a little kindness can go.” Rachel’s Challenge was founded by Darrell Scott (Rachel’s father) and Sandy Scott (Rachel’s stepmother) when they realized how Rachel’s writings and drawings resonated with her friends and classmates.

      Although Rachel was a typical teenager with ups and downs, she believed that she would someday change the world. The Scott family tells her story to inspire others toward kindness, compassion, and forgiveness. More than twenty million people have been touched by Rachel’s story. Each year, at least three million more are added to that number. In the last several years, Rachel’s Challenge has received hundreds of unsolicited emails from students stating that, after hearing Rachel’s story, they reached out for help as they were contemplating suicide. Some even say that Rachel saved their lives.

      Rachel’s Challenge is a nonprofit, nonpolitical, nonreligious organization based in Littleton, Colorado. By turning the story of a tragic death at Columbine High School into a mission for change, Rachel’s Challenge makes a worldwide impact by helping create safer learning environments for students.

      Motivation and inspiration both contribute to an individual’s personal drive or desire to do something. As such, the motivation and inspiration of students is a topic of discussion among educators at all levels. Over the years, there has been a chorus of calls to recognize the positive effects of motivating and inspiring students in the classroom. Consider the following statements about the need for motivation and inspiration.

      ▸ “Good teachers can inspire students, and effective teachers continue to hone this skill by improving their understanding of student psychology and the culture of the classroom and school” (Colwell & Hewitt, 2016, p. 5).

      ▸ “In a culture obsessed with measuring talent and ability, we often overlook the important role of inspiration. Inspiration awakens us to new possibilities by allowing us to transcend our ordinary experiences and limitations. Inspiration propels a person from apathy to possibility, and transforms the way we perceive our own capabilities. Inspiration may sometimes be overlooked because of its elusive nature…. But as recent research shows, inspiration can be activated, captured, and manipulated, and it has a major effect on important life outcomes” (Kaufman, 2011).

      ▸ “When performance in mathematics was predicted and prior achievement was controlled, motivation but not intelligence contributed to the prediction. Since mathematics performance is often thought to be highly cognitive in nature, the importance of motivation is most interesting. This result is especially important considering the potential malleability of motivation via educational processes. Compared to intelligence or more specific abilities, motivation may be more easily influenced by situational factors, such as salient classroom goals…. Thus, when teachers aim at improving students’ performance, enhancing their motivation might be as important as the conveyance of knowledge” (Steinmayr & Spinath, 2009, p. 88).

      ▸ “Some teachers, those we might call our great teachers, have a knack for moving students up … motivation levels…. Somehow these teachers are able to inspire students to work harder than they were initially inclined to work…. They are the ones who elicit such comments from students as

      ▸ I liked coming to class. I hated being absent.

      ▸ She turned us on to history and made it come alive.

      ▸ I never worked so hard in my life.

      ▸ I didn’t expect to like that class, but I really did.

      We might reasonably conclude, therefore, that it is possible to inspire students to become more fully active learners. Clearly, some teachers manage to do it”