Motivating Materials
Development
Brian Tomlinson
Question:
What motivates teachers?
The answer is MORE.
Money
Opportunities
Response
Energy
Money
1 From promotion
2 From commercial
opportunities
Opportunities
1 Of increased job satisfaction
2 Of increased recognition
3 Of career advancement
Response
1 From their students
2 From their colleagues
3 From their ‘bosses’
Energy
1 For themselves
2 For their students
Question:
How can teachers get MORE?
Answer:
From developing materials for their
students.
The best way to motivate teachers is
to:
Stimulate and help them to develop
materials to motivate their students.
Example 1 – Task Free Activities
1 The teacher ‘performs’ a story, joke,
poem, scene from a play, personal
anecdote, news item etc.
2 The teacher leaves a short silence.
3 There are no questions or tasks.
4 The students take a written copy if the
text has engaged them.
Example 2 – The Text-Driven
Approach
Preparation
Develop a library of potentially
engaging texts.
Developing a Unit
• Select a text which is likely to
engage the target learners.
• Experience the text yourself.
• Reflect on your experience of the
text.
Readiness Activity
Develop a readiness activity which
aims to activate the minds of the
learners in relation to the
topic/theme/location of the text.
Experiential Activity
Develop an activity which aims to
help the learners to respond multidimensionally whilst experiencing
the text.
Initial Response Activity
Develop an initial response activity
which aims to help the learners to
deepen and articulate their
personal responses to the text.
Development Activity 1
Design a development activity
which aims to stimulate the
learners to create their own text
relating to the core text they have
experienced.
Input Response Activity
Develop an input response activity
which aims to deepen the learners’
understanding of the core text
and/or to help them to discover
how the writer has used language
to achieve effect.
Development Activity 2
Direct the learners to return to the
text they have developed and to
make use of their discoveries to
improve it.
Conclusion
The main message to all teachers
is:
Motivate yourself to motivate
your students.