Hello!
My name is Steve Reifman, and I am a National Board Certified elementary school teacher, author, and speaker in Santa Monica, CA.
SteveReifman.com is a resource for elementary school teachers and parents. My mission is to teach the whole child—empowering students to succeed academically, build strong character, learn valuable work habits and social skills, and take charge of their health and wellness.
Blog
Discover over 100 posts filled with teaching tips, links to YouTube videos, and other useful ideas and strategies for teaching the whole child.
Learn More
Teaching Resources
Explore these print books, e-books, courses, and other resources that offer effective, proven ideas and strategies that improve student learning.
Learn More
Chase Manning Mystery Series
Each book in this award-winning mystery series for kids 8-12 features a single-day, real-time thriller that takes place on an elementary school campus.
Learn More
Workshops
Looking for a presenter for your next conference or workshop? Check out these engaging, innovative sessions that address a wide variety of topics.
Learn More
These forces work synergistically to create an environment where quality can flourish. No extrinsic motivators, either alone or in combination, can come close to producing such results. No student has ever been rewarded or punished into excellence. True success comes only when we bring out the very best in our students. And in order for us to bring the best out of our students, we must appeal to the best in them. These forces do just that.
In addition to promoting student desire to engage in specific tasks, these forces benefit a classroom more generally. Collectively, they build morale and enthusiasm for learning, enhance self-esteem, deepen the sense of connection individuals feel to the classroom and to one another, and increase student willingness to put forth sustained effort.
Nurturing Force #1: Purpose
The first of my Eight Essentials for Empowered Teaching and Learning involves establishing a sense of purpose with our students. The effort to establish purpose requires a number of steps, including the introduction of an aim, development of a class mission statement, application of the seven life roles, and creation of personal mission statements. All of these steps have been described either in previous blog posts, previous Teaching Tips, or in my book Eight Essentials for Empowered Teaching and Learning, K-8. Taking these steps helps students find meaning in their work and helps them understand how learning can improve their lives now and in the future. The connection between establishing purpose and intrinsic motivation is a simple one. Students who understand the purposes of their learning are more motivated to learn and more willing to commit themselves to academic pursuits than students who don’t.
For teachers new to this type of approach, helping students understand the purposes of their learning means that we begin new units, new lessons, and new activities by addressing the issue of purpose and explaining why we, as a class, are spending the time doing the things we are doing. Many times, when children ask, “Why do I have to learn this?â€, it is seen as a rude or inappropriate question. I think it’s a terrific question because it shows that children are trying to find meaning in their work and trying to determine the purpose of what teachers are asking them to do. We need to encourage this type of thinking and do everything in our power to make sure that kids understand the purposes of their learning, i.e., how the work may be relevant to them now and how it may be important to them in the future.
Featured Appearances:
