Intrinsic means “belonging to a thing by its very nature; built in.” For a person to be intrinsically motivated to learn means that she wants to learn. It means that the interest and desire to learn comes from within not from outside. It means you are self-motivated.

Do your students feel forced to learn or do they have the intrinsic desire and passion to learn? Well, if your students are anything like the ones I’ve had, they are most often not much interested in learning, especially when they first enter the program. As the old saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make him drink.” Or, can we at least make them thirsty?

Think about what you have learned and what you have excelled at in life. Did you learn it because you were forced to or because you wanted to? You were curious. You cared deeply about an issue or loved learning about a particular topic. You were fascinated and found joy in studying, reading, or experimenting with a topic or issue.

The interest and desire to learn about spiritual truth usually intensifies when a student accepts Christ. But, is there something we can do to create an environment that encourages self-motivation? There have been topics that I had little to no interest in – until I sat under a teacher who caused my curiosity and interest to grow.

We all know that unless the student wants to learn that they will eventually forget almost all of what they hear in a classroom, even if they ace the test. Here is the question. How can we help them want to learn? Discuss this topic in a staff meeting. Think about the teachers that peaked your interest in learning. What can you learn from and apply from them?

In the next few newsletters we will follow-up with some elements that are foundational to creating an environment that encourages self-motivation.

“Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.” — Plato