Motivating students should be a teacher's primary teaching goal. If students are not motivated during class, it not only affects their learning but their classroom discipline issues. Teachers who have a genuine interest in their students, plan lessons using variety and offer students the opportunity to discover learning will generally have a naturally motivating classroom; however, there are resources available when planning how you will motivate your students to learn.

Technology
Allowing students to use technology in the classroom can be a powerful motivator. If you have an interactive whiteboard in your classroom, plan lessons so that students use it, rather than the teacher being the only person to touch it. For end-of-unit projects, encourage students to use slide show presentations, video or podcasts to consolidate their learning.

Video
With the range of online videos available, it is easy to find one that is well-suited to the topic currently being studied in your classroom. Often, teachers save the video until the end of the unit; however, using video at the beginning can be beneficial, too. Showing a video prior to learning can activate students' prior knowledge, and as students learn throughout the unit, they will connect new facts and skills.

Extrinsic Motivators
A teacher's primary goal should be intrinsic motivation--providing engaging learning experiences so that the students genuinely want to learn. However, using extrinsic motivation sparingly can be a strong motivator for some students. One example of extrinsic motivation is to allow the class to have a "party" if students collectively read a certain amount of pages.

Manipulatives
Using manipulatives, particularly in math, is motivating to a wide variety of learners. For example, when working with equations, give students blocks to show the equation instead of writing it. When teaching the concept of time, rather than having students draw clocks on their papers, give them classroom clocks with movable hands. When learning about three-dimensional shapes, have students design the shapes using toothpicks and miniature marshmallows.