Questions, Questions: Part 1

A large portion of one of the classes I am currently taking revolves around our time spent placed in a local high school.  For five hours each week I observe and participate in a classroom with high school Juniors and Seniors.  With respect to everyone's privacy, the name of the school, students, and teachers will be left out.  For an assignment, we had to act as a 'participant observer' to further explore an aspect of the school that interested, confused, or concerned us.  I decided to interview my host teacher and some of our students regarding questions I had about motivation.

The reason I chose the topic of motivation, and how it is fostered, is two-fold.  First, the atmosphere regarding motivation and enthusiasm about schoolwork was very different at this school than anywhere I had personally attended or observed.  To me, many of the students were not passionate about school or interested in their classes.  Having worked and tutored in mostly urban schools prior to this placement, this attitude was not completely new to me.  High School is a difficult time for students for a host of different reasons. Unfortunately, popularity and personal issues often get in the way of education.  That being said, the students at the school I am currently placed at were very different to me.  There seemed to be a greater deal of apathy and disinterest than at other schools.  In an urban setting, there are great amounts of passion, it is just usually not placed towards school.  At my current placement, students didn't seem moved one way or another.  They showed up because they 'had' to and for no other reason.  The second reason I chose this is because, as a teacher, it is the aspect of classroom management that scares me most.  How do I encourage students and convince them how important education is?

To keep my own thoughts organized, I plan on completing this analysis in three parts.  This first entry being my intentions and thought process, the second will be about my discussion with my host teacher, and the third will be about my interview with students.  Hopefully I can shed some light on this complicated issue.