Timing Race

This semester I have had several students who have struggled to get their work done in class. They would all begin their assignments strong, and then as a minute or so would pass, they would slowly become bored with their assignment, and it seemed like I was pulling teeth to try and get them to finish their assignments. Something that I found to be helpful with all of these students, was to make time goals with them and turn it into a race. I would say things like, "I bet you can't finish the next five problems in three minutes!" Instantly after saying this, these students would work to prove me wrong and show me that they could do it. It was amazing how well this worked for these students. On some occasions, I would say things like, "Awe man! You were so close! Let's try it again and see if you finish this time." That seemed to help motivate the students to try harder. Other times, I wouldn't come back to the students desk for another five minutes, when I told them that I didn't think they could do it in three minutes. Sometimes in that case, I would still pretend that the student beat the clock and act very amazed that they had proved me wrong. All in all, I have really enjoyed doing this with several of the non-compliant students in my classes. I feel that it is a great motivator as well as a wonderful positive for the students. Especially the ones who feel like they are never good at anything.