READING ASSIGNMENT 2

MOTIVATING STUDENTS TO BECOME INDEPENDENT LEARNERS

Teacher should be a busy ma in term of providing valuable clues about how a child learns and to enable each child to learn in the way that suits them best. Formal examinations are often a key part of this process and for many national plus and international schools in Indonesia.
However, the challenge for schools, particularly those that offer a combination of Indonesian national curriculum and international programs, is not only to guide and motivate students to be successful in these various examinations but to inspire them to become independent learners who love learning for its own sake.
While the process toward independent learning begins during the earliest years of childhood, independence becomes especially significant as students rise to meet the challenges of the secondary phase of their school education.
When we consider the school world as a fundamental of the real world with all its opportunities and challenges, it becomes clear that children must be equipped with a range of skills that not only enable them to do their best in formal examinations at school but also to do their best academically, socially and emotionally, in college, university or whatever their chosen career or life path beyond school may be.
When teachers provide a caring, stimulating and challenging learning environment, encourage curiosity and creativity while enabling students to recognize both their strengths and weaknesses, giving them confidence to undertake new challenges, motivation will be achieved by, of course, support from their parents.
In short, the student's motivation to learn is connected to three life goals. The first of these is "personal maturity", which is supported by a school's commitment to character building. The second is, "Loving relationships and family", which is cultivated by facilitation of parental involvement in a school's academic objectives. The third life goal is "contribution to society"; this is modeled by community service activities and creative school projects in conjunction with business, government, and the media and community agencies.