Motivation is fundamental to learning. Bottom line, without motivation and guidance, students won't succeed academically. Yet motivation is often seen as a nice extracurricular activity if the budget allows – as in, "Hire a motivational speaker for a day to fix these kids."

You love children. A parent and/or expert in your field, you're committed to their education and overall development. So why has motivating your students felt like an exercise in futility?

Motivation is seldom a part of our pedagogy, curriculum, and lesson plans. There's little focus on student motivation in No Child Left Behind. In our daily communications and relations with young people, where's the motivation?

You've heard the gloom and doom news reports about our students clowning in class, dropping out in droves (50 to 70% of students in some populations), indulging in risky behaviors, and lagging behind their global peers in reading and math.

Our children have the brain power to become academic superstars and compete on the global stage. What's going on?

In our travels around the country, we hear the same complaints:

"Our students aren't motivated to do their homework, get good grades, and behave in class."

"They don't seem to value education at all."

"All my students seem to want to do is...." You fill in the blank.

A different kind of student

Back in the day, youth culture was bound to a brick and mortar school or enjoyed among friends in a specific community.

Today's young people are unique. Thanks to technology, never before has a generation been so connected in time and space. A new dance, rap tune, or fashion invented in Chicago can become a bonified global fad at lightning speed in Los Angeles, Tokyo, and Lagos.

To empower this unique generation to succeed in school and life, we, the members of the village, must acquire new knowledge, skills, and tools. We need a new mindset, a new attitude.

Our students need our old school wisdoms and knowledge – but the way we deliver them must change. We, the village, must catch up to our children ... or we'll lose them. We can't let that happen.

Improving academic performance

It will take nothing less than a full-scale, interdisciplinary campaign, using both traditional and out-of-the-box research and methods, to improve students' academic performance and attitudes.

In Motivate2Educate-K12.com, we use the same problem-based approach many of you use in your classrooms. In other words, how can character education, student leadership, lesson planning, curriculum development, learning styles, classroom management, and last but not least, pedagogy, be used to enhance student motivation?

In addition to letting students out of class to listen to a speaker once in a while, motivation should be incorporated into every activity, every program, and every one-on-one interaction with students. These are golden opportunities to get students fired up about learning!

What we know

Village, huddle up. In many ways, the digital divide is the generation gap, but we can close the gap with the information offered in Motivate2Educate-k12.com.

We may not be as technically savvy as our children, but we still have the edge on wisdom and knowledge. Here's what we know and must pass on to our students:

• Education is still the best game in town. A diploma and degree can lift students up out of poverty.
• Academic mastery develops self-esteem in students.
• In a high tech global society, knowledge and information equal power. School is still the best place to learn about math, science, geography, history, the arts, literature, technology, and more.
• Knowledge gained in the classroom can transform students into positive change agents.
• Being a self-motivated student means being a lifelong learner beyond graduation.

Motivation central

We pray you'll find the strategies, tips, tools, and products offered in Motivate2Educate-k12.com highly useful in your work with students. Our goal is to help you help students bring out their genius and potential. Think of us as your personal coach.

At HMC we are blessed to be part of an international network of educators, service providers, parents, faith-based institutions, and student leaders, all of whom are dedicated to improving schools and communities.

Consider this a personal invitation to join the team! Share what has worked (or what hasn't worked) in your classroom or in your work with students, and we'll spread the word. We're especially interested in developing an archive of case studies featuring motivation as an integral part of education. Drop us a note at HMC4Kids@aol.com.

In the words of our fearless leader, Alfred "Coach" Powell, "We're in it to win it!"