From Slavin (2009): "What makes a student want to learn? The willingness to put effort into learning is a product of many factors, ranging from the student's personality and abilities to characteristics of particular learning tasks, incentives for learning, settings, and teacher behaviors" (p. 296).

"Psychologists define motivation as an internal process that activates, guides, and maintains behavior over time. In plain language, motivation is waht gets you going, keeps you going, and determines where you're trying to go" (p. 297).

"Sometimes, one type of motivation clearly determines behavior; at other times, several motivations are influential" (p. 298).

Careful of "learned helplessness: The expectation, based on experience, that one's actions will ultimately lead to failure" (p. 307). Learned helplessness can be related to internal, stable explanations for failure (I am stupid, so I fail and always will), or from an "inconsistent, unpredictable use of rewards and punishments by parents or teachers - a pattern that can lead students to believe that there is little they can do to be successful" (p. 307).

Anxiety can also affect achievement and motivation. "The main source of anxiety in school is the fear of failure and, with it, loss of self-esteem" (p. 311). "Anxious students might have difficulty learning in the first place, difficulty using or transferring knowledge they do have, and difficulty demonstrating their knowledge on tests. Anxious students are likely to be overly self-conscious in performance settings, a feeling that distracts attention from the task at hand" (p. 311-312). To help anxiety, create an accepting, comfortable and noncompetitive classroom environment, and give students time to improve their work or correct errors before submitting it (p. 312).