“Binder’s Reminders” for Classroom Motivation

 “Binder’s Reminders” for Classroom Motivation

Recall and write a quick story from your teaching career related to each corresponding letter of the LIGHTBULBS acronym. On days when you feel unmotivated, re-read those notes as a reminder of the value you bring to the classroom while enriching student lives.

Listen to all learners

            My Reminder: Open mind to open-note exams

Your Story Reminder:

Inspire students with real world discussions

            My Reminder: Chips all in moment

Your Story Reminder:

Give hope to everyone

            My Reminder: Graduation speech

Your Story Reminder:

 Help students engage through exaggeration and humor

            My Reminder: Limping Crazy Man

Your Story Reminder:

 Teach to your strengths

            My Reminder: Messing up the first class I ever taught

Your Story Reminder:

Be available at all times, whether in person or electronically

My Reminder: Student in prison

Your Story Reminder:

 Understand that students may lack your life experience or knowledge

            My Reminder: Read the car contract

Your Story Reminder:

 Let your passion rub off on students (today’s story)

            My Reminder: Buffalo Creek miners and Grandpa justice/Marsh Fork Elementary School

Your Story Reminder:

 Be willing to walk in your students’ shoes

            My Reminder: Student loses driver’s license

Your Story Reminder:

 Stay within yourself?

            My Reminder: Grandpa justice/Marsh Fork Elementary School, Part II

Your Story Reminder:

 

Book excerpt: Classroom LIGHTBULBS for College Professors (2023)

Perry Binder, J.D. is an award-winning author and professor at Georgia State University. He is a member of the Scientific Committee for the annual Future of Education conference in Florence, Italy, where he was invited twice as the closing keynote speaker. Each year from 2016-2022, Perry’s book, 99 Motivators for College Success (2012), was sent to hundreds of rising high school seniors nationwide, as part of the Book Award Program at Randolph College in Virginia.