Day 12 – Motivation

I am a 6th grade student. Andrew is one of my classmates. He used to be the top student in class but recently his grades have started to go down. I spoke to him about what is happening and why he is letting his grades get worse. Andrew said he lacks motivation.
I was worried about him because we are almost in high school, and grades are really important to our future classes and University admissions. I told him he needs to find new motivation to study. I understand that after having the same motivation for so long, it can start to lose its power on you, and it becomes harder to pay attention to the lessons. I told him that his motivation could be anything he wanted it to be. He can have his motivation be that he doesn’t want to get a lower grade than anyone else. Or it can be that he wants to show how smart he is to others. But he didn’t like either of these suggestions.
Andrew’s parents told him that if his grades improve, they will bring him to an amusement park. I can tell that Andrew loves amusement parks, because his grades have gone all the way up in just three months! I didn’t know before that Andrew loved amusement parks that much and it would encourage him to make such a big change. He also told me, that if he does well and gets valedictorian in our class at the end of high school, his parents will take him to Japan. That sounded amazing! If my parents told me that, it would motivate me to give it my best shot also.
It seems like we all need motivation, even if it's a small reward.

Expressions


"Pay attention to" : To watch, listen to, or think about someone or something carefully.


"Make a big change" : If you make a big change, you mean it is great in degree, extent, or importance.


"Give it ones best shot" : Do the best one can.