Why are we doing this?

The age-old question that is anything but music to the ears of a teacher. While this inquiry from students may become white noise in the classroom setting, it does unearth a potentially important shift that needs to take place:  students learning the difference between doing school to beginning to see how learning might connect to who they are, what they care about, what they can contribute, or what might be possible for them.

That distinction matters.

Element IXa of the Marzano Academies CBE Instructional Model focuses on inspiring students. While the term inspiration is certainly not unique to this model, the reality of what is meant by it is. There is nothing inherently wrong with a teacher sharing inspirational quotes, inviting guest speakers to inspire, or even sharing personal stories with their learners. In fact, each of those actions are supported by the research and materials aligned to Design Area IX. But that is not where the work ends. In the Marzano Academies model, inspiration is much more closely connected to efficacy and agency. Efficacy is the learner's belief that what they do can influence what happens next. Agency is the learner beginning to act on that belief. And somewhere between those two is inspiration.

The research is clear in saying we become inspired to do something. And that reality changes the teacher's question. Instead of asking only, How do I motivate this student? We can begin asking: What evidence might help this student believe that something meaningful is possible?

Students Need Different Evidence of Possibility

Think about a student who has struggled in math for several years. Adults may tell the student, "You can do this."

We mean it, but, from the student's perspective, there may be a fairly substantial pile of evidence suggesting otherwise. They have struggled before. They have watched classmates understand things more quickly. They may have received grades that told them they were behind without helping them understand what they actually knew or what they should work on next.

Another student may be academically successful but have quietly decided that certain opportunities, careers, leadership roles, or futures are simply for "other people." Neither student necessarily needs a better motivational speech. They need new evidence. And the evidence that matters will not necessarily be the same for both students. That is one reason inspiration cannot become a checklist.

• Show inspirational video - check.
• Read quotation-  check.
• Complete gratitude activity-  check.
• Invite guest speaker-  check.

Any of those strategies could be powerful. At the same time, any of them could also completely miss the student sitting in the third row. A story about someone overcoming academic struggles might matter deeply to one learner and feel completely disconnected from another. A student who is unsure whether college is financially possible may need a different kind of evidence than a student who has always assumed college was the next step. A learner who believes mistakes prove they are not smart may need something different from a learner who is academically successful but has never considered how their strengths could contribute to something beyond themselves.

This is why knowing students matters so much.

Inspiration depends, at least in part, on what the learner already believes, values, fears, hopes for, or sees as possible. Sometimes the new evidence comes through a story or an experience. Sometimes it comes through seeing progress on a proficiency scale that once seemed out of reach. It might come from solving a problem the student genuinely could not solve three weeks earlier. It might be an adult noticing a strength and connecting it to a possibility the learner had never considered. Sometimes inspiration is not a dramatic moment at all. Sometimes it is the accumulation of experiences that slowly begins to challenge what a learner previously believed about themselves.

Use It Tomorrow

Inspiration does not require teachers to redesign tomorrow’s lesson around an inspirational video, a guest speaker, or a major service project. In fact, the smaller moves may be more useful because they allow students to encounter evidence of possibility as part of the learning they are already doing.

As you plan for tomorrow, consider where you might intentionally create one of these opportunities.

1. Make a Strength Point Somewhere

Students do not always recognize the capacities they are developing while they are learning. A student may see that they finally solved the problem, while the teacher sees that they changed strategies twice before finding one that worked. A student may see that they answered a question correctly, while the teacher notices that they used evidence more carefully than they did last week.

When we simply say, “Good job,” students know that we approved of the outcome. When we identify what they did and connect it to something they are becoming capable of doing, we give them evidence they can use.

Consider the difference between “Nice work on that response,” and “You went back to the text when you weren't sure and found evidence to support your thinking. That is exactly what strong readers do when a text gets difficult.”

The second response does more than praise the student. It helps the learner recognize a strength, connect it to an action, and begin to see where that capacity could take them.

Quick, proactive starting point: Before tomorrow’s lesson, identify one capacity students are likely to use—persistence, revision, questioning, precision, collaboration, problem solving, or another important behavior connected to the learning. Watch for evidence of it and be ready to name what you see and why it matters.

2. Give the Learning Somewhere to Go

Students spend a great deal of time being told what they need to learn. They have fewer opportunities to consider what they might eventually do with that learning.

That does not mean every learning target needs an elaborate real-world application. Sometimes the connection can be made in a sentence or a question.

Students evaluating the credibility of sources can consider where they will need that skill when information comes across their social media feed. Students learning ratios can see the same thinking in recipes, design, sports statistics, or budgeting. Students comparing perspectives in history can consider why understanding how two groups saw the same event might matter when people disagree today.

Research on purpose suggests that connecting academic work to something beyond simply earning a grade can support students’ persistence and self-regulation. The goal is not to convince every student that every learning target is personally fascinating. It is to help students regularly encounter evidence that what they are learning can become something they use, contribute, create, or carry with them beyond the assignment.

Quick, proactive starting point: Look at one learning target you will teach tomorrow and finish this sentence: Students could eventually use this learning to… You do not need to redesign the task. Simply find one natural place during the lesson to make that connection visible—or invite students to make the connection themselves.

3. Plan for the Student, Not the Inspirational Activity

One of the easiest traps with inspiration is choosing an activity because adults generally consider it inspiring.

The quote is powerful. The video is moving. The speaker has an incredible story.

But inspiration is not determined by what we present. It is determined by what happens in the learner.

A student who has experienced repeated academic failure may need evidence that improvement is actually possible. Another learner may already believe they can succeed academically but have little sense of where their abilities could lead. One student may respond to a story about someone overcoming obstacles. Another may be far more affected by discovering that something they learned helped another person.

That is why the strategies associated with Element IXa—including inspirational stories and quotations, personal stories, identifying inspiration killers, altruism, gratitude, and mindfulness—are better understood as possibilities rather than a checklist. The appropriate move depends on the learner, the context, and what seems to be limiting the student's sense of possibility.

This also means we have to monitor what happens next. A beautifully planned inspirational activity is not evidence that students were inspired. Look instead for changes in the learner: a new connection, a willingness to try, a different way of talking about a goal, greater persistence, or a small action that was not there before.

Quick, proactive starting point: Choose one student who seems to be going through the motions or who may have stopped seeing what is possible. Before choosing a strategy, ask yourself: What does this learner currently seem to believe—and what kind of evidence might help expand that belief? Let the answer guide the move you make.

Final Thought

Inspiring students does not require us to become motivational speakers. It requires us to pay attention to the evidence students are collecting about themselves.

Every day, learners are deciding something about what they are good at, whether effort changes anything, whether the work has a purpose, whether adults see potential in them, and whether certain futures feel possible.

Element IXa asks us to become a little more intentional about the evidence we help them encounter. Tomorrow, that may be as simple as naming a strength that a student has not yet recognized, showing where today's learning could eventually matter, or choosing one student and asking what kind of possibility they may need help seeing. We cannot decide what will inspire another person. But we can help make possibility easier to see.

To continue building understanding of Design Area IX and the full Marzano Academies instructional model, educators can explore the Learning Hub. Via the Learning Lab, members can access Dr. Marzano’s research folios, professional learning resources, and practical tools designed to help teachers make competency-based practices work in real classrooms. The Learning Hub also includes Badging Experiences that allow teachers to identify a meaningful professional growth goal, strengthen classroom routines, and document their growing expertise. Teachers should own their professional learning, and the Learning Hub is built to support that work.