Increasing Student Engagement and Motivation by Cori Brewster and Jennifer Fager (October 2000) Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
After reading this article, I've come to several conclusions.
First, my main goal should be to create intrinsically motivated students. There are various reasons why, but I will cite them from the text as they were bulleted and easy to pinpoint in the article.

Intrinsically motivated students:

-earn higher grades and achievement test scores
-are better personally adjusted to school
-employ strategies that demand more effort and enable them to process info deeply
-are more confident about their abilities
-use logical informational gathering and decision making strategies
-are likely to engage in challenging tasks
-are likely to persist and complete assigned tasks
-retain information and concepts longer
-are more likely to be lifelong learners, continuing to educate themselves outside the formal school setting long after external motivators such as grades and diplomas are removed

These are the exact outcomes I seek for the students in my class. I'm wondering what I can do to promote intrinsic motivation in my students.

The article's research states that there are several ways I can increase the students' motivation. Some of these strategies I feel I already employ in my classroom, but still I'm not seeing the results. Is this because the students I see are not being broken of bad past habits? Is it because their home life negates the positive work we do in class?

Some strategies I already use are:

-using extrinsic rewards sparingly
-ensure clear expectations for performance in class
-making students feel supported and welcome
-responding positively to student questions
-working to build quality relationships with students
-breaking large tasks into a series of smaller goals

Some strategies I will try are:

-promote mastery learning by giving students another chance to complete assignments that they didn't do well on
-evaluate students based on the task, not in comparison to other students
-evaluate student work as soon as possible with clear and constructive feedbak
-model and communicate the value of lifelong learning
-develop ways to involve parents
-ensure course materials relate to students' lives
-highlight ways learning can be applied to real life situations
-arouse student curiosity about the topic being studied