You’d think there would be something profound about the 30th of September we could use for motivation. If there is, we don’t know it. Sure, we could say something about how tomorrow is a new month and a fresh start, but a fresh start means little if you’re perpetually carrying the same questions month to month.

Enter the Eberly Center’s “Solve a Teaching Problem” site. Provided by the folks at Carnegie Mellon University in the United States, this ambitious project aims to answer any question that may arise in the classroom – for student teachers and seasoned professors alike. Here you’ll find advice on everything from what to do when group work falls flat to how to motivate students who just aren’t into your course. On the latter subject, the Center offers the following:

As students struggle to balance competing goals, they have to prioritize. To motivate students to prioritize the work for your class, it is helpful to clearly demonstrate its value and relevance to their current and future academic goals, their intended professions, and their personal interests. Pointing out these links can be particularly important in courses that are not in the students’ majors. For example, an instructor teaching a basic composition course might specifically discuss the ways in which learning to make a reasoned argument can help students in a wide range of majors and professions.

So if you’re searching for motivation this Monday, you can perhaps take comfort in knowing definitively that you clearly aren’t the only one with these types of questions. Some of the answers here aren’t bad either. Enjoy!