Here’s another thought to be all you can be… I am not sure if I am being too simplistic here, but I am of the view here that we can generally categorise kids by 2 main aspects i.e. the level of skill/ ability that they have at their fingertips and the level of motivation/ confidence that they possess within themselves. By matching these 2 aspects together, kids can be then categorised into4 groupings:
1. Those who are well-skilled and highly self-motivated;
2. Those who are well-skilled but not very highly self-motivated (maybe they need someone to motivate them or push them);
3. Those who are not well-skilled but are highly self-motivated (maybe they need to be taught or trained);
4. Those who are neither well-skilled not highly self-motivated.
And each grouping of kids would have some form of tendency or tendencies, I would think. Also, based on these groupings, it is obvious which category needs the most help and which needs the least. I have managed to put some of these thoughts into a quadrant diagram below and used a “traffic light” approach to shed some light (pardon the pun) on these thoughts…
A "Traffic Light" Approach on Skill vs Motivation
Generally, highly self-motivated kids seem to need guidance and direction the most. I mean, after all, they are self-motivated, highly self-confident and can probably hold their own. They just need to know which direction to head towards, especially being kids, and I would think that the majority would not know “who they are”. They know what they are – kids and students, but do they know who they are? A reasonable question. On the other end of the spectrum, the low self-motivated kids likely will need another focus other than direction. They lack greatly in terms of confidence as well as identity. They may not have a strong self-image of themselves. How do we build these into these kids? That’s the million dollar question!
In terms of the skills, low skills means that they will likely have to be taught or trained. And high skills means that they should be learning to be more efficient and thinking outside their box. Creativity would likely be more of a focus here rather than fundamental training.
Interesting thoughts to stir the mind? 
Kelvin Larry
