Motivation in students can have a strong effect on student engagement and overall student success. Due to the impact of COVID-19, students have been less motivated and have fallen farther behind which increases the need to better motivate and engage students within the classroom. This quasi-experimental study which incorporated a pre- and post-test design explored the implementation of whole brain teaching strategies into reading and writing instruction for a sample of fourth to sixth graders. Whole brain teaching includes instruction focusing on the four primary sections of the brain with strategies merging abstract and conceptual models, emotional and intrinsic ideas, sequencing and organization, visual notions, and interpersonal concepts. Instruction focusing on these strategies provides learning opportunities for a variety of learner needs. The Elementary School Motivation Scale (ESMS) was used to measure student motivation for schoolwork following both reading and writing instruction after the implementation of whole brain learning strategies. Results indicated that student motivation significantly increased in both reading and writing after the implementation.