This book explores ways that teachers can work to motivate elementary, middle, or high school students who have lost interest in learning by explaining motivation and providing suggestions for student and teacher empowerment. It opens with two case illustrations of difficult to reach students and invites the reader to offer their response. The following four sections each address one of the book's four goals: (1) explaining motivation and how to enhance it by reviewing current theories of motivation, discussing what that research implies about effective practice, and looking at research findings specifically about motivating hard to reach students; (2) exploring what impact the nature of motivation may have on teacher role through different notions of teacher roles and what it means to motivate students; (3) providing strategies for helping individual students draw on their natural motivation to learn, particularly by helping them to understand and value themselves; and (4) providing strategies for establishing a classroom climate that fosters and sustains motivation through opportunities for growth and self-determination, encouraging academic risk taking, and creating a positive learning climate. Final sections return to the opening case illustrations for further discussion, and review the major points of previous sections. Includes a glossary. (JB)