Motivating Students

Even as a second year teacher there are many things that I do not know. I still have not found my teaching style or know how to deal with kids who ultimately in the end will not graduate from college but are staying in school to eat breakfast and lunch and come for the social party. I don't know how to deal with or talk to administration or even how to get students to understand to bring paper and pencil to class. As far as motivation...last year I had a class (Transition to Algebra) of 12 sophomores who knew that they would pass my class for some reason and eventually go to Algebra I next year. It was very tough in the beginning because most of them had an I don't care attitude. Soon I started giving pop quizzes and REALLY averaging them into their grade. I also started bringing candy sometimes and during the spring we started walking around the school twice if they were good at lunch and did their work in class the day before. But this year (due to extra expenses...a car note) I am doing motivation through grades and walking outside (only for my smaller classes).