One of the greatest rewards for many teachers is the moment they get through to a student who shows signs of non-engagement. Many students have a very anti-school mentality. Trying to teach one who does not care about learning can be a great struggle. Having too many of them can be disruptive to a classroom, overall.
What does not work?
When faced with a disengaged student, many teachers' first reaction is to punish the student for their lack of participation. Sometimes that means separating the student from friends, moving them to the front of the room, calling out or embarrassing them in class, or giving the student an extra assignment.
While there are occasions where these methods can be useful, overall negative punishments sometimes result in adverse effects on the student.
So, what can you do to engage an uninterested child?
Build a relationship
The most important thing is to find a way to build a relationship with the students. Sometimes, that can be difficult in a large classroom, but having one with each pupil will help your class tremendously.
Breaking up students up into groups and going around to each group to talk to students can be a good way to do this. Having students who look forward to seeing you every day will go a long way in creating an engaging classroom.
Recently, several videos went viral of teachers who had developed special handshakes with every individual student. While this method may not work for everyone, it is an example of relationship -building between the teacher and each student.
Every child feels important because they have their own individual handshake that they helped create; they are up and moving, and they are excited to perform what they have learned every day. Learning the handshake is a silly bonding experience between the teacher and, the student and the class as a whole, and doing the handshake right creates a sense of accomplishment and a fun way to start or end the day.
Create a classroom community
Try to create a communal relationship in the classroom where all students have a stake in what they learn. Giving students options to engage with each other, the classroom, and the lessons themselves helps to engage students in feeling personally invested in whatever is going on.
Allowing students to vote on which book the class is going to read, or setting aside time for each student to suggest topics they are interested in, are both ways for the teacher to give the students a feeling of control over their education, while still maintaining a well-organized classroom.
Employ more physical activities
Get the students up and moving. Sitting in one place all day is tough. Young people need to move around during the day. Creating lessons that involve kinetic learning is an excellent way to engage disinterested students, and can be very helpful for even the best students to learn new topics.
Try bringing the class into the gym, cafeteria, or outside;. Or grab a sponge ball and have students answer questions as they toss the ball around. You can also start a game of musical chairs in the classroom and have the person who gets out every round answer a question.
When possible, have students build or draw something in order to showcase the topics they are learning.
Minimize reprimands
Try to minimize punishments when possible. Rather, try to have a rewards -based system so that there are positive outcomes when things are done well instead of negative outcomes when things are not.
Creating an environment where students feel safe from embarrassment can be a great way to build relationships and engage more students. Often, when students feel inadequate, they withdraw. So publicly shaming or calling out can be very harmful.
Also, try to get to know a little about the student's home life. For some students, calling home about behavioral concerns can be very helpful,; but for others, parents should only be called when absolutely necessary and calling them too often can do more harm than good.
Overall, the best way to get a student interested in school is to build positive relationships. This gives the student a reason to care and makes them want to make you proud.
*This article was originally published by the K12 Teaching alliance and Tempesta Media
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