Engaging students can be a challenge, when you desire to keep the whole class interested in the subject, and a few disengaged minds seem to push the other way. It seems like a cakewalk to others, but teaching can turn out to be one of the most stressful jobs in the world. Obviously when addressing a class full of kids you’ll come across a variety of them, right from the most sincere and easy-to-manage kids to the most disinterested ones.
Teaching jobs around the globe sure have their own perks, but there are days when the students don’t care to participate and as such get disengaged from the class. To turn this around, we present 5 useful approaches for engaging students and creating a win-win situation in your class.
Take Things on a Personal Level
This might be one of the most effective solutions to your problem. What didn’t work in the class might just click right on the personal side. Take some time out to visit such students and try to learn about their hobbies, personal interests, likes and dislikes.
Give them options to express about their passions in life. In case they think they don’t have any, encourage them to come up with some. You can make school more about them than the studies by letting them apply what is being taught at school in their personal lives.
Give Every Student A Chance to Perform
Unfortunately it might be the case that a major share of your class has not tasted success yet. It happened for such a long period that eventually they lost hope, and every modicum of self-confidence along with it. One solution for engaging students might be creating opportunities for every kid and planning chances for them to taste success at least once.
This would definitely mean different things for different students. However, by crafting activities, lessons and work assignments that have relevance to learners, you can begin to repair every inch of their self-esteem and get them interested in class lessons.
Work on Your Creative Quotient
If things don’t go as planned then move a bit away from the schedule and try something different. The answers for demotivated and disinterested students are generally rare to find, hence the need of curation. Doing the same drill time and again would only push the class towards monotony, if not an increase in the number of disengaged students.
Being a problem solver, it’s your duty to shake up things, implement new strategies, and create challenges that push them to actively participate in the class.
Look for Chances to Celebrate
One of the major requirements in this profession is being vigilant and celebrating each moment. Not to sound poetic, but searching for moments that are professionally rewarding will always serve in your favor.
Spot students being decisive in the nick of time, meeting expectations and working in a diligent way. Give due recognition to their work and make it a focal point of your everyday class discussion. This way even the most disinterested students will be pushed to perform and get involved in the class.
Let Them Use The Tools Of Their Choice
With technology, a multitude of things have changed. In case your students want to jot down their essay and notes on a laptop or iPad, let them do so. Giving the students some freedom in the class will only enable them to innovate and carve out some space to learn things better.
If you want to truly succeed at engaging students you must stick to the basics and think out of the box, and connect to their interests by discovering and using what's relevant to them. The rest will fall in place by itself.
Anshuman Kukreti is a professional writer and a keen follower of the gulf job market. An engineer by qualification and an artist at heart, he writes on various topics related to teaching and employment across the globe. Reach him @ LinkedIn, Twitter and Google+.