9 Ways To Keep Students Engaged In The Classroom (Do’s & Don’ts)
Every teacher worth their salt knows that engaging students in the classroom is essential to the learning process. Having them feel connected to what’s going on (instead of looking wistfully out of the window), improves learning and enhances the overall experience.
Unfortunately, teachers constantly make mistakes when engaging students. Yes, they get some things right but they also make mistakes along the way.
Fortunately, this post is here to help. We explore some do’s and don’ts of engaging students in the classroom, including what you can do personally to make them more excited about the educational experience.
1. Do Make Kids Feel Psychologically Secure
Ideally, you want to make children reach their full potential and feel psychologically secure in your classroom. Kids should feel free to express their ideas and discuss them with you at length.
What you don’t want is a situation where kids worry about coming forward with their ideas because of what they think others might say.
As the teacher, it’s your responsibility to keep students engaged and encourage a sense of openness in the classroom. Nobody should fear judgment.
2. Don’t Make Yourself The Centre Of Events
It’s a good idea to avoid making yourself the centre of events. While performing might feel good, it can also make students feel left out.
I would recommend turning the situation around, making the learning experience about them.
Some vendors actually sell educational scripts you can give to your students.
These help make learning more concrete, particularly in theatrical settings. Children get an opportunity to perform on their own terms.
3. Do Provide Opportunities For Student Presentations
Related to this last point, it’s a good idea to provide more opportunities for student presentations in general. You want pupils to feel comfortable exploring ideas and owning their projects.
Presentations give children a chance to talk about things in their lives they wouldn’t normally have the opportunity to explore.
It also gets them used to marshalling their thoughts and speaking in front of others. Something a lot of kids can find challenging from a young age.
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4. Don’t Ignore Student Interests
While on an engagement mission as a teacher, you should also avoid ignoring student interests.
Glossing over the subjects they find fun can turn the educational experience into a chore and something they feel like they have to do.
Therefore, always cater to their needs where possible. Find ways to adjust the curriculum so that it goes in the direction of what they enjoy.
Don’t be afraid to modify some supporting materials so students are more likely to resonate with them. Do whatever you can to prevent them from coming across as dry or bland.
For example, if you know your students love cars, you could talk about the forces on racing drivers or crash test dummies. These examples will help the learning feel more “real” (instead of purely focusing on g-forces and the math behind them).
Also, read 10 Importance Of Imagination In Education
5. Do Use Technology Strategically
Some teachers don’t like using technology, preferring older methods. However, deploying it strategically can enhance the learning experience.
For example, you might use apps to conduct online polls to see what students think the answers to questions are. Pupils could respond on their devices to prompts without full knowledge, allowing them to test what they already know.
You could also use educational apps to teach some aspects of the curriculum. For example, you might gamify procedural problems to get students used to solving them so that doing so feels natural once they enter the exam hall.
6. Don’t Rely On Traditional Methods
While traditional teaching methods are safe, they aren’t always effective in keeping students engaged.
Students don’t always respond to setups where the teacher is at the front of the classroom and everyone else is sitting in rows, taking notes from the chalkboard. Therefore, try engaging with students in other ways. For example, you might:
- Get students to study in groups or work on solving problems together
- Get them to teach a lesson
- Using gaming or other apps to make the subject matter of a particular topic more memorable and engaging
7. Do Connect Teaching To Something In The Real World
Students will often ask teachers “When am I going to use this knowledge?” Of course, the answer is nobody knows.
An individual might wind up in a career that uses it, but the chances are that they won’t.
In this environment, some students can become incredulous. Many simply don’t understand why teachers are asking them to jump through mental hoops.
One answer, of course, is purely to see if they can do it. But that’s not something many educators want to admit.
Another approach is to bypass the question entirely by linking the learning outcomes to a real-world objective.
For example, if you are teaching students code, showing them how to make a game from it can make it seem more real. Likewise, if you want students to get to grips with the water cycle, ask them to invent a contraption to survive in the desert using nothing but atmospheric moisture.
These projects are run and also make learning relevant to students’ lives. With it, they are more likely to remember what you teach.
8. Don’t Focus Only On Providing Content
While it might be tempting to blast your students with an hour-long lecture in every session, it won’t help learning happen. Pupils need active learning, not simply passive information transfer.
For this, you’ll want to get them to solve problems. Asking them to work their way through these activates more learning networks in their brains and improves their ability to see through the noise and get answers.
If you simply lecture from the front, students will get the impression they’ve learned something, but only a small minority will be able to apply it. Most will struggle with problem sets and be unable to progress.
9. Do Use Different Instruction Methods
Finally, related to this last point, always incorporate various instruction methods. Ensure students can take part in debates, polls, and discussions to deepen their knowledge and understanding.
Getting students engaged, moving and interacting can help clarify issues and solidify learning outcomes.
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