Do you have students dragging themselves along the corridor to your lessons moaning all the way about how they’d rather be doing anything rather than come to class? Do you have some students who hate your lessons?
Here’s something you can do to improve the situation and have those same students arriving in a positive state of mind, more compliant and eager to take part. Yes, it really is possible!
To solve this problem we need to work out what’s going on here. Why are they coming to your lesson in such a negative frame of mind? It could be because they find the materials you give them to be dull, boring or difficult. It could be because they don’t get on with some of the other students in the group. It could be because they’ve just had a lesson that they hate even more than yours and it put them in a bad mood. It could be because they think you pick on them, because they don’t like the room or even because they don’t like the colour of your tie. Let’s face it, it could be one of a million reasons.
It doesn’t matter too much what the cause is actually – often the cause may be something we can’t influence anyway – but what does matter is that these pupils are going to lessons feeling negative based on previous experience. If they had a negative time last lesson they will be expecting the same next lesson. If they arrive feeling that the lesson is going to be dull, painful, embarrassing, boring, difficult or irrelevant they will be filled with NEGATIVE emotions before they even set foot through the door.
It’s hard to engage and teach pupils who are already in such a negative state of mind. When they have already made up their minds that the lesson isn’t something they’re going to enjoy or get any benefit from you’re on the back foot from the start – it just makes your job even more difficult.
What you want is students coming to lessons looking forward to learning and being with you based on the last time they were in your lesson. If they succeeded, achieved, discovered, played, learned something interesting, had fun, shared a laugh, improved and felt better about themselves; if they were motivated, cared for and moved emotionally it stands to reason that they’ll feel more optimistic about the next lesson because they can expect more of the same.
These are things that any teacher can put in place in any lesson. It comes down to making students feel wanted, valued, appreciated and making sure that they gain something positive from the short period of time you spend together. Play a few games, inject a little humour but most of all ensure that they are able to gain some satisfaction from the work you give them. Try varying your teaching methods injecting tasks they LIKE doing:
- drama?
- debate?
- role play
- blood and gore?
- controversy?
- personal rights/ unfair treatment and outrage?
- watching videos?
- group work?
- quizzes and competitions?
- Games and simulations?
We can motivate them superficially with tokens, star charts, stickers and treats but real motivation is intrinsic – ‘give them good work to do if you want them to do good work’.
Finally, always make sure you have taken steps to put things right before the lesson ends – especially if you’ve had to issue consequences during the lesson. When hostility and punishment hangs over the end of the lesson for you, it does for them too, so that they come into your next lesson looking for their revenge. Make sure they leave ‘with a nice taste in their mouths’.
Such a crucial life lesson to teach students via example. Never leaving on an unpleasant note is essential and failure to do this can have powerful emotional consequences. It can lower the self-esteem dramatically, promote depression. You have made a point that is very often overlooked or not considered and yet so fundamentally crucial to the well-being of our students.
Nina (Ryde High)
This is such a great reminder – If students feel good about themselves after a lesson, they are apt to work harder at the next lesson.
Hi Rob
I read a suggestion someone gave you about restoring quietness in the classroom. They opened a musicbox and when students hear the music playing they tended to stop their noise. Can you let me know the rest of the procedure.