How do you handle student disengagement and apathy in your classroom?

Consider Maslow ‘a hierarchy of needs, make content relevant to the students you work with in the classroom, and meeting students where they are at.

There are many factors causing students' disengagement, including academic gaps, family or personal issues, relationships, relevance, curriculum, the classroom environment, or culture as mentioned in the article. Getting a better knowledge of their causes helps teachers support students in a way they need. It could be building a strong relationship with them, increasing the relevance of lessons, creating an engaging classroom environment and culture, assigning a helpful peer, using positive reinforcement, and so on.

Students often feel like failures and need to be given opportunities to succeed. I have been able to engage students by finding out where their strengths lie and allowing them to engage at that level, even if it was below their grade level, until their confidence is built to the point where they are wiling to be challenged at a higher level. There are several learning platforms which offer different levels of academic achievement or grade levels which are excellent for engaging and encouraging students. Other times, students are apathetic due to extenuating circumstances, which might require face to face inquiry or input from parents. I often seek assistance from the parents on a "Tell Me About Your Child" survey.

Student disengagement often stems from unmet needs rather than willful apathy. Look at factors like learning styles, assignments tailored to strengths, mental health supports, physical health barriers like hunger or illness, home environment challenges, biased treatment, or lost connections between school and personal goals. Open dialogues with students to understand roots of detachment as individuals. Adjust communications, policies, and scaffolds to validate struggles and rebuild bonds over grades. Securing engagement means showing students they are heard, respected, and believed in even in hardship.

1. Observe Behavior: A participant might be frequently checking their phone or looking disengaged -> Bored 2. Interfere Tactfully: If it's possibly due to long hours, give the class a break. If it's due to long hours of top down approach, go for discussion mode. 3. Assess Expectations: Conduct a quick survey at the beginning asking what participants hope to gain to align expectations. 4.Evaluate Learning Styles: Do a quick survey to know their Leaning style, Mix and match activities to engage visual, audio, kinesthetic learnings instead of a one dimension lecture approach

Before you touch one's hand, you need to go for their heart. If students do not trust you enough, none of your delivery will meet them well, it is as though they are forced to listen to you which renders your effort as a trainer unhelpful. Build rapport with students, make relatable jokes. Ask them for suggestions and opinions on created or live events that resonate with their age. Through this, you can build trust gradually.

Create a safe space where students know that their voice and opinions will also be respected by their peers. Peer judgement can be a huge deterrent to participation and sharing.

Early in my career as a professor, I was shocked to realize how often students worry the teacher is "out to get them." It always has a big impact on my classes when I can communicate, authentically, that I am really rooting for them. When students know you want them to succeed they will participate in class, come to office hours, engage much more, and do much better. Ways I have been able to get students to understand I'm on their side include scheduling extra review sessions, expanding my weekly office hours, checking in with them as a group and individually on how they're doing...even just stating in class that I'd love for everyone to earn an A in the course. If you are genuine (and they can tell if you are!), it works wonders.

1. Walk the Talk: Always follow through on your promises and commitments. If you make a mistake, admit it openly and correct it promptly. This shows students that you value integrity and accountability. 2. Respect and Confidentiality: If a student shares a personal issue with you, keep it private unless it’s necessary to involve others for the student’s safety. This practice builds a safe space for students to open up. 3. Acknowledgement: Regularly recognize and praise students for their strengths. For example, if a student excels in creative writing, highlight their talent in class and encourage them to pursue it further. Similarly, acknowledge challenges by offering support, like providing extra help for a student struggling with math.

Building rapport and trust with students involves: 1. Personal Connections: Learn about their interests and backgrounds. 2. Active Listening: Show you value their opinions and feelings. 3. Consistent Support: Be reliably available for help. 4. Transparency: Be open and honest about expectations and goals. 5. Inclusivity: Ensure every student feels safe and valued. 6. Model Respect: Demonstrate respectful behavior. These steps foster a positive, supportive learning environment that motivates students to engage in learning.

Every student enters the classroom with a unique set of abilities. Project-based learning is great for allowing all students to showcase their passions, and skills, and creativity is spawned when students are presented with options about how they will complete the assignments. Oftentimes they will exceed the expectation because the process normally begs a question that was not addressed in the instructions for the project, which in turn, leads them to more research and development. We are creators by nature, we must teach to extract that creativity that lives in our students. Our pedagogy must include more facilitating than traditional teaching

I had a student who had been homeschooled from the time she was in Kindergarten until fourth grade. The public school system was overwhelming to her and her experiences led her to stop communicating verbally. She came to me in the 6th grade and has not stopped talking. I coached her to write about her unwillingness to speak and then asked her to be brave enough to tell her story in front of over 200 people. She agreed and with trembling knees she had the audience standing in ovation. She is a leader who just needed to find her voice again! She became the top academic student in my class.

1.Involve students in setting learning goals and criteria. Eg: At the start of a unit, have a class discussion to establish what students want to learn and achieve. Use their input to shape the learning objectives and success criteria. 2. Encourage Goal Setting and Progress Tracking: Eg: Use goal-setting worksheets or digital tools like Trello to help students outline their goals and track their achievements. Regular check-ins can help them stay focused and motivated. 3.Promote Peer Collaboration and Feedback: Eg: Set up peer review sessions where students share their work with classmates and provide constructive feedback. Tools like Google Docs enable real-time collaboration and feedback.

Student disengagement can stem from a lack of relevance or meaning in their studies. Educators can help re-engage students by connecting course material to real world issues and students' own passions/interests. For example, relating literature concepts to pop culture that teens enjoy or math principles to personal finance. Allowing opportunities for creativity, problem-solving, and student voice/choice in assignments also helps. Building caring relationships and community within the classroom fosters engagement. Of course factors outside the classroom impact this too, so empathy, dialogue with students, and addressing wellbeing is key. Small strides to understand where students are coming from and showing you care goes a long way.

Change your style in class, bring real life stories, quizzes, move around, ask questions, and look around at everyone. You need to be alive so they can see you and follow, your energy will help make the class better.

One thing that I found helpful is to always try out new ways to engage students. Some classes have better responses to some strategies but not others. Some classes will respond to quiet and independent math journaling or fun coloring practice problems. And, some classes are more active and love small-group collaboration. It seems to me that each class has its own culture and environment in their special way. Rolling out new ways to engage students helps me to know which one fits each class better.