4 Tips to help students stay engaged in the classroom

Battling distractions and student boredom, how can teachers help students stay engaged? For a teacher, the task of trying to keep their students engaged can be a difficult challenge to tackle. Many teens are said to associate school with negative feelings such as boredom and fatigue. School is something teens must endure whether they like it or not and it can feel like a prison sentence for many. Can we blame them? With all the tough classes, extracurricular activities and on top of that, Homework! A sleepy student sitting at a classroom desk can be extremely boring for many which can often lead a student to go into a deep daydream.

It could be seen that a teacher’s top priority is to engage students by finding new inventive ways to create a more positive vibe in the classroom. By implementing these tips, teachers can help  students stay engaged in the classroom and make learning more fun and creative and preventing students from daydreaming into oblivion.

Connect with your students

It may be useful to connect with your students by talking about the things they love. According to the National Council of Teachers of English, students who do not find representations of their own cultures in texts are likely to lose interest in school-based literacy. It may help to talk about their interests such as current music, celebrities or TV shows. It’s good to refer classroom topics to current music artists within the lesson or you could open discussions with your students about how the lesson material relates to their everyday lives. For example, tying in related memes or GIFS in a PowerPoint can be entertaining and humorous for many students. By linking classroom material with things students enjoy outside of the classroom, teachers will manage to keep students interested and engaged in the lesson making class time a more enjoyable experience.

Go Edtech

Education technology (Edtech) refers to any form of teaching and learning that makes use of technology. To help students stay engaged, teachers should introduce technology into the lesson for students and/or teachers to use. With many schools around the world purchasing school devices or allowing BYOD (Bring your own device), it is important that you fit some level of up to date technology into the lesson. Most teens are addicted to their device and using it in the classroom could be a different experience. There are excellent educational apps that students can use to engage more within the lesson. However, using devices during a lesson can become hard to manage. That’s why Mobile Guardian’s Mobile device management (MDM) software is here to help. Our MDM solution helps keep your students focused by turning off unnecessary apps and controlling online access. Teachers can control device settings and restrict the use of apps during class to ensure that only relevant material is being accessed.

Games help students stay engaged

They might not admit it, but teenagers love playing games as it takes their mind off of class work. According to University College in London, games make us laugh and laughter awakens and relaxes us. It is a good idea to introduce games to the classroom to help students stay engaged and there are lots to choose from. Teachers can use games for any subject and it’s a great way to encourage participation. ‘Four corners’ is a superb way for students to get up on their feet and moving during a lesson. To setup, label each corner of the room with answers such as “strongly agree”, “agree”, “strongly disagree” and “disagree”. The teacher will then ask questions and students will move to the corner where they feel the answer is. Not only are classroom games fun, they require students to think and make important decisions to help towards their learning.

Group work

Group work is an interactive way to get students up and talking with one another. Teachers should split students into groups of 3-5 and assign tasks like answering questions together or creating a presentation. Many students don’t like taking part in classroom discussions so group work is a stepping stone to potentially improve this. Allow each group 5 minutes to discuss the topic and then ask them to share their ideas with the class. A good way for groups to present  is using PowerPoint or writing answers on large sheets of paper. Working in smaller groups can be helpful for the shyer students and may build their confidence. Group work is a good way for teachers to help students stay engaged in class.


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If you have classroom devices and are trialing MDM platforms,  then try out Mobile Guardian. Our Learn solution offers classroom management tools that provide teachers with a way to easily manage and structure lessons in a remote or physical classroom.

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Onwards,

Robyn Hobson

Team Mobile Guardian

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