Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Some good friends of mine are High School Teachers and the thing they hate the most about the classes is the bored looking expressions on many of the kids faces. They tell me that they work with the School Principal and mentors to try to come up with ideas on how to get the kids to participate in activities where they will learn by doing. They also work on their public speaking skills so their tone and presentation is more dynamic and interesting. They learn all about the educational games and how to use technology in the classroom.
But even after all this work many of the kids are just plain bored. They just don't see how the material helps them and are bored by the subject. They are tired and told that it is cool to look and act bored. They don't want to be there and think the teacher is dumb.
If you are a teacher, how do you deal with bored looking students after you tried everything to be interesting and engaging and nothing seems to work?
If they are still bored after all those efforts to entertain them, tell them that in Real Life there will always be times where they CAN'T be entertained and what they will have to do WON'T be fun - in other words, sometimes Life just plain sucks.
I don't mean to sound like an ogre but IMO constantly trying to make school "fun" is going to result in an entire generation of kids, soon to be adults, that will balk at doing anything that remotely resembles "work"....and anyone who has been around awhile knows that some of the BEST things in life are attained through hard work where no laughter occurred and you went home tired and your deodorant stopped working long ago.
So if a teacher can make a lesson entertaining AND productive, I say go for it. But to not teach something that a child needs simply because it's boring to them? No way.
I'm still trying. This is one of my biggest frustrations. Life is not a video game or colorful cartoon. These kids grew up being entertained and nothing less will do. Unfortunately, education can't compete.
Thats why i DONT..i tried doing things out of the book, no go..i then found some powerpoint slides and kids started to go to sleep. I was hired to TEACH these kids..as far as im concerned if you want them entertained, go hire an efeing clown..thats the problem too many adults(teachers and administrators) try to conform to these kids, when in reality they should conform to US. On top of that they are being set up for a fall because in college the professors are not going to deal with that...
start with 10% of the class being participation, another 10% being work turned in,,,,, etc. etc. I taught almost 30 years. A paper came in with no name or HR, it went in a box. I refused to allow students to give me garbage about "you lost it" -- worked really well at parent conference: parent shows up (usually w/child who isn't supposed to be there) and is told "Johnny is missing 3 items". Parent, to child, "you did the work, didn't you?. Did the teacher lose it?" I inform parent I sent home the rules and they signed it... usually, the child walked over to box of un-named and un-claimed work and got said work and gave it to me. Worked great 20+ years. Hold kids responsible.
If you think entertaining kids is the way to do the job, you may be in the wrong profession. [I fell asleep at workshops using presentations.].. It isn't your job to make it "fun". Your job is to teach the subject so the kids understand it and learn. Daily compliments & teacher approval of what its being done gets more lackluster students to work hard that "fun" presentations. [Save the "fun" lessons for when the administration/supervisory personnel who left teaching since they hated kids show up.]
Some good friends of mine are High School Teachers and the thing they hate the most about the classes is the bored looking expressions on many of the kids faces. They tell me that they work with the School Principal and mentors to try to come up with ideas on how to get the kids to participate in activities where they will learn by doing. They also work on their public speaking skills so their tone and presentation is more dynamic and interesting. They learn all about the educational games and how to use technology in the classroom.
But even after all this work many of the kids are just plain bored. They just don't see how the material helps them and are bored by the subject. They are tired and told that it is cool to look and act bored. They don't want to be there and think the teacher is dumb.
If you are a teacher, how do you deal with bored looking students after you tried everything to be interesting and engaging and nothing seems to work?
Thinking that kids must be entertained at all times, instead of told to shut up and do their work, is the reason why our school system is failing so badly at preparing these individuals for life after graduation.
Good luck finding a job? Indeed. Good luck finding a job without the skills and discipline that are learned in the classroom.
In a booming economy, students have their choice. In a recession, the employer has the choice.
Still, I struggle to maintain student attention. Some classes are easy - even chemistry and physics. They are electives. Others, especially biology, are harder because (in part) they are compulsory.
If I can entertain, and there are many ways to do that, I will. If not, the student still needs to acquire the knowledge. That will be tougher for them, but that is life.
In my experience if you don't make an effort to entertain the students they will work together (close ranks) to make life miserable for you. If most of the kids turn against the teacher you are done. In most schools it is the kids who run the school, just like in prisons the convicts really run the prison. Our only power is tell them they have to be there.
Some good friends of mine are High School Teachers and the thing they hate the most about the classes is the bored looking expressions on many of the kids faces. They tell me that they work with the School Principal and mentors to try to come up with ideas on how to get the kids to participate in activities where they will learn by doing. They also work on their public speaking skills so their tone and presentation is more dynamic and interesting. They learn all about the educational games and how to use technology in the classroom.
But even after all this work many of the kids are just plain bored. They just don't see how the material helps them and are bored by the subject. They are tired and told that it is cool to look and act bored. They don't want to be there and think the teacher is dumb.
If you are a teacher, how do you deal with bored looking students after you tried everything to be interesting and engaging and nothing seems to work?
This is a growing problem. This is my 34th year and throughout this time period, I always have had those students who were "bored" and could care less about my subject and even most subjects. But as the years have progressed, this is problem is growing, and I hate to say it, but due to all the technology that we have, and even bringing MORE technolgy into the classroom takes away from its once "uniqueness", if that makes sense. Case in point is the POWERPOINT!!! It began as a different way to present information, but now it is literally "death by PP", as students have become almost immune (and numbed due to boredom) to it, and I can't fault them for that. Imagine having 6-7 classes and nearly every teacher presenting information that way? My eyes would be "glazed over" as well, and that is the reason why I have made only 3 of them in my entire career: two for lectures and one for like a jeopardy review. Yes, we can now make them active by embedding movies clips and such, and that can help, but again, it becomes an overload of the Same Old Stuff; plus also students then begin to think that writing in phrases and such is the way to deliver any message!
I often supplement my units now with short TED talks and clips found on Youtube, and sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. And as I sit and think about it, I have come to the realization that first the 'curioisty' of more and more students is lacking, and that is the main element which makes them want to pay attention and to learn. Most could care less about finding out the "why" of things. And second, they do not know how to make connections and to remember what they have learned or connected to in the past. For example, my son who is an excellent and innovation young history teacher had kids memorize 15 terms that are on the state final exam. He had them write the word down, noted the prefixes and what they mean, then define it, draw a picture of it (for aquaduct, he had them draw him in a duck costume floating down a duct full of water) and at times even made up rhyme. Fifteen words that they went over for weeks, and guess what, almost half of them failed the test, and why?? They cannot remember, make connections and just THINK (for honestly, who doesn't know aqua means water???). It is pathetic. And I have honors students and it is the same way. I can go over movie clips and we analyze speeches for rhetorical devices, yet let one week pass and we read something new and I ask,"Where is the anaphora?" most will say, "What is that"?? It is ridiculous as the net has KEPT the kids from learning things as they know they can just "look it up" which is really PASSIVE LEARNING which leads to BOREDOM. WHen kids tell me that the "book is boring", I tell them that books cannot be boring as that is a human quality; people are boring and the book is what YOU bring to it! but , too.
And finally, I do think most kids today are more inclined to just be "boring people" for they have no interests or hobbies; they don't belong to clubs or join sports in schools (and some have had to be dropped at mine due to lack of interest!) they have little creativity or drive; they don't help around the house; they don't know or care what is going on in the world; they do NOTHING!!!! All they worry about is their "sphere of influence" which involves their phones and computer. It is scary. I think too, this "nature deficit" that is now being talked about is playing a role as well. Kids NEED nature and to be out in it and enjoy it as it helps the brain!
All I know is that I am glad this is my last year and feel sorry for my son as his optimism that all new teachers have is slowly dissipating.
Last edited by Sagitarrius48; 11-11-2011 at 05:19 AM..
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
but 
, too. 
they have little creativity or drive; they don't help around the house; they don't know or care what is going on in the world; they do NOTHING!!!! All they worry about is their "sphere of influence" which involves their phones and computer. It is scary. I think too, this "nature deficit" that is now being talked about is playing a role as well. Kids NEED nature and to be out in it and enjoy it as it helps the brain! 
