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On the surface, reluctant learners look like teens who don’t care about your lesson. They may zone out, act up, or make any excuse to get out of the classroom. But their reluctance has less to do with what’s happening in class and more to do with their identities as students.
The key to engaging reluctant high schoolers is to get them more interested in their own learning. Use these classroom strategies for reluctant learners in high school to build relationships, stoke curiosity, and build a learning team that focuses on student success.
1. Begin with a fresh start
No student wants to enter your classroom with their reputation already on your mind. When possible, learn as little about your incoming students as you can, and tell them that you don’t know anything about them yet.
Then you can get to know them yourself! Use ice breakers for high school students to learn more about them as individuals. You can also ask survey questions like “What should I know about you before the school year starts?” and “What are you most worried about for the upcoming year?”
2. Create personal relationships
Building trust with your reluctant learners is a big part of keeping them engaged. Use SEL check-in strategies to check up on struggling kids in your class who seem less interested in the instruction, including teacher-to-student journals for learners to keep you up to date on their lives.
Those personal relationships may be the difference between a high schooler who comes to school that day and one who doesn’t. They may also create safe places for students to come when they need to open up about difficulties at home or in other classes at school.
3. Build up foundational knowledge
Many students enter high school with gaps in their instruction, making many lessons and activities feel impossibly difficult. Start the year off with foundational lessons based on CCSS from the previous grade (or even the grade below that) to ensure students have the tools they need to succeed.
This foundational knowledge includes study skills. No matter what subject you teach, spend time showing students how to take notes, how to study for tests and quizzes, and how to balance their time between homework and other after-school activities. Once reluctant learners know that success is in their control, you’ll find their grades starting to rise.
4. Find new ways to assess learning
Reluctant learners often suffer from test anxiety, especially by the time they reach high school. They may become so nervous before your unit test or weekly quiz that they can’t properly demonstrate their knowledge, leading to lower grades (and lower student self-esteem).
Use different types of assessments in your class to help reluctant test-takers show what they know. Instead of written exams, ask students to turn in a summary of a lesson as an exit ticket before they leave. Conduct a casual formative assessment during a class discussion or group activity, and regularly check in with students who need more support. Once the dread of big tests is gone, you may find that engagement takes its place.
5. Make your lessons relevant (and interesting)
It may sound obvious, but one way to interest students in your lesson is to make your lesson more interesting. That doesn’t mean you need to skip important concepts or simplify complex topics, but it does mean you can make your instruction more applicable to their lives.
Use inquiry-based learning to foster their natural curiosity and sense of autonomy. Choose high-interest books and materials for reading activities, and encourage students to choose how they’d like to finish final projects. And if you can incorporate their phones and/or electronics into the lesson, you’ll get a lot more students paying attention!
6. Move your seating chart around
Given their choice, reluctant learners usually decide to hang out in the back of the classroom. That placement makes it easy for them to avoid answering questions, sleep in class, or chat with friends without you noticing.
While moving them to the front of the class may be too much too fast, consider putting reluctant learners right in the middle of your classroom seating arrangements. Then, shift seating charts around every few weeks to split up groups of disengaged students and keep an eye on learners who could use a gentle mid-lesson nudge.
7. Shift to a student-centered classroom
It’s no secret that teacher-centered classrooms are on the way out in the 21st century. Lecturing at the front of the room allows reluctant students to disengage easily, especially if they don’t understand what you’re teaching (and they’re not likely to ask questions about it).
Giving students active learning roles in student-centered classrooms lets them engage in ways they may not have before. Discussing topics with peers, investigating problems and solutions, working together in teams, and finding their own preferred methods for completing an assignment lets students take charge of their learning. It also frees you up for more one-on-one assistance as other students finish their work.
8. Ask them for help
Some reluctant learners feel like they don’t belong in a classroom community. Show them how valuable their contribution to your class is when you ask them for help, whether it’s handing out worksheets, sharpening pencils, or assisting with classroom organization.
Relying on reluctant learners for help puts them on your team, which keeps them from being an opposing force in your classroom. This is an especially helpful strategy for students who struggle with consistent attendance or who enjoy disrupting class to avoid finishing an assignment.
9. Give second (and third) chances
For many reluctant learners, one school failure is enough to reinforce their belief that they’re poor students. Prove them wrong by giving them extra chances in class, whether it’s extended deadlines for homework, opportunities to retake tests, chances to erase their worst test grade, or the ability to start over after an especially disruptive class period.
Take extra effort in ensuring that reluctant learners take advantage of these opportunities. Let them know that one mistake doesn’t define them as a person or a student, and that every assignment is a chance to learn something about themselves, even if it’s not about the subject matter.
10. Build a learning team
While some reluctant learners may have behavioral plans or IEPs, many do not. They’ve made it to high school with low to average grades and effort, so parents and school administration may not be concerned. Stop that train in its tracks with ample communication from the very beginning of the year, whether it’s weekly progress emails to parents or regular conversations with academic counselors (or ideally, both).
Help parents set up a homework ritual and show them how to check student progress in your online gradebook. Make counselors aware of students you’re concerned about, so they can monitor their success and reach out to them when needed. Schedule time with students’ other teachers to compare notes, and if possible, observe how reluctant students behave in other periods throughout the day.
11. Reward the journey, not the result
It’s easy for students to become reluctant learners when they believe one letter grade defines their whole semester of work. While you may not be able to change the whole report card system, set up expectations and goals in your classroom so high schoolers can see progress on a smaller scale.
Have all students set skill-based goals at the beginning of the year. Encourage reluctant students to focus on participation and completion goals, such as “I will turn in 90% of my homework” or “I will miss class fewer than 5 times.” Check in with students regarding their goals, and reinforce to reluctant learners that every small achievement adds up to big success.
How to Identify Reluctant Learners
When you examine the interaction between their academic success, classroom behavior, and general emotional affect, you’ll find that reluctant learners are easy to identify.
Reluctant high schoolers may exhibit some or all of the following signs:
- Disruptive behavior, ranging from behavior that requires immediate discipline to low-level disruptions
- Frequent attempts to avoid the assignment or activity, including repeated trips to the restroom, distractions in the classroom, and excessive socializing
- Sleepy or disengaged behavior, such as putting their head on the desk, falling asleep sitting up, or constantly doing other activities
- Chronically poor or inconsistent attendance in one or more classes
- Having average or poor grades in one or more classes
- Rarely turning in homework or classwork, or work is often plagiarized
- Inability to reach academic potential in class without any signs of learning disabilities
Reluctant learners may have very low grades and test scores, or they may be the students who just “get by” without doing much work. Either way, they are not engaged in your instruction and don’t meet your class expectations.
How Do Students Become Reluctant Learners?
Every reluctant learner is different, so it’s difficult to pinpoint when they began to separate themselves from the learning experience. However, reluctant learners may believe that they are poor students no matter how hard they try, so there’s no point in putting in effort when they feel they’re going to fail anyway.
Some reluctant learners may have formed this belief after facing negative feedback from parents or previous teachers, challenges with second languages or learning disabilities, or repeated examples of failing without intervention. Others may feel disengaged because the work is unchallenging or stressed because they lack the study skills needed to find success.
This belief can build an affective filter for the student, keeping them from believing that they can succeed in a classroom setting. To lift a student’s affective filter, teachers first need to identify why it’s there and what it would take for a student to feel successful.
What Does Student Engagement Look Like?
Maximizing student engagement is the goal for every teacher! In a successful classroom setting, engaged students may exhibit these behaviors:
- Showing curiosity about the lesson or subject matter
- Using study tools to pursue their own learning
- Asking and answering questions from peers and teachers
- Earning high participation grades and showing interest in improving academic grades
- Regularly attending classes
- Willing to review and/or redo work to master particular skills
- Eagerly discussing a topic or working on a project with a group
Imagine having a class full of learners like these! With a renewed focus on the student experience and a few helpful classroom techniques in your toolbox, you’ll be able to get most (if not all) of your students on board for a more engaged learning experience.
Create an engaging learning environment for all abilities
Whether they’re a hand-in-the-air student or a head-on-the-desk learner, everyone in your class can find success with the right tools and support. For more help on maintaining a positive and efficient classroom, follow our guide on classroom management strategies for any school setting. You can also find ways to implement high school special education resources to meet the needs and abilities of all students, no matter their struggles or situations.