As a teacher, your mind always looks for ideas to make studying fun. Thankfully many schools do take school activities seriously and do all they can to support the teachers in conducting these fun activities. Most of these activities are designed considering a bigger picture. They are informative and entertaining and help students learn essential skills that cannot be taught from books. For students, however, school activities may sound boring. Of course, every class has a few kids who are always enthusiastic and eager to participate in activities, but you are responsible for the future of the whole class and not just those few students. If they are not participating, maybe we could change the activities, or the way they are conducted; maybe you as a teacher could bring some changes in yourself. There could be many ways to increase student participation depending on the reason why they don’t tend to participate. Nevertheless, here are some ways that will certainly change the scenario of classroom participation in your school.
Why do students find it difficult to engage in school activities?
You should start by figuring out why your students don’t like to participate. For some students, it is their reserved personality. They shy away from actively engaging with other classmates and teachers. No doubt there would be students who think participation in school activities is worthless and they’d rather do something more meaningful. Unfortunately, some students also happen to be around bad teachers in the past. Experiencing humiliation from a teacher for making a blunder can leave a huge impact on the child’s mind resulting in them refraining from taking part in school activities. The reasons could be endless. We never know what might be going on in the student’s mind. Still, try talking to them to understand the reason behind their action. Once you know the reasons, things will become easier.
How to get students to participate in school activities
Incorporate learning and fun
Find a way to bring fun and studies together. The easiest way to improve student participation is to make things fun. Kids love to play games and have fun more than they like studying or attending guest lectures. Even if you do arrange guest lectures, find a speaker who can engage well with students and is patient if the response from students is low. You can add a few quizzes and games in between the other activities. You could also decide on a theme for the event and set the stage accordingly. Conducting an after-school event is also a great idea.
Stick to their interests
You sure do have a lot of ideas when it comes to school activities. But try to think about what your students like and what they don’t. For example, a quiz is a great idea to make things fun and also give information. But your students may not be fond of quizzes. Then you can try something they like, for example, a fun group project. Try to figure out what they like and if you are not able to, just ask them. Suggestions from your students might actually surprise you.
Do not let other students make fun of someone for failing
School life becomes a nightmare for some kids because of the bullying and humiliation they face from their peers. It is only natural to feel bad when you are not able to do something and are embarrassed in front of so many people. However, kids can sometimes be really mean, and this could hamper the self-confidence and self-esteem of other children. Children will never participate in school activities after such experiences.
If you see someone teasing the other child for not being able to do something properly in a school activity, try your best to stop them and convince them that what they are doing is bad. Instead of punishing them, just have a talk so that they understand why you are stopping them.
Moreover, you should also counsel the kid who was teased so as not to lose confidence so easily. Help them get up on their feet after a fall until they learn to get up on their own. You can even take help from parents to make these kids mentally strong and empathetic.
Include group activities
Many students are hesitant to participate in school activities. But once they do, they start enjoying it. The best thing about group activities is that they demand everyone’s contribution. So if a shy kid is placed in a group, they will have to participate with the group. Also, because they are not alone on the stage, it could keep their anxiety in check.
You need to show excitement in conducting activities
I need you to do some self-reflection now. Do you look interested in the activities held in the class or the school? To improve student participation, you need to work on how you look at these events as well. Feel invested even in small classroom activities. Children love to see someone excited to watch their performance. Make sure to maintain eye contact when the kids are speaking. If you think you are incapable of doing this, you can take help from services that organize special events for school children to host your school activity.
Make sure to appreciate their efforts
Only showing excitement for the activity wouldn’t suffice. Children are hungry for some good words. Compliment their performance when they perform well, and even if they fail, make sure to appreciate their efforts. A little appreciation can go a long way to encourage participation in school activities.
Take some time with the shy students
You will see the quiet students mostly occupying the corner seats and trying to hide behind the kids in front. Some of them are actually intelligent and know what to say in the ongoing class discussion, but they are too shy to say even a word. Motivate students to speak up in the class discussions.
Provide students with a lot of opportunities to showcase their talents in front of everyone. Giving students so many chances to show their skills will ensure participation from reserved personalities as well. Give them the push they need. Encouraging and motivating the students is also your job as a teacher.
Arrange some small gifts for participation
If it is possible, arrange a token of appreciation for the winners as well as participants. Children love to receive a little gift now and then. This will also ensure that they will not feel very displeased upon not performing too well. Moreover, if one student gets a gift others will want to have it too. This will, in turn, increase the number of students participating in school activities.
Try not to give gifts for every activity, we do not intend to make them fall in love with only materialistic things.
Take feedback from students and their parents
When you are not able to figure out what your students want, what they liked about the activity, and what they didn’t, just take help from them to figure it out. Make sure to have a word with the class to get some feedback on the recent activity. Well, most students won’t give honest feedback, but you can try. If you can bring yourself to behave like a friend with them, getting feedback won’t be that difficult. You can also ask them if they enjoyed the lecture towards the end; it will also help you to create a healthy classroom learning environment.
Grade participation
I wouldn’t recommend this method but if nothing is working, then use it as a last resort. Participation grades will make class participation and participation in other co-curricular activities mandatory. Pressuring the children to participate is never the ideal method to get them to participate, but when all the doors get closed, you have to use this mean method.
Is participating in school activities really important?
Of course, it is. These activities have a dual advantage. They can be very informative and at the same time, they help in developing soft skills. We see a lot of new generation lacking social skills because most of their conversations happen on mobile phones. School activities are a great platform to help them with social interaction.
It is also a great way to allow students to explore new skills and test existing ones. Children in school always try to discover new things and find what they like. Giving them a chance to see different things and trying them out will help them figure out their goal in life.
For students with a very reserved personality, there is nothing worse than performing in front of an audience. But it is only in school that they can get a free audience and a chance to make mistakes and do multiple takes. In the real world, when they will have to present their ideas in front of people who are always ready to criticize, these kids will have a really tough time expressing themselves. So if you can train them in school, they will excel in life.
Another skill your students will learn is time management. It is not easy to make time for studies and extracurricular activities simultaneously. Gradually they learn how to manage their time properly.
Bottom line
As a teacher, you might be weighing studies more than extra activities, but you shouldn’t. Student participation in school activities is as important as getting good marks. Help them solve their problems so that they can participate and grow.
If the kid’s parents aren’t supportive, try to meet them and talk to them about how much their kid can develop by participating. I will ask you to meddle even when the parents force the kid to participate. There is a difference between pushing them and giving them a push. Later will ignite an inner desire to participate in activities; the former will only cause them mental stress.
The biggest solution to the problem of students not participating is by talking to them. And when they do open up to you, make sure you take responsibility for their trust in you. Don’t let them down. I am not asking you to fly them to the mountain peak; just be the strong rope they will need to climb up.
