Teachers Resource Force Blog

How to boost student engagement and motivation during online/hybrid learning

23/11/2020

Are you frustrated that your students are not completing their assignments right now as you navigate the new world of online or hybrid learning? Maybe they’re not engaging in your lessons? You can’t monitor what they’re doing as they learn from home, and can’t offer the same amount of support you would “pre-COVID”. If this sounds like you, you’re not alone.

Student engagement and motivation is challenging at the best of times, let alone when the world has turned upside down. Whether you are teaching online, face to face or hybrid, it’s a tough situation for all. Whichever model you are doing, the experience of education is all so different for students, as well as it is for you. I’m hearing so many teachers saying their students are feeling unmotivated and lost right now, and I think a lot of the feelings of despair and lack of motivation have to do with the unfortunate uncertainty of the future that is now at play. The world as we know it has changed drastically, and it is incredibly challenging for students to navigate their place in it.

Keep reading to learn ways in which you can help motivate and engage your students during these challenging times of online/hybrid learning.

How to boost student engagement and motivation during online/hybrid learning | Teachers Resource Force

How to motivate students while teaching face to face during COVID, online or hybrid:

Motivating all your students is challenging as you cannot make your students feel motivated. So what do we do? It was Dwight Eisenhower that said: "Motivation is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do because they want to do it".

So the question then becomes, how can we get students to want to get motivated?

The first thing that comes to mind is getting right back to the very core: "The Why".

Simon Sinek is famous for his inspirational "Start with the Why" TED Talk; I recommend you take a few moments to pause and watch it below, even if you have already seen it in the past! It still continues to blow my mind:

I believe if you follow Simon's model in helping your students get back to the very core of their "why", it could create a powerful shift for them in helping them feel more motivated to learn and succeed at school. What's more, when you encourage your students to do this and complete goal setting activities, the motivation then becomes personalised for every student, as we all know what works for one won't always work for another.

Also, while we may teach with our “why” in mind, our "why" isn't always aligned with our students'. This is why I believe it is important for students to reflect on their own reasons for wanting to get more motivated or succeed at school. Is it because they need particular skills/qualifications for a goal of theirs? Is it just so they can have something to focus on to keep their mind of their personal problems? Is it because they're competitive? Is it to prove someone wrong? And the list goes on!

Our "whys" as teachers can tend to be because we want the best for their future, but their reasons could be wildly different, perhaps even superficial. The key I believe, is to not judge or necessarily even influence their "why". Hence, this exercise might be best as a personal project for them to reflect on and use as their driving force for boosting motivation. They might even be more honest if their "why" remains completely private - in all honesty, my opinion is that it doesn't matter what their reason is, providing it doesn't hurt anyone and ultimately helps them succeed!

If helping your student find their why in order to help them get motivated is something you are interested in doing with your class, you are welcome to check out this goal-setting journal and PowerPoint which guides them through this process:

Of course you want your students to be successful. You give them all the support you can, but you also know that you can only do so much. Your students need to meet you half way. The best way to do this is to encourage them to want more for themselves and their life so they take some ownership over their own goals and dreams.

Enter this ultimate guide to setting powerful goals and living your best life journal! With this resource, you will receive a 42 slide PowerPoint Lesson to help teach and guide your students to successful goal setting using a scientifically proven 7 step process which they can record in their very own ready to go journals. No prior knowledge or experience is necessary as the PowerPoint guides you through each step!

Goal setting journal for students to help find your why | Teachers Resource Force

You can print all or a selection of pages from this 21 page journal and bind or staple them together, or give students the digital version so they can type straight onto the document. By encouraging and teaching your students how to set effective goals, you will find they will start caring more about their future, focus more in lessons, become more conscientious and start living their best lives. But as with all things, your students need to keep reflecting on their goals all year long to ensure they remain focused and driven.

So empower your students, encourage them to get motivated and help them live their best lives today with this journal!

DOWNLOAD JOURNAL FROM TPT

DOWNLOAD JOURNAL FROM TRF

What if your students need some extra motivation incentives in the short term:

Sometimes, you might find you need a more short-term solution to boost student engagement in lessons, whether it be participation during online lessons or encouragement to complete assignments. Here are some ideas for short-term incentives to boost student engagement:

How do you currently take attendance during online or hybrid teaching? It can be challenging if your students are not obliged to turn on their cameras. How can you prove they are really present and engaging in the lesson? Some teachers ask students to verbally contribute, but what if they’re too shy or declare technical difficulties!

An effective way around this issue, is to use the question option on Google Classroom as a way of taking attendance and getting them to write down whatever question of the day you are requesting, for example, a response to a morning meeting question such as these. The reason you might find an increase in engagement with this method, is because some students might be uncomfortable with engaging in lessons online, especially if they are choosing to not be on screen. Thus offering them the opportunity to type their responses in private will encourage student engagement, and provides you with a convenient documented record of attendance too.

For a more thorough check in, you could also use Google Forms; you can use these pre-made ones for well-being if you choose, and you don’t need to be using Google Classroom as an LMS to use them. Checking in on your students’ well-being is a useful thing to do in general to see how they're getting on and whether they have things they want you to know, that they might not feel comfortable sharing during an online call in front of the whole class.

wellbeing check in google forms | Teachers Resource Force

DOWNLOAD FORMS FROM TPT

DOWNLOAD FORMS FROM TRF

Another idea is to offer an incentive for participation during the lesson to encourage your students to remain focused on the call. For example, everyone who has engaged in the lesson in some way could get a reward at the end. Maybe a game of Among Us, a short video or a game of Kahoot!

If you find you would like more active participation from individual students during the lesson, you might find these distance learning digital rewards beneficial. When you wish to reward positive behavior or participation of your students, you can pull up either of the two Google Slides documents while sharing your screen online, and either share the link to the Slides with your students or get your students to call out for you to hit the space bar to freeze the screen and find out their reward. There is a regular text version or a special QR code option to add an extra air of mystery and excitement!

Distance learning digital rewards for online/hybrid learning | Teachers Resource Force

It is then up to them when they choose to cash in their prize. You will also receive a quick sheet to record once they have won a reward so you can simply tick off what they won and when they cashed it in.

The students love having the excitement of the “lottery”, and celebrating in class is also really motivating for the rest of the group too. So set up a modern and free reward system for distance learning with this resource and really create a happy buzz in your classroom – your students will look forward to your online lessons and will be on their best behavior, allowing you to concentrate on teaching and their learning!

DOWNLOAD REWARDS FROM TPT

DOWNLOAD REWARDS FROM TRF

To conclude:

Student engagement, motivation and participation were challenging at the best of times, and now with teaching in the COVID era, many classrooms whether online, hybrid or face to face, are now seeing these challenges exasperated. However, there are some ways you can help pull your students out of the despair many of them are experiencing. Finding their why through guided journaling and short-term incentives can help students navigate this new world of education as we know it, as the world battles a pandemic.

A special freebie for you:

To help you get started, I am offering you a free Initial Remote Learning Google Form Check In.

Gain an understanding on your student’s learning environment at home. In your classroom you can control the learning environment, but once it comes to remote learning that is out of your hands.

Learn what kind of device, internet access and study space they have as well as what their initial concerns are. This will help you determine what you need to do to meet the needs of your students as they juggle the challenge of remote learning from home. Download this for free today!

free remote learning check in google form | Teachers Resource Force

DOWNLOAD FOR FREE NOW

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Social Emotional Learning during distance and hybrid learning in 2020

19/10/2020

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Teaching remotely makes social-emotional learning more important than ever because your students have to distance themselves away from everything familiar to them: be that in school, with their peers, with their teachers and their whole experience of education. But how are you supposed to fit SEL and Character Education in as well as catch up on all their missed academics?

Supporting student SEL while distance learning | TRF.one

Social distancing is affecting your students’ social and emotional needs:

Now with blended learning and the change in how schools are working post-pandemic, your students might not be getting the support that they need or are used to receiving, and social distancing is in some way, affecting their growth and development.

You're not alone if you're worried about your students keeping up academically and catching up on all the work they have missed. But for students to make progress at school, it's essential to tend to their social and emotional needs too. Not all students have positive experiences at home and school is often their escape; not being able to have that space or the security of being near you and their peers, is challenging for them. Thus it's more important than ever that you support their social-emotional needs and help them build character in their personal development during these unprecedented times. Keep reading to learn how you can support your students' social-emotional learning, even from a distance.

You can integrate social-emotional teaching within your remote lessons:

There is always pressure to focus on academics, especially after students missed many months of school last year. It can be agonising wondering how you are going to squeeze social-emotional learning into your day on top of academics. But it doesn't have to be one or the other. You can integrate SEL into your regular teaching, and it doesn't have to take much time out of your day to support your students with their well being. Here are a few steps that you do to can integrate SEL and well being into your regular teaching that will make a world of difference for your students.

You can integrate social-emotional teaching within your remote teaching | TRF.one

Ideas for integrating SEL and student well being into distance learning:

If you've not tried affirmations with your students yet, they are incredibly powerful if used in the right way. If you would like to learn more about how to use affirmations, you can check out this article on Why affirmations haven’t worked for you and the key step you are missing. You can download a set of resilience affirmations for free at the end of this article, to share with your students. These particular affirmations are great for wellbeing because students can colour them in and also answer the questions that help reinforce and develop resilience.

Another way you can help develop your students’ well being is through one-to-one attention where possible. This can be in the form of online calls or direct messages via email, Google Classroom or whichever Learning Management System (LMS) you are using. By providing opportunities for one-to-one attention, even if it's just for a few minutes, will make all the difference in helping you understand your students. Furthermore, your students will feel comforted in knowing they are being listened to and that you care about them.

Of course, sometimes one-to-one calls might not be possible. In this case, the use of check-in forms such as these, is very beneficial. You can share a Google Form with your students, and they can express themselves and their needs through this form and feel heard. It is straightforward for you to analyse the information and see where particular students might be struggling; that will enable you to support them individually based on their own needs.

Another effective way to support your students SEL is by helping themfocus on their goals or their purpose. This is especially important at this time where routines are very different; being home all day can make anyone feel like their purpose is lacking, and thus it can be harder to set and stick to goals. One way you help your students through this is via a Goal-Setting Journal. This journal will guide them through setting goals for various areas of their life, and it will help them structure their goals so that they are more likely to achieve them. By sharing these journals with you, you can help keep them accountable by checking up on them and seeing how they are making progress.

Finally, you can support your students’ social and emotional learning by helping them develop character. You can help them do this via the use of Daily Morning Meetings for Character Development. You can choose a character trait for the month, and every day in your online call or via your LMS, you can start your day with a quote and a prompt. Students can document their responses to these prompts using the included journals, and this will encourage them to think about developing specific character traits and how they can incorporate these skills into their own lives.

Daily morning meetings to help develop character | TRF.one

You can also encourage them to think of others during these challenging times by developing the character trait of kindness. You can easily do this through colouring compliment notes, which come in both printable and digital versions. You can learn more about how to use these notes to start a kindness project in your own school here. By encouraging your students to offer people compliments and do good deeds for others, it will help build character and develop their social-emotional learning.

To conclude:

Try using some of these ideas to integrate social-emotional learning into your remote teaching. As you can see, they do not have to be complicated or take much time away from academics. But by showing your students that you care and are helping them through these challenging times, will make all the difference in their lives.

Download resilience colouring affirmations for free to support your students with their social-emotional learning:

Remember, you can download the free resilience animations here to help your students develop their resilience, especially during these unprecedented times when they need it more than ever.

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Bell ringer starter activities to do with your online class during distance learning

21/9/2020

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It can be tricky knowing what kind of bell ringer starter activities are suitable to do with your online class while you're waiting for everyone to arrive.Distance learning is a very different world to navigate!

Bell ringer starter activities to do with your online class during distance learning | TRF.one

It can be challenging keeping students engaged from a distance:

You’re not alone if you’ve been finding yourself stuck not knowing what to do with your students while you’re waiting for them to arrive online. You want to have fun yet meaningful activities to do with your students and ensure that they are engaged and excited to be there. If you’ve been struggling to think of suitable digital bell ringer activities for distance learning, keep reading for some ideas to help.

Distance learning bell ringer activities can transform your online lessons:

Imagine preparing for your online lessons, and instead of the awkwardness as you are waiting for students to join, you can have a foolproof list of go-to activities ready in your arsenal. Knowing that these activities will help keep your online calls fun and engaging as well as help build a classroom community, renders them influential in encouraging attendance to your online lessons.

Quizzes are always an engaging and meaningful way of keeping students entertained:

Fun tools to keep in your online lesson arsenal are quizzes. For example, many students love riddles as they stimulate their minds. Theseriddle bell ringers are easy to use in an online call: you can share your screen with the class and then click to reveal the answer when you're ready. It's a good idea to leave some time for personal reflection before you do so. To encourage engagement, students can record on a piece of paper or device what they think the answer is, and then everyone can hold up their answer on the screen at once! If you would like a set of riddles to try out in your online classroom, you can download a week's worth of questions for free here.

Another fun game you could introduce is "True or False". These games are ideal if you want full participation from all your students as you can send them a link to a true or false web-deck where there are a range of questions based on a particular theme. Students flick through each fact and select whether they think it is true or false. They receive immediate feedback on the answer, so as they are playing, they are learning facts about that particular topic as well. The beauty of this method is that every student can participate! If you would like to try out the true or false web-decks, you can check out this one for free on the Coronavirus.

Quizzes are always an engaging and meaningful way of keeping students entertained | TRF.one

There are also some physical games you can do during online calls which are great to get students moving. Some examples include scavenger hunts, virtual contests and show and tell activities. If you would like to learn more about how they work, you can read the article on building community while distance learning here.

Finally, if you are looking for some interactive activities where the whole class is involved and playing together, here are some great online quizzes that would work exceptionally well for online calls:

Kahoot is one of my all-time favourites, and students cannot get enough either! You reveal a question on your screen, and students can use their devices to select the answers simultaneously. This means everyone is involved in taking part, and it's always an enjoyable time for all concerned!

Some other sites that work similarly are Quizizz and Gimkit: all students are interactively involved in competing against one another based on a topic of your choice, and engagement is always through the roof!

To conclude:

There are lots of fun activities that you can do in your online calls to help your students remain engaged, motivated and excited! In addition, these games can help increase attendance and help keep the classroom community spirit alive while distance learning.