Seven refreshers on motivating and engaging students

Screen Shot 2014-06-27 at 1.23.55 pmWhilst working with staff at schools, down to their passion and enthusiasm— I created some key strategies for passion for teaching and passion for learning.

Originally entitled the seven secrets, I came to the conclusion that the strategies weren’t really ‘secrets’, they are in fact reminders about effective practises that teachers utilise to motivate and engage their students:

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1. It’s not about us; it’s about them.

Great teachers share what they know, but they understand that they are not the focus. This doesn’t mean that we as teachers don’t matter. What it does mean is that instead of asking, “What am I going to do today?”, we have to ask, “What are my students going to do today?”

Our job as educators is not just to stand up in front of students and show them how smart we are. Rather, our job is to help students discover how smart they can become. 

It may sound obvious but as teachers, we sometimes begin the journey and forget to first ask our students, “Where are you? Where are you starting from?” It’s not enough to know our content. We also need to know the people we’re teaching and connect with them. 

2. Passion sells

You can’t fool your students – if you don’t love what you do, they’ll know. Research and experience tell us that the difference between a good teacher and a great one isn’t their subject expertise. The difference comes down to their passion and enthusiasm – passion for teaching and passion for learning. This passion is infectious. Students quickly recognise it.

Engaging and motivating students is much easier if we are passionate about what we do. This passion brings with it authenticity and credibility.

Credibility in the eyes of our students is essential for engagement. According to Stephen Covey, our credibility is based on our integrity, our intent, our capabilities and our track record. Our students are constantly judging us on these four factors. Take a moment to reflect now on your credibility in the eyes of your students. What three words would they use to describe you?

3. Students don’t care how much their teacher knows until they know how much their teacher cares 

The connection between the student and the teacher is essential to learning. Great teachers know their students well and connect with them. They have a genuine interest in helping their students succeed. 

If students sense their teacher doesn’t care, the student will quickly shut down and will be very reluctant to reconnect with that teacher again.

Every student needs at least one adult at the school who takes a genuine interest in them.

4. No one gets enough feedback

Feedback is the breakfast of champions, for teachers and for students. The importance of feedback to students has been highlighted by research in recent times. The work of John Hattie has emphasised the need for teachers to provide specific feedback to students about how they are doing and what they need to focus on. Students are more likely to engage when their teacher shows them how much they need to learn.

When a student is ready and eager to learn, teaching is easy. But some learners aren’t ready because they don’t think they need to improve. They don’t see the gap between where they are and where they need to be. 

It simplistic terms, good teachers are good at finding out what their students need to know and teach it. Great teachers find out what their students need to know and have a range of ways helping their students to learn it.

However, most teachers operate with little feedback. The art of teaching generally takes place in isolation. The egg crate analogy is generally alive and well in most schools. Individual teachers work away in their own classrooms with their own class of students.

Day after day teachers do what they think interest in helping their students succeed. is right, with the best intentions, within the confines of their own classroom. Many teachers continue to do what they have always done. They try to implement some of the initiatives they have learnt through professional development or through discussions with colleagues. Often they operate in isolation and rarely receive any feedback.

I believe that the vast majority of teachers want to be the best teacher they can be, however, receiving feedback on our teaching is rare. This is an area recently brought in to focus with a number of strategies being implemented to provide feedback to help teachers refine their practice.

Feedback from students is in most instances an untapped source of feedback for teachers. Rather than seeing feedback as a summative judgment, I’m an advocate for regular feedback from students (from around Year 4 up) directly to their own teacher, as a formative means of helping the teacher improve and refine their practises.

What would you want to know from your students? Here are some suggestions from my Happy School Student surveys.

  • Do they enjoy being in class?
  • Do they feel like they are learning and making progress?
  • Do they feel like you care about them?
  • Do they get help when they need it?
  • Are things being explaining clearly?
  • Do they know what they are learning and why?
  • Does the feedback they get help them we maintain high expectations that every learn? student can learn and avoid stereo-typing.
  • Have you made it clear to them how they are going to be assessed and what they need to concentrate on?

At the very least it would help us to know….

  • Is there something your teacher should do more of?
  • Is there something your teacher should do less of?

5. Give students what they want – the 3 C’s

No I am not suggesting that we give them easier work, less homework and better grades. What most students want from their teachers refine their practice. teachers is clarity, consistency and concern.

One of the biggest frustrations of disengaged students is the perception that their teachers are not clear; they are inconsistent; and their teachers don’t care.

My greatest fears are that these perceptions are widely held by the peers of these disengaged students, too, and teachers are oblivious. To find out if they are perceived this way, teachers need to be open to feedback from their students.

My guess is that great teachers would want to know and not so great teachers would prefer not to find out.

6. Expect every student can learn

Great teachers expect every student can learn. Great teachers recognise that success is not fixed or pre-determined. It is vital that we maintain high expectations that every student can learn and avoid stereo-typing.

To engage students, it is vital that we understand that students learn differently and cater for this accordingly. Great teachers understand that there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all teaching strategy. They have a repertoire of effective strategies and try different things to connect with their students. 

If their students don’t understand when concepts are first introduced to them, we can’t just start talking slower and louder. Great teachers come at the concepts from other points of view and give their students new ways to see things and time to improve.

7. Make it meaningful

To engage and motivate students, it is important that students see what they are learning as relevant. Wherever possible we need to connect what the students are learning to the real world. It helps them connect if we can explain why they need to know it.

Questions can be a great launching point for engaging learners. Deep, challenging questions can puzzle learners and capture their attention. Effective teachers understand that learning is about exploring the unknown and building from what the student already knows and understands. This exploration can be prompted by deep questions. By identifying areas of interest within the curriculum and presenting them as challenging open-ended questions we can capture the attention of students.

However, it is essential that the questions are deep, challenging and relevant rather than simply factual or recall prompts. 

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Steve Francis


Steve Francis understands the challenges and demands of being a principal. He has led a number of Queensland State Schools from a one-teacher school through to a large metropolitan school and was previously a member of QASSP Management Committee. After 18 years of successful principalship, Steve ventured with his family to Hong Kong as the principal of an international school for four great years. He returned to Queensland to start a new business venture supporting leaders to reach their potential, write three books, A Gr8 Life...Live it now!, Time Management For Teachers and First Semester Can Make Or Break You, and develop the Gr8 People educational resources and the Happy School articles. He is conducting a one day workshop ‘Establishing a Feedback Culture’ for QASSP members. Further details are on the QASSP website and www.stevefrancis.net.au