My high school students were very clear about their lack of interest or motivation. They practiced their slumping and eye rolls with the precision of a surgeon. One particular pet peeve: the yawn so loud that the lesson would screech to a halt, like a needle across a record. While it would be easy for me to take this disengagement personally, I often had to remind myself that motivation and engagement often represent where students are developmentally, emotionally, and cognitively.
Adolescents are more engaged when they understand the purpose behind their learning and feel a sense of ownership over it. Without these intentional actions to increase student buy-in, motivation disappears. Try out the following strategies to re-engage middle and secondary students while retaining high expectations.
Real World Connections
Students can be quick to dismiss work that feels disconnected from their lives. To ensure this connection, try the following:
- Tie content to current events, social issues, or real problems.
- Ask students to identify how the skill could be useful now or in the future.
Offer Autonomy Within Clear Structure
Adolescents crave independence, but they still need boundaries. Students experience motivation when students feel trusted to complete the work within high expectations.
- Offer choice in topics, texts, or examples while keeping learning targets consistent.
- Let students demonstrate their learning by choosing partners, roles, or formats.
- Provide timelines with checkpoints rather than set due dates for every task.
Make Effort Feel Worth It
Some disengaged middle and high school students aren’t unmotivated; they’re discouraged or overwhelmed. Repeated academic struggle can lead to students shutting down.
- Chunk assignments into manageable phases.
- Share exemplars so students know what success looks like.
- Give feedback that focuses on growth and next steps, not just what’s missing. And provide it often!
Building Student Relationships
Students who like their teachers are often motivated by them.
- Learn students’ names quickly and use them.
- Check in when a student’s behavior or performance changes.
- Listen without immediately correcting or problem-solving.
Students don’t need teachers to be cool; they need teachers to be consistent, fair, and human.
From Compliance to Thinking
Busywork is not engaging. If students sense the task doesn’t require thinking, their engagement will be low.
- Replace worksheets with discussion, problem-solving, or application.
- Ask open-ended questions with more than one reasonable answer.
- Invite debate, reasoning, and justification.
When students are intellectually challenged, disengagement decreases.
Make Effort Feel Worth It
Students sometimes avoid learning tasks not because they don’t care, but because the work feels intimidating or exposes gaps in their confidence.
- Acknowledge when learning may be challenging.
- Teach resilience strategies for managing frustration and cognitive overload.
- Continue to expect concerted effort, even when the task is overwhelming.
Adolescents are balancing identity, peer pressure, emotional regulation, and academic demands. When we respond to students with structure and meaningful work, we teach students how to engage even when learning feels hard. That’s a skill they’ll need long after they leave our classrooms.
About the Author
Betsy Butler (she/her) is a Professional Learning Specialist at Teaching Channel. She holds a B.A. in English, a Master’s in Education, and has been teaching since 1992. Betsy uses her three decades of teaching experience to write and revise our courses while selecting the perfect accompanying texts. Her specialty areas include ELA, special education topics, behavior management, and mental health.
Fun Fact: Betsy’s daily conquest is solving the New York Times crossword puzzle!
