3. Preventing the Problem

We can prevent the school absences in many ways. The most effective way is to ensure that every child is seen during the school day. Our course “Motivation and wellbeing” and coming course “Positive pedagogy” gives you also very good knowledge and concrete tools to create a good atmosphere and strong peer ties in the classroom. Those aspects are relevant also when we prevent phenomenon of school drop out. The following video shows You how the teacher can support one single struggling student and why it is important. After that You can learn tips to handle students with anxiety disorders or passive attitudes.

Task 4

Plan one exercise that you could use in the classroom to create better team spirit among the pupils in a group. Pay attention to pupils who do not have many friends or to pupils who seem to be lonely. How can you make sure that they will get the most out of the exercise ahead?

You can find out many tips to those exercises that create a good atmosphere in the classroom from our courses motivation and wellbeing and positive pedagogy.

How to help Students with Anxiety in the Classroom

If you recognise that a student is struggling socially or there are symptoms which indicates anxiety, you can easy their school day. Those tiny things can help the student so that he or she stays at school and feel themselves to be in safe.

Tips for approaching students with anxiety:

Be predictable, they do not like to be surprised negatively or positively.
Ask their needs, do not assume that You know those.
Say something positive every time You see attempt of progress or tiny steps of progress.
As a teacher accept the fact that recovery takes time and give all the needed time for Your student.
If You face the student having the panic attack, be calm and do not get emotional. Be calm and tell Your student that their life is not in danger and You be there with them.
Never ridicule, criticize, or minimize a person’s anxiety or panic attacks even if they are caused by things that You find negligible.
Encourage them to find help such as school nurse or therapy.

Task 5

Have You faced students with anxiety? What is the most tasking moment with them? Try to figur out the way to easy their being in the classroom.

How to react to unmotivated, passive and apathetic Students?

You may have faced the fact frustration and powerless feelings are coming in Your mind when there is totally unmotivated student in Your classroom. Nothing seems to work with them, sometimes they are at school only to meet their friends or they are forced to come there somehow. Read our tips for You to tolerate these situations.

Tips to overcome the feeling of powerlessness when You have unmotivated student:

If You nag, yell, or shame apathetic or unmotivated students, You make them feel worse. They will not start studying. Your are just wasting Your energy.
If You are threatening unmotivated kids with the possibility of failing in their studies, You will probably end up to situation where You think that if they are scared then they start studying. What really happens is that students defend and stop putting any effort to Your tasks. Making kids feel bad about their lack of effort does not usually create intrinsic motivation at all. You can try some external motivation instead, for example, if You do this tiny task, I will give You some time to use Your mobile phone at the end of the lesson.
Save your energy into creating well planned and interesting lessons for Your students, do not waste Your time to worry about the next lesson and unmotivated students. Do not let a few students’ bad attitudes or their behaviour stop You to enjoy Your work. Do not let them spoil the whole atmosphere of Your lesson. Keep working toward your vision, You are one in charge in Your classroom.