How to keep unmotivated middle schoolers engaged during homeroom
Mandatory homeroom periods often leave students tired, resistant, and only wanting to chat with friends, making free time impossible due to the risk of classroom chaos. Teachers end up feeling like babysitters because standard activities feel too hard or uninteresting, preventing students from participating without constant complaining.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
Found another way around this?
Share your steps and trade-offs so fellow engineers don't have to reinvent the wheel. No account required.
How to keep unmotivated middle schoolers engaged during homeroom
- 1Attempting to find and use low-cost dollar store activities to fill the timeDid this help you?
- 2Switching the class structure to a music appreciation class and doing worksheetsDid this help you?
- 3Incorporate popular music from TikTok or video game soundtracks to boost engagementDid this help you?
- 4Gamifying activities or adding brain breaks to let students relaxDid this help you?
- 5Working only with the students who want to participate and moving on from the restDid this help you?
- 6Having students read silently instead of aloudDid this help you?
- 7Having students read aloud in small groups at their tables simultaneouslyDid this help you?
- 8Teacher reading the passages aloud to the classDid this help you?
- 9Using model reading, echo reading, choral reading, partner reading, and performance readingDid this help you?
- 10Cold calling students to ask what paragraph the class is on and using a merit/demerit systemDid this help you?
- 11Using popcorn reading where one student picks the nextDid this help you?
- 12Asking a question before reading and then cold callingDid this help you?
- 13Using volunteers or an audiobookDid this help you?
- 14Using brute force daily lectures with specific listening cues and sarcasmDid this help you?
- 15Preloading students with answers for upcoming work during lecturesDid this help you?
- 16Having students identify key points independently and pair up for discussionsDid this help you?
- 17Using pop quizzes or threatening class assignments when students claim they have nothing to doDid this help you?
- 18Accepting that students cannot grasp the big picture and allowing them to take a break when assignments are finishedDid this help you?
- 19Cutting out technology and using word webs to generate ideas before writing sentences.Did this help you?
- 20Making fill-in-the-blank worksheets and giving students free time on their phones to avoid interactionDid this help you?
- 21Calling out students on disruptive behavior and asking probing questionsDid this help you?
- 22Providing opportunities for leadership roles and talk timeDid this help you?
- 23Harping constantly on graduation requirementsDid this help you?
- 24Emailing parents to warn themDid this help you?
- 25Homeschooling their own children instead of enrolling them in public schoolsDid this help you?
- 26Relying on leveled classes to separate students by ability and motivationDid this help you?
- 27Suggesting alternative ways to gain a diploma or trade skill in IEP meetingsDid this help you?
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“WE CANNOT KEEP PUTTING OUR ENERGY INTO THESE STUDENTS AND DRAGGING BEHIND THE REST.”source ↗
“I am teaching them again this year and I feel like giving up on them and the class.”source ↗
“I always try different approaches and want to figure out what works but I feel like I'm dealing with the most immature and unmotivated group of students ever.”source ↗
“At this point I feel like I just need to give up on them doing any real thinking and to start making fill-in-the-blank worksheets, do about 40 minutes of class and give them the other 20 to just play on their phones so I don't have to interact with them.”source ↗
“Sometimes I’m in a situation where I’m monitoring a study hall or something similar and a kid will tell me they have no work and nothing to do (so that’s why x thing was happening). I’ll tell them “there’s always something to study” and 100% of the time I’ll get a blank look and a “but I don’t have a test.””source ↗
“How do I teach kids that don’t want to learn?”source ↗
“This year not only is my beginner 6th grade class only like 8 kids, they don't want to be there!”source ↗
“Complains after complains aaaaall class, too tired, don't really like it, too hard, its too much, no other electives are good either tho, don't wanna do concerts, don't want to play their instrument today (everyday), they just wanna chat with their friends the entire class.”source ↗
“It's incredibly frustrating for those who should be excelling to be halted and have to go down to the level of the lowest common demoninator”source ↗
“after teaching high schoolers, I will now be homeschooling my own kids. The public school system is unfortunately now just a daycare for the uninterested and unmotivated”source ↗
“I would have had the same reaction as a student. Why study even if there is a test the next day. The teacher gave the material, I learned the material. Why do I need to learn it again?”source ↗
“I have a group of 30 7th graders who have no interest in any of these activities and essentially, it's like we're babysitting.”source ↗
“I can't just give them free time or the classroom will just be chaotic.”source ↗
“I'm looking for activities or ideas that I can do with them that will keep them engaged that they will actually enjoy doing.”source ↗
“It’s only September and I am starting to get burned out with student apathy.”source ↗
“I’m getting the most basic answers on open ended assignments or answers that have been copied and pasted from Google AI overview if technology is involved.”source ↗
“She made a comment that because some students weren’t tracking (they weren’t disruptive, just not following along because - they chose not to- that this is an ineffective activity.”source ↗
“I tried her option 2 as an experiment and had the students tell me that they cannot focus because there are too many people reading at the same time”source ↗
“I do not want them to read silently because many of them cannot pronounce some of the words and I need to know and help them build their skill.”source ↗
“So…. I cannot think of another way to do what I have been doing (which is effective, I think)”source ↗
“I do a lot of mini-lectures (10-15 mins), then have them do worksheets. Sometimes, I’ll do projects or stations but looking for other creative ways”source ↗
“I don’t know what subject you teach, but I’ll say, from my perspective in an inner city school district , I don’t ask my students to study or do anything without them being able to see what the reward is.”source ↗
“I taught for a year at a high school, and had kids tell me they were just waiting til they could drop out.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 5How to keep kids engaged during mandatory scripted lessons
- 12Why am I losing my motivation to teach?
- 5Why won't high school students participate in class discussions?
- 10How to balance classroom control with letting students talk
- 6How to get 100% engagement during partner share and turn & talk
- 5How do you survive teaching when students don't care at all?