Hints that Help the Apathetic Student

The following hints and ideas assume that the teacher is trying to help motivate students who are apathetic and/or at-risk for failure due to apathy or learned helplessness.

• Bad grades do not serve as motivation for students who already believe that they cannot achieve better grades. Teachers should emphasize learning, not grades or performance. Discussions of “failure” in class may only discourage apathetic students.
• Nurturing in an age-appropriate way is helpful. Humans have a need to be validated as worthy of attention. If positive attention is not forthcoming, negative attention is perceived as better than being ignored.
• Learning tasks should be made relevant to the students’ lives and things that are of importance and interesting.
• Students benefit from having choices of assignments. This gives them some control of events that they may feel they have lost. They become empowered. 
• Teachers should make an extra effort to know and understand the apathetic student and realize that there are fundamental differences that separate them from most of their classmates.
• Teachers should find positive traits and accomplishments to reinforce. These might include basic things like a single correct idea, good handwriting, a clever observation, etc.
• Use a team effort of other teachers and professionals in the school to arrive at a plan for apathetic students.
• "Tough love" methods can be counterproductive when used by those inexperienced not familiar with the techniques.
• Beware of warnings from other teachers about their experiences with difficult students. Teachers should plan based on objective information and techniques.
• Make a special and patient effort to establish a caring relationship; offer extra help before it is requested.
• Recognize that apathetic students may have reading and math deficits and try to offer lessons that recognize these deficits.
• Stay in touch with parents and drop hints about how they can help.
• Don't give up!

Find more articles on education by Harvey at http://harvey-craft.suite101​.com/