10 Most effective tips for increasing student engagement

Hey there, fellow educators, and future elite tutors! Have you ever looked at your students and seen blank faces during a lesson or caught them checking their phones? 

If so, you are not alone, we’ve all been there. It simply means your students aren’t fully engaged in the lesson.

What if I told you that turning your lessons into fascinating experiences is easier than you think? 

Get ready, I've got some tried-and-true tips on making your teaching sessions so engaging, that your students may get surprised when the lesson is over!  

1. Start with a Hook

To engage your students right from the beginning, think of your lesson as watching a movie. If it doesn’t catch your attention in the first few minutes, you’ve probably already lost interest in continuing. 

The same goes for your students, you need a strong opening to grab their attention. 

Begin with a hook, it can be an interesting fact, a surprising question, a short article, or a video clip. For example, if you're teaching about the solar system, start with, "Did you know that a day on Venus is longer than a year on Venus?".

If your topic is art, ask, “What makes modern art so expensive?”, and show a brief video on the topic. Intriguing, right? Your students will be curious to learn more.

2. Include Technology 

Today's students are, so-called, digital natives. Hence, you can use technology to your advantage and integrate interactive elements like Kahoot! quizzes, educational games, or virtual reality tours. 

Tools like these not only make learning fun but also cover different learning styles.

I love seeing the happy faces of adults learning irregular verbs in English through games. Plus, it gives you a chance to take a breather while the tech does some of the heavy lifting!

3. Make It Relatable to Their Life

Students engage more when they see the relevance of what they're learning. Ask them about their jobs, interests, and hobbies, and try to relate your lessons to real-life scenarios or personal interests. 

If you have students who enjoy storytelling or blogging, encourage them to write their own short stories or blog posts. 

Imagine how student engagement increases when a topic like fractions you will explain using pizza slices or music beats. It’s a memorable example, they’ll recall every time they eat a slice of pizza. 

Similarly, when discussing history, connect past events to current ones. In the end of the day, history repeats itself. 

When students see the connection between their lives and the subject matter, they'll more likely pay attention.

4. Get Your Students Moving

Include physical activity in your lessons. Movement helps students stay alert and improves focus. 

Simple activities like moving to different corners of the room based on their answers, or taking a quick stretch break, can make a big difference. 

If you teach online, you can incorporate movements too. Encourage your students to stand up or do small exercises during breaks. 

One of my favorite online games is "Simon Says," where you give instructions related to lesson content, such as:

"Simon says point to where you think north is," or, "Simon says to make the shape of Italy with your arms" in a geography lesson.

"Simon says show me an acute angle with your arms," or "Simon says jump the number of times equal to 3 squared" in a math lesson.

"Simon says touch your nose if the word I say is a verb," or, "Simon says act out the meaning of the word I'm about to say in Spanish" in a language lesson.

5. Use Storytelling Memorization

People love a good story and on top of it, it is a powerful memory tool, and it is very helpful to catch attention and engage. 

Include storytelling in your lessons to make them more engaging. It does not matter what is the topic. It can be a historical event, a scientific discovery, or a mathematical concept, presenting information as a story can make it more memorable. 

For instance, I remember a teacher who used to explain concepts through stories, and twenty years later, I still remember many of them. 

Add characters, conflicts, and resolutions to make the content come alive. I love using this technique when explaining new vocabulary to my students using mini stories. Students tend to memorize around 80% of the new vocabulary at once.

6. Active Participation 

Create an environment where every student feels comfortable participating. Use Socratic questions that require students to think and analyze before responding. 

Remember, give your students space to think and analyze, don't focus too much on the answers but give them opportunities to learn and grow.

Include group discussions, to foster communication and peer-to-peer teaching, where they teach each other as equals and review each other’s work. 

This promotes a sense of community and collaboration. 

7. Incorporate Hands-On Activities 

Learning by doing is one of the most effective ways to involve students. Incorporate hands-on activities like experiments, building models, creating art projects, or role-playing being a reporter, whose task is to deliver news using new words. 

These activities help students apply what they've learned, and make the lesson more interactive and enjoyable, and improve information retention.

8. Show Enthusiasm

We all have different days, and sometimes students come to the lesson tired, angry, or simply indifferent. Should you do something about it? Yes, and it is very simple, be enthusiastic.  

Enthusiastic people are contagious. Do you have that friend who is always happy, loud, and excited about everything? How does it make you feel?  

When you're excited about the lesson, your students are more likely to be excited too. Don’t be shy, show your passion for the topic, use expressive body language, and vary your tone of voice to keep things alive and catchy. 

Imagine two scenarios. One tutor starts a lesson in a monotone voice and informs that today’s topic of the lesson is very complex and requires a lot of effort to understand. But he will try to explain it easier.

Another tutor starts a lesson in a happy and vivid tone, asking students how their mood is, and says that by the end of the lesson, they will be proud of themselves and even happier, as they will easily understand one of the most sophisticated topics.

Which tutor would you prefer to lead your lesson?

Research performed by Keller et al. shows that teacher enthusiasm has a significant impact on student engagement and learning. Remember, a positive and enthusiastic attitude will transform the classroom atmosphere.

9. Give Them a Choice

Students appreciate having some control over their learning. Offer choices, such as selecting between different assignments, topics for projects, or ways to demonstrate their understanding.

Multiple scientific highlight the positive effects of providing students with choices on their activity, intrinsic motivation, and academic performance.

It works the same way as with kids when you offer them milk from a red or yellow cup. In the end, they feel empowered, even if the result is the same.

10. Reflect and Adjust

Finally, always reflect on your lessons and seek feedback from your students. Don’t finish your lessons with “Do you have any questions?”, the answer is mostly always silence or a no, and that is not what you want. 

What you want is to know: What worked well? What didn’t? What did they like and why? This approach helps you continuously improve your lessons and keep students engaged. 

Be open to adjusting and trying new approaches. 

Research conducted by Hattie and Timperley shows that feedback and reflection improve learning and engagement, and are critical to improve teaching effectiveness.

Remember, teaching is a dynamic process, and flexibility is key to meeting the needs of your students.

To wrap up, engaging your students doesn't have to be a Herculean task. With a little bit of creativity, enthusiasm, and willingness to adapt, you can make your lessons more dynamic, enjoyable,  and engaging. 

Try these tips and watch your classroom transform into a hub of active, eager learners. I hope you will find them helpful and wish you happy teaching! And remember being a tutor or being a teacher means you are a student for life. 

I am about to launch a course, specifically designed for new and existing tutors, where I'll share my 12 years of teaching experience, best practices, and valuable insights into becoming a successful tutor. You can learn more about the course and join the waiting list on our homepage.

Until next time, keep inspiring and keep learning!