Tips to Deal with Lazy Students

Having a lazy student in your class is quite irritating. However, dealing with lazy students is not so difficult. Here are some tips to deal with lazy students:

• First you need to communicate acceptable standards for participation in class. Ensure that students understand these requirements and know how they are expected to meet them. Also make sure to hold all students to these standards. To establish the requirements, you need to be consistent.
• You need to engage lazy students in classroom discussions and activities. Involve them in class by asking questions about daily assignments. If a student knows that he will be called and asked questions, he will definitely do the work. If you know that a lazy student is unprepared, don’t question him as it will cause embarrassment on his part.
• During class discussions, give proper time to students to answer your questions. Silence is as uncomfortable for students as teachers so students will be prompted to respond.
• Praise lazy students for answering your questions even if these are not correct. It will encourage students and build confidence in them to speak up and participate. If you have to criticize a student, try to disguise that criticism as a compliment.
• If a student shows inappropriate behavior, meet that student to discuss bad behavior. You can even hold a meeting with your colleague to ask for an appropriate action. Never meet the student or colleague in front of other students.
• In severe cases of bad behavior, you can remove students from class. If there are some other disciplinary actions provided by institution, follow them.