Students Won’t Participate? 5 Quick Fixes

If your students won’t participate in class, give minimal answers, or seem completely disengaged, you’re not alone. Low student engagement is one of the most common challenges in middle and high school classrooms, and it shows up in frustrating ways: blank pages, surface-level responses, off-task behaviour, and silence during discussions.

When students are disengaged, the problem usually isn’t your lesson. They’re stuck, overwhelmed, or unsure how to respond…and pushing forward rarely fixes it.

What you need in those moments are quick, effective classroom strategies that re-engage students without starting over.

Here are 5 quick fixes: simple, in-the-moment moves you can use to get students participating again, improve focus, and bring your lesson back on track fast.

Quick fixes for students who won’t participate:

• Run a quick “Support It” challenge

• Shrink the task

• Use a turn-and-talk

• Add a fast - but focused - energizer

• Build in time for chat and tech breaks 

1. When students give vague, surface-level answers

What it looks like:

You’ve asked a question and all you get is:

• “I’m not sure… it just shows he’s nice.”

• “Because that’s what happened.”

• “I dunno…”

• Crickets…

What to do: Run a quick “Support It!” challenge

Stop the class and say:

“Okay, folks. We’re going to do a challenge right now. I am going to give you a hot take about a character, and you have to support it - or not. You can choose to disagree, as long as you support it with evidence - and not with something vague. Not with ‘because I think so.’ With real evidence. That’s the challenge.”

Give them:

• A simple claim you provide OR

• One based on a response a student already gave

• Two minutes to find one piece of evidence

• The choice to do it on their own or with a partner

Then model or prompt:

• The character is ___

• For example, she ___

• This shows ___ because ___

This strategy works because there’s an expectation to use a structure, the task is clear, and framing it as a “challenge” makes it more interesting.

I would suggest you try this the first time with something relatively easy: an obvious character trait, for example. This will allow students to practice and get in the habit of quickly finding evidence. Then, the next time, make it more interesting by picking something about the character that could be debatable.

• Learn how to teach students to support claims with evidence

• Try this ready-to-use (and free!) lesson plan for teaching textual evidence

2. When students are staring at the page, not working

What it looks like:

You have given your students a task, and some are working. But there are also:

• Heads down or eyes anywhere but on the task

• Blank or unfinished pages 

• Distracted, off-task students

What to do: Shrink the task 

For example, you have given students a writing or thinking task, and you have someone unable to get started. Say:

“Forget the whole paragraph for now. Just do this one thing.”

Then, give them a micro-task. For example:

• “Write ONE sentence about how the character feels.”

• “Circle one word that stands out and explain why.”

• “Add just one more example to support this point.”

This strategy works because it allows the student to focus on one thing at a time. Yes, I know they should be able to do more, but if they are staring at a blank page, you need to get them jump-started. Shrinking the task reduces overwhelm, gets them moving, and can build momentum quickly.

However, you must circle back soon and give them another small task to do once they’ve completed the first!

3. When the discussion is flat, or no one is participating

What it looks like:

• You ask a question… crickets

• The same 2–3 students do all the responding

• Everyone else checked out

What to do: A turn-and-talk

Say:

“I’m going to give you something to think about...”

Give a clear prompt:

• “Do you agree with the character’s choice? Yes or no - and why?”

Set a timer for 1–2 minutes to allow students to consider their answer. Then set it again for another 2-3 minutes and have them share their answer with a partner. Then pull a few responses from volunteers.

This strategy works because it allows students time to think, it lowers the risk, it gets everyone thinking and talking, and it can build confidence quickly.

Learn how to use this strategy!

4. When the energy is low and students are mentally gone

What it looks like:

• Slumped posture

• Slow responses

• That end-of-day (or mid-winter) fatigue

What to do: Reset with a fast, structured energizer or brain break

These give students a quick reset with activities that allow them to refocus.

Use them anytime to:

✅ Provide a fun, energizing “break” after a content-heavy lesson or period of work

✅ To refocus attention after transitions

✅ Wake students up whenever you think you’re losing them

✅ Review skills you’ve already done

✅ Warm-up at the beginning of a class

✅ Fill in the last few minutes of a class that has finished early

✅ Instill some fun that focuses on learning

✅ Show students that learning CAN be fun

This strategy works because it re-energizes students while still keeping them focused on learning.

If you’d like some energizers that are ready to go when you need to pivot, you’ll love my ready-to-use ELA Energizers & Brain Breaks -  read more about how to use them in your classroom.

5. When Phone Use and/or Chatter is Constant

What it looks like:

• You are battling for students’ attention

• Student phone use is preventing them from working

• Chatter and misbehavior is disrupting learning

What to do:  start by trying breaks and, if that doesn’t work, create a code of conduct.

Sometimes students just need a break; it’s hard to sit and listen all day - you know that from PD days, right? 

I found that giving my students a 2-3 minute break in the middle of class (or when it makes sense) made all the difference in the world. They could chat, check their phones, or just check out. Then knew they had to earn the break, and that really helped too. 

• Read more about that here.

But what if the break doesn’t work? What if you can’t get them off their phones or to stop talking? 

My greatest successes came when I had a heart-to-heart talk with students, and we worked together to create solutions. These solutions became agreed-upon codes of conduct that I could use as a reference and that allowed students to feel they had a voice in the climate of the classroom. Read more about them in the links below:

• How to control a chatty class
• Creating a cell phone code of conduct

This strategy works because you are showing students that you care about the fact that it can be hard to focus and that you will work with them to come up with solutions.

If you feel like your students have checked out

The instinct is to push through, but when students are checked out, pushing harder usually doesn’t work.

Pivoting to a re-engagement strategy can be just the thing you need to keep things on track. These quick fixes aren’t extra, though; they’re the moves that help you get your lesson back without starting over.

These are 5 quick fixes you can use when students won’t participate or seem completely disengaged.

Want Some Quick Fixes Ready to Go?

If you want these kinds of quick pivots already built for you—with prompts, structure, and student-friendly formats—you might love my ELA Energizers & Brain Breaks.

They’re designed for exactly these moments:
✔ When students are stuck
✔ When energy is low
✔ When you need something that works right away

Thanks for reading!

Jackie, Room 213

Check out these Brain Breaks from Presto Plans

How to Make Test Prep More Engaging: 5 Creative Strategies That Actually Work

By The Daring English Teacher

Let’s be honest. When students hear the words “test prep,” the energy in the room plummets.

But here’s the truth: test prep does NOT have to be boring in order to be effective. In fact, the most powerful test prep activities are the ones where students don’t even realize they are preparing for state tests!

If you’re an ELA teacher searching for:

• engaging ELA test prep ideas

• fun test prep activities for middle school

• high school ELA test review strategies

• standards-based test prep that actually works

You’re in the right place.

Today, I’m sharing my favorite ways to turn test prep into something students look forward to, while still targeting critical reading, writing, grammar, and listening skills.

1. Turn Reading Test Prep Into an Escape Room Experience

If your students groan when they see another nonfiction passage, it’s time to shift the format.

Instead of traditional worksheets, try a gamified approach like my ELA Test Prep Nonfiction Reading Escape Room.

This resource transforms reading comprehension practice into a collaborative challenge in which students practice proven, effective test-taking strategies aloud with one another.

Why Escape Rooms Work for Test Prep

• Students must analyze nonfiction texts

• They practice inference, textual evidence, and critical thinking

• Every correct answer unlocks the next clue

• It builds urgency and focus

As students compete against other groups and work through each task, they forget they’re practicing test-aligned skills.

2. Use Grammar Review Stations to Increase Engagement and Retention

Grammar is often heavily tested in state tests. When it comes to test prep, especially for grammar, focused practice is best because it provides a quick review for students. Some of the most tested punctuation and grammar skills include semicolons, colons, hyphens, and parallel structure.

However, reviewing these concepts through lectures, notes, packets, and endless worksheets is tiresome and boring. Instead, I prefer to have my students review these key skills in stations! Each station includes a quick reference sheet and several questions for review!

If you are looking to try out review stations for test prep, try my ELA Test Prep Review Stations.

Stations are so effective for test prep review because students rotate in small groups, teachers can interact with small groups, each station focuses on a specific grammar skill, and movement helps keep energy up!

When students move, collaborate, and actively problem-solve, retention skyrockets.

Additionally, stations create built-in differentiation. Some groups can move quickly while others take more time without feeling pressured.

This approach seamlessly supports both middle school ELA test prep and high school grammar review.

3. Implement Daily Spiral Review for Long-Term Skill Mastery

If there’s one thing I know about effective test prep, it is that cramming does not build mastery. True learning comes in consistency. While I created these five-week review units for the start of a new school year to review prior skills, they also work well as a five-week test-prep bootcamp!

For high school teachers, you’ll want to try my ELA Essential Skills Review Bundle for High School.

For middle school teachers, you’ll want to try my ELA Review Packet Bundle for Middle School.

These bundles are powerful because they provide structured, intentional review across multiple weeks.

Spiral review works well because students revisit the key standards regularly, they reinforce reading, writing, and grammar skills, and spiral review helps reduce test anxiety.

Students don’t feel overwhelmed by all this ELA review because the skills are presented in manageable doses. From a teacher's perspective, these review units simplify planning during one of the most stressful times of the year.

4. Don’t Neglect Listening Skills - Gamify Them

Listening comprehension is often embedded into assessments, especially with multimedia components, where students listen to a (rather dry) passage and respond to questions.

Yet many classrooms overlook listening skills during test prep. That is why I created a listening-skills escape game to incorporate listening into your test-prep review!

My ELA Test Prep Listening Skills Nonfiction Text Escape Room Activity is such a game-changer. 

In this escape room activity, students listen to a professionally-recorded passage and work together to solve tasks by answering questions that mirror state tests. 

This listening-skills escape room is effective because students must listen carefully to the passage (you can even model listening twice). Furthermore, it encourages students to take notes while reinforcing their comprehension of nonfiction. 

Instead of passively receiving information, students actively process it and collaborate to review key skills.

5. Daily Writing Practice with Bell Ringers

Now, I know what you might be thinking: how can SEL bell ringers help prepare students for state testing? However, these bell ringers get students writing across the strands (explanatory, argument, and narrative) daily, so the additional writing practice helps prime students to write the essay that so many state tests have!

My SEL Bell Ringers are just the trick!

These bell ringers include 40 different prompts. Each prompt provides students with a quote, and students must respond to the prompt and the quote. The additional practice of writing daily and decoding the prompt will help students feel more confident when it comes to state testing!

When you use escape rooms, grammar stations, structured review bundles, and daily writing practice, you’re creating a classroom where students are actively learning, not just passively completing packets. These types of activities foster engagement and excitement in the classroom, which translates into better test performance.

More great test prep resources:

Using Diagnostic Reading Assessments in the ELA Classroom - by Tracee Orman

Reading Comprehension Passages and Questions - by Presto Plans