School Counselor Questions: How Do I Keep Students Engaged During Classroom Lessons?
It can be challenging to keep students engaged during an individual session or small group, but a class lesson? That’s a whole different ball game!
3 Tools for Keeping Students Engaged in Classroom Counseling Lessons
An engaging class lesson accomplishes two things:
Helps students retain the information by using fun activities
Preventatively manages behaviors (distracted kiddos are usually off task!)
Even if you realize the importance of creating an engaging class lesson, it doesn’t necessarily mean you have the know-how! Try using the following lesson styles to spice up your counseling lessons and keep kiddos engaged.
Escape Rooms
Create an escape room style lesson to encourage friendly competition and hyper engagement! Students must solve the puzzles to proceed to the next one. Check out my “mission style” escape rooms here.
High prep
Scoot Games
Get students up and moving with a scoot game! Students travel around the room answering questions and moving on when you say "scoot!" Use music to cue students when to move on to the next question. Check out my scoot games here.
Medium prep
Game Shows
A game show is a fun way to introduce a concept! Divide the class into teams and see who can answer the most questions correctly. This Jeopardy-style game is always a favorite with the kiddos. I love to use it for a meet the counselor or tattling vs. reporting lesson.
Low prep
Which one of these lesson types are you going to try? Let me know if the comments! Download this free cheat sheet for 12 more ways to engage your students during class lessons!