“Can you be our regular class teacher?”That’s what the students asked me when I was substituting in a high school for the first time.
My first reaction was yay the kids liked me but then I started reflecting on my teaching practice. What triggered this feedback? What are teenagers looking for?
I know that many educators dread teaching high schoolers. “You’re very courageous to substitute in a high school “ a friend told me.
Yes, teenagers can be rebellious, yes they say inappropriate things, yes they can test your boundaries but deep down all they need is care and love.
Here are some tips that can help us build a strong relationship with our high school students and make classroom management’s task much easier.

Connect with your students:

Get to know your students, their favorite rapper, their favorite sport, their interesting topics. Ask them about their soccer game or dance competition last night. Compliment them on their new look or their cool shoes. Teenagers are always looking for approval even if they don’t show it. By valuing each student’s as an individual, we have a great chance of increasing engagement in class.
Thompson (1998) says, “The most powerful weapon available to secondary teachers who want to foster a favorable learning climate is a positive relationship with our students”
Rita Pierson in her Ted talk reiterate that by underlining the extreme value of human connection and building relationships with her student.

Creating a positive learning experience:

As teachers we often get preoccupied by lesson plans, curriculum and assessments. We forget about making learning an enjoyable and positive experience. Let’s take a break and look for activities that engage all students.
By making teaching fun, we can enhance the students’ learning and reach our lessons objectives faster.
Teenagers love to use technology in class. Why don’t we offer them the opportunity to show those skills? They can present their assignment using a cool app that they love. They can review today’s lesson by kahooting. They can film their chemistry project or their Spanish conversation with a native speaker and share it in class by making an iMovie.

Listen to your students needs and give them options.

Offering options to teenagers gives them a feeling of power and freedom, something they really aspire for in their new roles as members of society. Allow for input, give them options to pick from. This students will feel that they have some control over their learning.
Validate their opinion and encourage them to be active learners and to be part of main class decisions. Let them participate in putting the class rules and expectations, assignment’s due dates…
Little things like that can make them feel like their well-being is important for you and it will highly impact their class engagement and learning experience in all. “It’s critical to remember that when you treat students with respect, they tend to appreciate and like you. When they appreciate and like you, they are more willing to want to please you—which causes them to be more likely to behave appropriately” Educators guide to preventing and solving Discipline Problems by Mark Boynton and Christine Boynton