For years, teachers have known the best way to engage students is with interactive lessons andhands-on learning. However, not every lesson lends itself to fun, engagingteaching strategies, and far too often, students become bored with their lessons. Periodically, check your classes for boredstudents and change things up a bit to get them re-energized about learning.

Virtual Scavenger Hunt
Students enjoy using technology and using it in the classroom makes lessons seem more relevant.Have a virtual scavenger hunt on whatever topic you currently are covering in your classroom. For social studies, give students a list of educational video websites to search for the best video about your topic. Set a video time limit and allow students to work in teams, if desired. Show the video clips in classand have students vote on the one that best represented the topic. Always remind students how to usethe internetresponsibly.

Role Playing
Bored students can have lots of fun role playing while learning new material. Give students real work-place scenarios and reward them when they finish. Students can be engineers, scientists, journalists,accountants, lawyers, or any role you choose. They will need to do research and create documentsand presentations based on their areas of study. Provide examples to guide students in their careersand encourage them to listen closely to your "seminars" and take notes. Allow them to be creativeduring class in how to find practical uses for what they are learning. Reward students by offeringincentives and promotions while they learn.

Team Teaching
The best way to really know your material is to teach it, so use interactive lessons that allow your students to teach. Find four topics and divide your class into four teams. Each team should create avisual aid such as a chart or PowerPoint presentation, a class activity and a handout for each classmember. East student on the team should have a speaking part in front of the class relating to thetopic, and they should have fun doing it. Emphasize cooperative learning to make it feel like a gameinstead of a project. Reward the team with the most effort with a prize.

Catch
To make a review interesting for bored students, play a game of catch. Allow students to prepare a listof review questions they think are important. Start out asking a question and picking a student to catchthe ball. After catching the ball they should answer the question. If they answer correctly, they can asktheir question and throw the ball to a classmate. If he misses the question, he has to throw the ballback to the teacher. See how long the ball can go without returning to the teacher. If students answer correctly, they could move to the back of the classroom to let the others have more practice.