The solution to apathy is to help students learn

Learning is motivating, writes math teacher Dylan Kane on Five Twelve Thirteen.

Many schools are modifying the curriculum to cater to students' interests and be "relevant," he writes. It's lots of work for teachers and has little effect. Students remain apathetic. Teachers "feel dispirited and want to give up."

"Humans like to do things they feel good at, and they don’t like to do things they feel bad at," Kane writes. "The major driver of apathy" is that "students feel dumb at school, and they’d rather wander the halls than sit in class and not know what to do."

His solution is to "help students feel good at learning." So he starts class with a few easy problems to build confidence, reteaches skills that students need for the current topic and gives students time to practice new skills and build competence. He tests to see who needs extra help and helps them. He creates "lots of different ways for students to feel successful in math class — solving problems, noticing something unique, asking a good question, helping a peer."

It takes time, Kane writes. "Searching for easy solutions — if we only use math problems about basketball so students see it’s relevant! — we end up in a dead end and demoralize teachers."

But schools could "stop wasting time with gimmicks" and focus on teaching. "Successful learning feels good, and builds confidence toward future learning."