I’ve taught the same subject for years, and I still try to keep things engaging—stories, questions, examples—but lately, every class feels like talking to a wall. Phones out, heads down, no reaction. How do you adjust when your audience just isn’t present?
How do you keep energy up in a lecture hall when nobody reacts to anything?
r/Advice
Comments
It’s draining when you give energy and get silence back like teaching into a void. In moments like that shift your focus from performance to presence speak to one engaged student instead of the whole room tell the story for yourself not just for them and accept that silence doesn’t always mean failure. Keep showing up with heart not for applause but because what you’re teaching still matters.
Try cold-calling on students, even if it feels awkward. Prep them by saying you might do this so they aren’t totally blindsided. Good luck
there are a few things you can try. first is silence. sit in silence. if they dont calm down tell them you will test on that lesson and whatever they miss because you dont get started will still be on the test. second shock and awe. come in with something loud and unexpected. can be actual volume or a visual. turn the lights on and off a few times.
You are a human being too. Of course your responsibility for making this interesting and functional is so much greater than that of the students – but you should adjust both to their needs and to your own.
No auditory stimulus works as well as a moment of pause. Play with it.
And pick someone at random sometimes, in order to turn the lecture from monologue to a dialog. Preferably: if you know the students well enough not to pick someone who would be panically uncomfortable with it. When played correctly, it might be interesting to you, the student, and the others.