Eliminate Classroom Boredom with These Student Engagement Hacks
May 31, 2025
If your classroom has ever felt more like a waiting room than a learning space, you’re not alone.
Students today are surrounded by constant stimulation—social media, streaming videos, and instant feedback. When they enter a classroom and are met with silence or repetition, their minds wander. And that’s when boredom sets in.
We know what boredom leads to: distraction, disruption, apathy. Students start tapping pencils, zoning out, whispering across the room, or challenging authority—not because they’re defiant, but because they’re disengaged.
The good news? You don’t need to overhaul your curriculum to fix it. You just need a few practical, low-lift strategies to shake things up and bring back the energy.
🎧 Use Voxer to Amplify Small-Group Conversations
One powerful way to fight boredom is to give students more voice—literally.
Voxer is a free voice messaging app that functions like a digital walkie-talkie. It’s ideal for group work, especially for students who hesitate to speak up in front of the class.
How to Use Voxer in Class:
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Divide students into small groups and assign each group a Voxer thread.
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Pose an open-ended question or problem related to your lesson.
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Students reply via voice message, reacting to each other and building ideas in real-time or asynchronously.
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You listen in, offer feedback, or review later for participation assessment.
🎨 Bonus Hack: Ask students to pair their responses with a GIF that illustrates their idea. Whether they’re summarizing a character’s mood or representing a scientific concept, the added visual layer increases creativity and connection.
This strategy turns passive learners into active participants—and eliminates downtime that often leads to disruption.
This Hack and 49 more in Hacking Engagement
🧠 Use Kahoot! to Turn Review into a Game Show
Reviewing content doesn’t have to mean blank worksheets and glazed eyes. With Kahoot!, you can transform any quiz or review session into a fast-paced, competitive game show that gets every student involved.
How to Use It:
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Create a free Kahoot! account and build a quiz using your current content—vocabulary, math problems, historical facts, etc.
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Display the game on your classroom screen while students join with their devices.
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Watch engagement skyrocket as students race to answer questions, earn points, and cheer each other on.
💡 Pro Tip: Let students create their own Kahoots in small groups. Then rotate through each team’s quiz as a class. It gives students ownership of the content and reinforces what they’ve learned by turning them into the “teachers.”
Kahoot! isn’t just fun—it taps into students’ love of challenge, instant feedback, and competition, all while reinforcing key skills and concepts. And best of all, it leaves no room for boredom.
Details on his and 49 more in Hacking Engagement Again
😂 Build Rapport with a No-Tech Hack: Celebrity Couple Nicknames
Engagement doesn’t always require technology. Sometimes, a little laughter goes a long way.
Try this no-prep, no-cost activity: Combine student names to create playful “celebrity couple” mashups—just like "Brangelina" or "Bennifer."
How to Use It:
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Mix and match names from seating charts or group lists.
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Use mashups to assign teams or just to get kids laughing.
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Create a fun wall display of your class’s celebrity name mashups.
Examples:
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Jayla + Marcus = Jarcus
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Emma + Dante = Emte
This lighthearted activity builds trust and connection fast. And when students feel seen and included, they’re far less likely to act out.
Why These Hacks Work
Both of these strategies—techy or not—tackle the same core issue: disconnection.
When you increase student voice and foster belonging, you eliminate the root causes of disruption. The energy shifts. The classroom transforms from a place of compliance to a space of curiosity and connection.
Final Word: Keep It Simple, Keep It Real
You don’t need bells, whistles, or hours of prep to improve student engagement. You just need smart, simple strategies that welcome students into the learning process.
Start with one of these hacks this week. Watch how the vibe in your classroom changes. You’ll see less disruption, more curiosity—and maybe even a few smiles.
Because when students are engaged, everything else gets easier.
Resources
150 student engagement Hacks
