We’ve all seen it: when we return from spring break, fewer students are sitting in our classrooms. Those who are there are listless; it’s as if they’ve lost their motivation and focus.  What’s an instructor to do? At the February Friday Forum, we discussed this very question: how can we keep students engaged for those last five weeks of the semester?

Do not worry–we came up with lots of good ideas! These ideas fall into these main categories: make connections, keep it active, provide incentives, add choice, make it count, calibrate class to students’ motivation level, and change things up. For lots of good specific suggestions, click here for the full list of brainstormed ideas.

But what about faculty? We have suggestions for you too. To keep yourself motivated for those final weeks, try these suggestions from your colleagues:

• Use self-motivation–remind yourself why you love your job
• Relax over spring break
• Prepare ahead of time
• Do something in class that is new for you too
• Have plans for when school is out