Heidi: This is episode 227 of Teacher Approved.
You're listening to Teacher Approved, the podcast helping
educators elevate what matters and simplify the rest. I'm
Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. We're the creators behind Second Story
Window, where we give research based and teacher approved
strategies that make teaching less stressful and more
effective. You can check out the show notes and resources from
each episode at secondstorywindow.net.
Heidi: We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to
the show.
Emily: Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today's
episode, we are sharing practical strategies for
handling student work refusal, and we have a teacher approved
tip for creating a simple prevention checklist you can use
during lesson planning.
Heidi: Let's start with a try it tomorrow, where we share a quick
win that you can try in your classroom right away. Emily,
what's our suggestion for this week?
Emily: This week try the Choice to Skip strategy. So when you're
giving an assignment with multiple problems or questions,
tell your students that they can choose one to skip. You might
say something like, everyone needs to do problems five and
eight, but you can choose one of the other problems to skip.
Heidi: We know that this sounds counterintuitive, but giving
kids permission to skip something often makes them way
more willing to tackle the rest.
Emily: I know, it's such a good strategy. So if you like this
idea or anything else we share here on the podcast, we would
appreciate it so much if you would take a second and give us
a five star rating and review in your podcast app.
Heidi: Alright, let's talk about one of those classroom moments
that can make or break your day. That is when a student just will
not work.
Emily: Yeah, we all know how it goes. You've taught a great
lesson, given clear directions, and most kids are happily
working away. But there's that one student, or, you know, maybe
a few, that are sitting there with their arms crossed,
scribbling on their paper or finding every possible way to
avoid the task.
Heidi: As a teacher, this is so triggering, it feels personal
like they are provoking us on purpose. And I'm not fully
convinced that they're not.
Emily: Right. But if you only remember one thing from today's
episode, we want you to remember this, work refusal is
communication.
Heidi: And even if it feels like what they're communicating is
defiance, I promise that it is much more than that. These kids
are telling us something, and it's our job, as the grown up,
unfortunately, to figure out what that something is.
Emily: And that does not mean that it is not frustrating, but
that does mean there's a lot we can do about it. And let's start
with the single most effective way to deal with work refusal,
and that is to prevent it from starting in the first place.
That is basically our behavior management mantra. What can we
do to stop it before it starts?
Heidi: And with work refusal, that really comes down to this.
Are your lessons clear, engaging, and broken down in a
way that supports student success?
Emily: And we promise this can be much simpler than it may
sound. It just means asking yourself, am I giving students
enough opportunities to do the work with me before I expect
them to do it on their own? The more you build that in, the less
likely you are to hit a wall of refusal when it's time for
independent practice.
Heidi: Now this doesn't mean that you have to hand out a
worksheet mid lesson for your students to work on. There are
lots of quick and easy ways to get students thinking and doing
while you're teaching, without having to get out paper and
pencil.
Emily: If you want lots of examples, go back and check out
episode 161 where we talked about how to add active
responses to any lesson using choral response, signals, signs,
writing, and technology.
Heidi: Now, hopefully this single step of preparing
engaging lessons magically solves all of your work refusal
problems before they start.
Emily: Yeah, please, fingers crossed.
Heidi: And to help you with that task, at the end of this
episode, we have a quick checklist that we'll share that
you can use to evaluate any lesson before you teach it.
Emily: Okay, but let's be honest, even the best, most
engaging lesson isn't going to prevent every instance of work
refusal. Sometimes what worked great yesterday may totally flop
today.
Heidi: So let's get you set up with a toolbox for what to do
when, despite your best efforts, work refusal shows up anyway.
The first tool is to understand what not to do.
Emily: Yeah, we want to avoid the "don'ts" that can take a
rough moment and turn it into a full scale disaster.
Heidi: But if you see yourself in any of these, please be
gentle with yourself, because it is so easy for this to happen.
When kids refuse to work, it triggers some pretty strong
emotions, and our first instinct might be to double down or to
start threatening consequences, but don't get caught in a power
struggle.
Emily: Right. A power struggle is the absolute least helpful
solution to this problem. We are after cooperation, not
compliance. The moment it becomes a battle of wills,
everybody loses.
Heidi: Our second "don't" is don't punish, especially by
taking away recess. Kids need that movement, and the break
time, and taking it away will likely cause more problems later
in the day, not fewer.
Emily: And don't assume students are being lazy or difficult on
purpose, even if it seems like 100% that is what is happening.
There is usually something else going on.
Heidi: Now, in desperate moments, we know it can be so
tempting to resort to bribes, something like, if you just do
this page, you can have extra computer time, but don't do
this. Bribes will work in the moment, but they're not solving
the underlying issue, and they can actually make work refusal
worse over time.
Emily: The last "don't" might be the most important. Don't react
out of frustration. When you feel that emotional reaction
rising up, you know, the irritation, the anger, pause and
take a breath before you respond. Regulate yourself
first, because whatever you do next will either help the
situation or make it a whole lot harder.
Heidi: And really, we know it is so easy to feel triggered in
this moment. So please, if you have experienced any of these
"don'ts" in the past, be kind to yourself, because we have all
done it. Probably we've all done a whole combination of those.
Emily: Yeah, in tough moments, we don't always respond as the
best version of ourselves. And I can, like, just feel my blood
pressure rising just talking about this and remembering what
it feels like in these moments where you want to just get into
it, like, no, no, you are going to do it, because I said so. But
now that you have got some clarity about how work refusal
might trigger you, remind yourself to pause and breathe
before reacting in the future.
Heidi: And then once you have avoided that minefield of
don'ts, you're in a much better place for the next step in
managing work refusal, which is to get curious.
Emily: Remember, work refusal is communication, like we said.
Every time a student refuses, they're telling you something,
even if it's coming out sideways through crossed arms and
dramatic size. Our job isn't to win the battle. It's to figure
out what's going on underneath.
Heidi: When you are 10 minutes into writing time and one kid
still hasn't picked up a dang pencil, shift your focus. Try
pretending you're a doctor, and challenge yourself to evaluate
this patient. Start by asking yourself, what might this
behavior be trying to say, and what does the student need right
now?
Emily: If one student is refusing to write their
persuasive essay because they had a fight at recess, and
another is refusing because they don't understand the assignment,
they need completely different responses from you.
Heidi: So try running through a list of diagnostic questions.
Does the student have the academic skills to complete this
task? Maybe the directions don't click, or maybe they're missing
background knowledge. What looks like defiance might actually be
a quiet panic.
Emily: And sometimes the issue is attention, not ability. Look
around the environment. Is it too noisy or distracting? Is the
student dealing with something outside of school that makes
focusing nearly impossible in the moment? Maybe their little
world is crumbling, and the last thing they have the bandwidth
for is writing a persuasive essay.
Heidi: Also consider if the student actually knows how to
get started. This is an executive functioning challenge.
The student might have the right understanding, but planning out
the steps feels overwhelming, so they just shut down instead.
Emily: And don't forget basic needs. Are they hungry, tired,
uncomfortable? Nobody can do their best work if their body is
struggling.
Heidi: Now, if you can't diagnose the problem from the
outside, just try asking the student what they need in order
to get started. When you approach with curiosity instead
of judgment, the student feels seen instead of shamed, and that
really changes everything.
Emily: And curiosity also gives you options. If it's a skill
issue, you can scaffold. If it's planning, you can break down the
task into smaller steps. If it's focus, you can offer a quick
regulation break.
Heidi: So instead of asking, why won't they just do this work,
flip it to what's getting in their way right now, and how can
I help clear that path?
Emily: Of course, kids can't always articulate what's wrong,
and you'll likely get a response like nothing, or, I don't know.
Heidi: And when that happens, use your past history with the
student to make your best guess about whether the problem is
academic, emotional, or environmental. Then once you
have a theory about what's going on, you can respond in a way
that actually addresses the root issue.
Emily: Once you've managed any outside issues that might be
impacting the student, you're ready for the next step,
offering support that helps students re engage.
Heidi: Now let's imagine that you have just wrapped up your
top notch, super engaging geometry lesson. Next is time
for independent practice. You explain the assignment and you
turn the kids loose. It seems like everyone is getting to
work, but then you take a closer look, and you notice one kid is
drawing Pokemon on his paper, one is playing with the Gibbets
on her crocs, and another hasn't even noticed there's a paper on
his desk.
Emily: Ugh, those Croc Gibbets. You can feel your blood pressure
rising by the second. Why did these kids have to make
everything so hard? So the first thing is to remember the don'ts,
don't react, don't get into a power struggle. Take some deep
breaths and let your brain reset.
Heidi: And then while you're breathing, get curious. What
does each situation need? Use what you know about your past
interactions with these kids to diagnose the problem. Are there
any deeper, academic, emotional, or environmental problems at
play?
Emily: Then address the issues you can and provide the support
students need to get started. Maybe the girl with the crocs
just needs a reminder to leave her shoes alone. But if students
need more support, we're going to use a tool from Fred Jones'
book Tools for Teaching, called praise, prompt, and leave.
Heidi: Now I swear by this technique, it can absolutely
save you in a tough moment, and it has saved me in plenty of
them. So let's talk about how this works in action. You walk
over to the desk nearest you, maybe it's the kid drawing the
Pokemon pictures, and you find something to praise about what
they have done right so far. Now this might be tricky if all he's
done is draw Pokemon pictures.
Emily: Yes, but even if all you can say is, I'm glad you've got
your pencil ready to go, starting with connection will
help keep the situation positive.
Heidi: The type of praise you use in this moment really does
matter. Try to focus on effort, not ability. Something like,
"look how quickly you got started on that first problem"
is more useful than "you're so smart."
Emily: After praising whatever action they've taken, give them
one simple prompt about the very next step they should take.
Don't go over the whole assignment, just the next step.
Say something like, "the next thing you need to do is circle
all the angles."
Heidi: And then you leave. Don't hover or wait for them to
complete that step. You will circle back in a few minutes to
check on progress, but don't wait for them to get started
before you move on. The goal is to scaffold their independence,
not make them dependent on you, walking them through every step.
Emily: Now let's say you've calmed your emotions, you've
gotten curious about what's going on, and you've tried to
praise, prompt, and leave, but the work still isn't getting
done. We have all been in those situations, it can leave you
feeling really stuck.
Heidi: But we promise you are not stuck, because you have got
some more tools to try. When you find yourself in this moment,
the next step is to make the work feel more manageable. A lot
of the time, work refusal comes down to the task being too big
or too out of the student's control.
Emily: Yeah, think about how you feel when someone hands you a 10
page form to fill out. Oh, the worst. Large assignments can be
daunting, even to adults, so let's do what we can to limit
that overwhelm for our kids.
Heidi: So how do we shrink that mountain down into a hill that a
student can actually climb? Two of the best tools we have for
this are chunking and offering agency. Emily, can you tell us
more about chunking?
Emily: Yeah, well, when we say chunk an assignment, isn't it
such an elegant word to describe it? This means we're breaking
the work down into smaller, bite sized steps. So instead of
expecting students to face a whole page of math problems,
cover all but the first one or two and say, work these, then
we'll check in.
Heidi: This also works with other assignments, like writing.
Instead of "write a paragraph about your favorite animal," you
can try chunking your directions. "First choose the
animal you're going to write about, and then write one
sentence about what it looks like."
Emily: You can also try chunking the time. Use timers to create
mini deadlines, like, "Work for three minutes, then let's see
how far you get." Each small win builds momentum, and before you
know it, the student who couldn't even start five minutes
ago is suddenly halfway done.
Heidi: Besides chunking, you can make work more manageable by
offering agency. Kids are much more likely to engage when they
feel that they have some say in what happens.
Emily: Now before you have a heart attack, that absolutely
does not mean turning your class into a free for all. Think of it
more like choices within structure.
Heidi: Yeah, you're likely to find students much more engaged
in their work if they have some say in how it gets done. So try
offering limited options and see how quickly it changes the mood
in your room. Just make sure that you can live with whatever
they choose.
Emily: Yeah, don't offer students the choice to either do
their work independently or with a buddy if you don't want to
manage partner work at that moment. It's fine, there are
lots of simple ways to give students options that don't make
your job harder.
Heidi: An easy one, for example, is to try offering students the
choice of where to work. "You can stay at your desk or take
your paper to the carpet," or, "You could work at the top of
your desk, or you could turn around and use your chair as a
desk." You know, little tweaks make a big difference.
Emily: You can also give students the choice of how they
work. Can they use pen, pencil or crayon to complete the
assignment? Or maybe give options about the format of
their response. "You can write this out, type it, or draw your
response."
Heidi: One of my favorite options for students, and one of
the easiest was to let them choose the order they do the
problems. If it doesn't really affect the outcome, just let
them pick. "You can start with the first three problems or the
last three problems. It's up to you."
Emily: And that choice to skip strategy from our try it
tomorrow fits perfectly in this category.
Heidi: Kids love that one. Honestly, it will make you their
favorite teacher.
Emily: Another way to offer choice is to invite the student
into helping solve the situation. Ask them, "what part
feels hardest," or "what would make this feel doable?"
Empowering students to solve their own problems can be just
the nudge they need to turn things around.
Heidi: As helpful and powerful and useful as these tools are,
sometimes the wisest decision you can make is just to do
nothing.
Emily: Yeah, as a teacher, you need to learn to recognize when
the battle isn't worth it. If anything you try is just going
to escalate the situation, just leave it alone. Assuming the
child isn't in any danger, a short reset or coming back to it
later can be more effective than forcing compliance right now.
Heidi: Maybe they need a few minutes to cool down, or maybe
the timing just isn't right. You can always circle back when
they're in a better headspace.
Emily: When things have calmed down and it's time to have that
conversation, the most important thing is to listen. Don't jump
in with your thoughts about what's happening. Let them talk
first. You really might be surprised what you learn.
Heidi: And if work refusal becomes a persistent pattern,
that's when you might need to involve other support, school
counselors, administrators or parents. You don't have to solve
everything by yourself.
Emily: Okay, let's do a quick recap of our strategies for
handling work refusal. First, prevent it when you can with
engaging, well-scaffolded instruction that sets students
up for success. When it does happen anyway, avoid power
struggles, punishment or bribes. Regulate yourself first, get
curious about what the behavior is communicating, like, is there
an academic, emotional or environmental issue at play?
Heidi: Next, provide support with praise, prompt, and leave.
Make the work feel manageable by breaking it down and offering
choice within structure. Involve students in collaborative
problem solving, and know when it's better just to let it go
and come back later.
Emily: Remember, work refusal is communication, not defiance. You
have tools to respond without burning yourself out. These kids
aren't trying to make your life difficult. They're trying to
tell you something, and now you know how to listen.
Heidi: We would love to hear how these strategies work in your
classroom. Come join the conversation in our Teacher
Approved Facebook group.
Emily: Now for our Teacher Approved Tip of the Week, where
we share an actionable tip to help you elevate what matters
and simplify the rest. This week's teacher approved tip is
to create a simple prevention checklist for lesson planning.
So tell us about this, Heidi.
Heidi: Well, we mentioned earlier in the episode that
prevention is your best strategy for avoiding work refusal. So we
want to give you some specific questions that you can ask
yourself during lesson planning. These literally take one minute
to run through, but they can save you 20 minutes of
redirecting and re-teaching during work time.
Emily: Here are the questions. First, academic readiness. Can
most of your students do this independently after your guided
practice? Is there a clear model or example they can refer to?
What's the hardest part of this task, and have you taught that
piece well enough?
Heidi: Next, engagement and motivation. Why would a student
care about this assignment? Is there any choice, movement or
novelty built in? Can you explain the why behind this work
in kid friendly terms?
Emily: Then overwhelm prevention. Does this look
doable at first glance, or does it look like a lot? Can you
break this into smaller chunks or steps? How long will this
realistically take your slowest worker?
Heidi: Also consider environment and logistics. Do students have
everything they need to complete this? Are there too many
distractions happening during this work time? Is this the
right time of day for this type of task?
Emily: And finally, differentiation reality check.
What will your struggling learners do when they get stuck?
What will your fast finishers do so they don't become
distractions? Do students understand what being done with
this assignment looks like?
Heidi: And here is my favorite question of all. If you were
tired and this assignment landed on your desk right now, would
you want to do it? If the answer is no, your students probably
won't want to do it either.
Emily: These questions help you catch potential work refusal
before it happens, and honestly, they make your teaching more
engaging for everyone, not just the kids who might refuse to
work.
Heidi: We will put the full checklist in the show notes so
that you can reference it easily during planning time.
To wrap up the show, we're sharing what we're giving extra
Emily: I'm giving extra credit to Noco cookie cakes on
credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?
Instagram. She's also on Tiktok. I randomly stumbled on her
account like a month ago, and I got sucked in watching these
videos. So it's this woman who, last year, I believe, lost her
job, and I don't really understand why, but she got this
idea of making cookie cake. So she's making just like a big
chocolate chip cookie, and then using frosting to decorate it.
But the best part is she does a voiceover of the recording of
But she is not a decorator. She's not really good at writing
or drawing anything. So already like the outcome is hilarious.
her, the sped up, you know, clip, edited version of her
making this cake. And it just delights me. She's hilarious. I
saw on her Instagram, she described herself as a cookie
cake comedian. And I was like, yeah, that's accurate. I wish I
lived in Colorado. I'd get myself a cookie cake so that she
could make fun of me while she makes it. Because she always
makes fun of like, what people request on their cake, or
laments, why do people keep making me write things, and
anyway. And the other funny thing is, she says all the time
that she doesn't like frosting, like she would not want to eat
one of these cakes, which makes it even funnier. It's so good.
If you need a laugh, I will link to it in the show notes. Noco
cookie cakes.
Heidi: Highly recommend. I did see though today, I don't know
if you saw this, she hurt her hand.
Emily: Oh no.
Heidi: She hasn't been able to decorate her case.
Emily: No, I haven't seen that. What a tragedy.
Heidi: I know. So everyone's a bit concerned. Hopefully Noco
can continue.
Emily: Yes, please. I'll have to check in on that. What are you
giving extra credit to, Heidi?
Heidi: Well, I'm giving extra credit to the picture book A
Fall Day for Bear by Bonnie Becker. I love these bear books
so much. It's about like a grumpy, surly just want to be on
his own, introvert, bear and a peppy, extroverted mouse who
adopts him as his best friend.
Emily: Against as well.
Heidi: Yeah, so they have all kinds of hijinks together. Yeah,
a fall picture book is always a win. And then this is just so
cute. And this one, though, it's a bit of a role reversal,
because mouse is having a really bad day, and so bear has to step
up to cheer him up. So it's very sweet. It's a perfect book for
fall. I know we did some vocabulary for Christmas for
Bear and Mouse. I think we have a vocabulary resource.
Emily: Yes.
Heidi: So if you have not met bear and mouse, this is the
moment you need to jump on that.
Emily: Yeah, and I did not know about this new book, so I'm
excited to check it out.
Heidi: It's very cute.
That is it for today's episode. Remember, work refusal is
communication. Your job isn't to force compliance. It's to figure
out what your students need and to help them get there.
Emily: Try our strategies for handling work refusal with
curiosity instead of frustration. And don't forget
our Teacher Approved tip for creating a prevention checklist
during lesson planning.
Heidi: We hope you enjoyed this episode of teacher approved. I'm
Heidi.
Emily: And I'm Emily. Thank you for listening. Be sure to follow
or subscribe in your podcast app so that you never miss an
episode.
Heidi: You can connect with us and other teachers in the
Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.
Bye for now.
Emily: Bye.