Hi Ben,
I “remind” my students often, at least daily, of their responsibility to sit up, make eye contact, join the conversation, make class fun by offering unusual details, etc. It counts for 40% of their grade in Spanish 1. Yet I find I’m saying it over and over to the same students, and I don’t like the naggy feeling that’s building up between me and about 25% of my students in a given class. The same “strong” students are engaged and the spacey / sleepy / chronically bored students are not. I tell them they get the grade they earn, but of course I hope that they’ll step up and contribute to what is, for most, a compelling class.
Sound at all familiar? Any words of wisdom here?