You’ve just wrapped up an engaging lesson, given clear directions, and most of your class is happily working…except for that one student who just will not pick up a pencil. We know how discouraging it feels when this happens, so this week we’re sharing our best strategies for handling those tough moments with empathy and intention. Discover why work refusal isn’t just defiance, what students might really be communicating, and the simple shifts that can turn resistance into engagement.

Prefer to read? Grab the episode transcript and resources in the show notes here: https://www.secondstorywindow.net/podcast/student-work-refusal-strategies/

Resources:

• Join the Teacher Approved Club!
• A Fall Day For Bear
• A Visitor for Bear Vocabulary - Read Aloud Lesson
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Related Episodes to Enjoy:

• Episode 161, How to Get Students Actively Engaged: 5 Teacher Approved Techniques
• Episode 219, How to Build a Classroom Community That Lasts All Year
• Episode 223, The Core 4 Routines Every Classroom Needs to Run Like Clockwork
• Episode 226, The October Reset Every Teacher Needs

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.

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.

We're so glad you're tuning in today. Let's get to

the show.

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.

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?

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.

We know that this sounds counterintuitive, but giving

kids permission to skip something often makes them way

more willing to tackle the rest.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Right. But if you only remember one thing from today's

episode, we want you to remember this, work refusal is

communication.

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.

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?

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?

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.

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.

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.

Now, hopefully this single step of preparing

engaging lessons magically solves all of your work refusal

problems before they start.

Yeah, please, fingers crossed.

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.

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.

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.

Yeah, we want to avoid the "don'ts" that can take a

rough moment and turn it into a full scale disaster.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

And don't forget basic needs. Are they hungry, tired,

uncomfortable? Nobody can do their best work if their body is

struggling.

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.

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.

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?

Of course, kids can't always articulate what's wrong,

and you'll likely get a response like nothing, or, I don't know.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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."

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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."

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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."

And that choice to skip strategy from our try it

tomorrow fits perfectly in this category.

Kids love that one. Honestly, it will make you their

favorite teacher.

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.

As helpful and powerful and useful as these tools are,

sometimes the wisest decision you can make is just to do

nothing.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

We would love to hear how these strategies work in your

classroom. Come join the conversation in our Teacher

Approved Facebook group.

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.

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.

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?

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?

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?

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?

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

Highly recommend. I did see though today, I don't know

if you saw this, she hurt her hand.

Oh no.

She hasn't been able to decorate her case.

No, I haven't seen that. What a tragedy.

I know. So everyone's a bit concerned. Hopefully Noco

can continue.

Yes, please. I'll have to check in on that. What are you

giving extra credit to, 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.

Against as well.

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.

Yes.

So if you have not met bear and mouse, this is the

moment you need to jump on that.

Yeah, and I did not know about this new book, so I'm

excited to check it out.

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.

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.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of teacher approved. I'm

Heidi.

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.

You can connect with us and other teachers in the

Teacher Approved Facebook group. We'll see you here next week.

Bye for now.

Bye.