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The question is asked in an effort to gain teacher insight regarding this issue.

Children today are growing up in an entertainment based world.  Their entire lives are digital: from their cell phones, to T.V., to video games, and MP3/iPods. 

When students step into a classroom (unless the school has a high budget) they are not seeing all these technological devices while learning.  Too many teachers are still teaching by lecturing, but students now need more.

In order to keep students engaged, they need to be interested.  Technology interests students.  Giving them the ability to demonstrate understanding of a concept through a PowerPoint presentation is more appealing to them then a paper-pencil test.  Their creativity is brought out and they are more inclined to try their best and be more attentive.  When students see papers in color under an ELMO rather than an overhead, they are more engaged.  The color speaks to them and they have an easier time focusing.

Until allteachers incorporate technology daily into their lessons, students will continue to be bored at school.  Now, is this the teachers' fault? No. Is this the students' fault? No. No one can be to blame that our great nation has developed technology in such a way that it interests young minds.  Older minds just need to do their best to adapt and become learners once again.

When students are bored, teachers have GOT TO look in the mirror and say, "What am I doing to plan lessons that bore my students?" This is extremely difficult for most teachers to do. I didn't learn to do it until I went through National Board Certification and had to videotape my classroom.

There are many strategies that middle and high school teachers can use to make lessons interesting and participatory, using technology or not. However, most of them, especially high school teachers, fall back into the mode of teacher talking then students doing seatwork. This is intensely boring to students.

Many teachers in my high school do what is easiest for them, lecture from notes, which is not effective with a typical high school student.  I try to vary my instruction practices and get as many students involved as possible.  If a teacher is not willing to vary his/her methods, then students will continue being bored.  Other teachers and I combine discussions with pair-work, fish bowl activities, etc.

I once heard the statistic that most humans' attention-span is their age in minutes; so a 15-year-old student has an effective attention-span for 15 minutes.  If this is true, then it is imperative that teachers plan a variety of activities for each class period.

I myself am an english high school teacher and I know how students tend to get bored very easily. My solution is to read stories I know have a life message as well as thrill and suspense. I am frequently looking for new ways to involve fun lessons and activities. When studying Shakespeare, I like the students to have a hands on experience, mainly by acting the scenes out and performing plays in class. My students love hands on learning, I've found and therefore my lesson plans are in my view, interesting while learning.

The previous posts were really strong.  I absolutely agreed with them.  I think that the one which resonated me the most was the idea of looking in the mirror and confronting one's own notion of self.  I think that there has to be some time spent on understanding both what we teach, but also how students learn.  I am at the point in my own teaching where teaching the skills of metacognition are about as vital as teaching content.  When students are able to possess the vocabulary and ideas which allow them to better understand how they learn, the type of learner they are, and the different models of learning where their strengths reside and where their weaknesses need attention, I think we will see more student interest generated in the curriculum and classroom.  The reason being that student voice is authenticated and resonant in a classroom where students are able to possess their own intellectual voice that helps to stress how they can learn content and how instruction can be more relevant and meaningful to them.

Getting or not getting bored in class is very much dependent on students' interest as well as motivations. It is also dependent on the the way the teacher teaches and handles the class.

Students, or any one else is more interested in having a good time right now, rather than doing things that give no pleasure immediately but prepare you to develop yourself so that you are in a better position to have a good time. Studies fall mostly in this second group of activities. In addition, frequently the students are not even able to see how things that are being taught in the class will be helpful to them in their later lives. No wonder most of the students all over the world don't really enjoy their studies, and get bored in their classes. However, there is no doubt that students who still apply themselves to their studies are more likely to do better in their lives.

To address this issue teachers and education administration needs to first design the syllabus select the text books in a way that minimizes topics that are not going to be of value for most of the students. Such subjects and topics should be reserved only for higher education. It would help also if the course and text book also help the students to understand how the subjects taught will help them in later life. Finally the role of the teacher actually teaching in the class is critical. The primary requirement is to explain the subject clearly in line with level of the student. In addition, the ability to make the teaching and learning interesting and enjoyable is also very important.

Students who become bored in class do so because they are disconnected with the subject matter. Whether due to the students' excelerated understanding or the lack there of, if the relevance of the subject matter has been lost, students will become bored.  If this is the case, an educator must find a way to ignite their curiousity.  Obviously, 'not all subjects being equal' every educator blazes a different path.  Having said that, I think if students believe their teacher really wants to hear what they have to say, they are more willing to engage themselves in the classroom discussion.  Educators must remember, it's not always what you teach...it's how you teach it....

Boredom in the classroom is a reaction to lack of engagement  - which can be with the subject, the teacher, or both. I have found that having a positive relationship with my students, being interested in them as people, sharing a sense of humour and fostering an atmosphere of mutual respect means that we can 'tough out' some of the topics which are less interesting. I always strive to be enthusiastic and passionate about my subject, and I do employ as much modern technology as my school has access to (Youtube, Smartboards, a bank of bookable PC's) but I tell my classes that our priority is education not entertainment. Usually we end up combining the two.

Students must take ownership of thier own education!  Why do they get bored?  Maybe the way the material is being presented is boring.  In my experience, High school students will do what you set them up to do.  If you engage a kid with a cool demonstration, he is much more likely to listen to the principles behind that demo. Teachers need to not be afraid of teaching the same concepts in different ways.  One quick example.  I was reviewing the states of matter with my 10th grade biology students.  Very simple matter for most of them, could be done in a "boring" way by listing each state and writing examples. We chose to make ooblick (2 parts corn starch, 1 part water) and try to identify it as a solid or liquid.  For those of you who have never messed with a non-newtonian fluid, it is liquid unless you apply pressure to it and it becomes more solid.  Youtube has some interesting clips with people running on these liquids.  Much more interesting than a list of solid, liquid, gas... .zzzz. zzzzz....