Ways to boost up morale....

today, i was invigilating sec 4 (Normal Tech) for the humans/social studies N level prelim paper. There were 14 students taking the paper (2 were absent). The class was noisy as usual till the question papers were distributed. Then everyone settled down.

I was shocked when i saw almost half of the class put their papers under the table and dozed off. they just wrote their names and gonna submit the blank paper. i tried my best advicing them to at least give a try on the paper. Most of them attempted but a couple of students dozed off again saying that they don't understand what was going on.

But i feel this students are discouraged in some ways. Maybe they don't have confidence in themselves. The students who i asked to at least give a try did write something for all the questions. So, they are not unable to do the paper. just that their morale is very low and they have this mentality that nothing is gonna change even if they score well. they gave up easily without trying. this is definitely a wrong way of thinking. but then, nothing could be done. teachers must motivate them and have some confidence in them. they are not stupid at all. but they don't have to confidence. quite sad. teachers responsibilities are more than just teaching....