What subject do you teach? Or are you an elementary school teacher and so teach them all? In any event, SHOW YOUR STUDENTS PROJECTS AND IDEAS IN WHAT YOU TEACH, THAT WILL IMPACT THEIR REAL LIVES. Too much in school seems totally irrelevant to most students....in any subject you can name! However, if, for instance, you teach philosophy, and the students find reading, say, the words of St. Thomas Aquinus, tough going, tell them that being able to understand these 14th-century phrases can help them concentrate on, and understand ANY book!
In history -- if possible and if you wish to -- bring in a portrait of your OWN ancestors, and tell THEIR story! The important thing is to PERSONALIZE history, whether from pictures or words. (I learned a LOT about the Holocaust, for example, when I heard JERRY SPRINGER say, (on his own show): "If the Holocaust never happened, then WHAT happened to all my aunts and uncles?") I, myself, had a teacher who had been alive during the time of the Kellog-Briand Peace Treaty -- that ended World War I, and assured the world there would BE NO MORE WARS. When World War II started, this poor lady was utterly and completely confused -- HOW could this be, after the K-B Peace Treaty had said otherwise? (Many lessons from that....including: NEVER TRUST WHAT POLITICIANS SAY! Or, at least never trust what politicians say, completely!) And a math teacher of mine, (SO old that my girl-friend's MOTHER had had her as a teacher!), told us of how she studied her Latin verbs, when she tucked a paper with the verbs written on it in her mirror, and combed her long, long hair. Great glimpse of the past and past study habits, there!
And math, of course, is useful in EVERYTHING! From going to the supermarket to launching rocket ships!
I'd also look for books on "teaching so that students will participate", in Amazon, and other online bookstores!
A high-school creative-writing teacher I had, arranged all the chairs in a CIRCLE, so that there was no "teacher-up-front" seating arrangement. This engenered participation from many students....especially those who would ordinarily have sat towards the back of the room!
