small talk with girls in lessons

I tend to struggle with making good conversation when sat next to girls in lessons at school. Tend to just talk about stuff relevant to the lesson and ask them about the work we are doing etc. Im generally known as quite a funny guy at school amongst the lads but I have always found it difficult to have the same sort of jokey banter and talk with girls.
So my question is what sort of conversation topics do you try and use at school to get girls chatting with actual interest and not feeling awkward sat next to you?

would be interested to know as many of my mates are very good at entertaining and making girls laugh in lessons and I just can't for the life of me understand how they do it lol
Cheers