Distracted Students

One of the things that I have come across in the classrooms I am volunteering in are distracted students. Whether it be cell phones, peers, or simply the inability to concentrate on the task at hand, it is very easy to notice many students who are not able to focus or work on the current lesson.

I have tried to understand or brainstorm the reasons behind this behavior. Is it that there is a growing wave of apathy in general among youth these days? Is the material or method of learning not stimulating enough? Are students lost because they question the relevancy of the material to their own current lives? As educators are we failing in drawing connections from the material to the student's life so that they understand the significance of learning about these topics? Is technology (cell phones - social media, youtube etc,) altering students' attention spans? Are students tempted to look at their cell phones in the classroom? The answers may be found within all of these questions, not to mention there are many factors surrounding the student themselves - their personality, home life, routines, physiology (ADHD, Anxiety, learning disabilities), etc.

Here are a few suggestions I pose from my own ruminations, which I have also noticed on websites on the same topic.  


Instructional 

Directly connect the lesson to the students' lives

Instructional material appears dry to students. While the material is infact interesting and does directly impact their lives, perhaps students have difficulty making the connection on how the topic directly influences their lives and perhaps as educators we need to teach them this how.  As educators, I believe it is our role to create those bridges and connections for students. For example, I was reading with a student and the main character in the novel meets a student in his class who is deaf. I think it is important to draw connections for the student by example, asking the student if they have ever interacted with a person who is different from they are and perhaps what the benefit of such encounters would be. Another example is studying with a student on the Industrial Revolution and how it changed the nature of agriculture and food production. I was able to ask a student if he ever thought about where his food came from. I feel that this is just the beginning but perhaps rooting or grounding the lesson within the personal lives of the students and drawing constant connections helps to keep them engaged. I also enjoy activities that connect students not only to themselves, but to their peers, teacher and the outside world.

Keep it simple

Perhaps concepts or readings are beyond student learning level in the sense that students do not understand what they are reading/learning and thus "check out." I can see this a lot in ESL classrooms, where students do not completely understand what they are reading and perhaps have not developed the capacity at this point of their lives to persevere through the material. I think in this case, maybe it is best to focus on one or two ideas or concepts and only stick to teaching those.

• Break up lessons so that students are not working on one thing for long periods of time - students become restless 
• Hands on learning involving movement, getting out of ones desk
• Active participation - students are not to be passive in the class but may be called at any time to answer a question or participate in an activity

I visited a few websites and they also discuss some good ideas for keeping students focused

Organizational

• Planning - creating a plan for what the class/students are to be working on for that session and maybe have charts or checklists and even exit slips to monitor their work...."by the end of the next 20 minutes, I would like to see that you have completed 3 sentences..."
• Seating - best to have students sit with people they do not know, but still to encourage an atmosphere of community. Sitting with friends, I have found in a lot of classes increases the noise level and lowers concentration levels
• Goal setting - have students, especially distracted ones, create goals for their learning and attentiveness. Have them be honest about their strengths and weaknesses and create goals to improve their weaknesses especially as it concerns being distracted.

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/15-strategies-managing-attention-problems

https://www.learningliftoff.com/study-finds-school-distractions-affect-student-learning/

https://www.impactteachers.com/easily-distracted-adhd-students/teacher-tips