It’s one of the great challenges of teaching.
How do you compete with the distractions of a modern student’s life?
How do you interest them in what you’re offering when their entertainment options are so immediate, so exciting, and so easy?
How do you sell them on the cool complexity of a quadratic equation or the beauty of a delicate ecosystem?
How do you get them to appreciate the harsh struggle of the Lewis and Clark expedition or the clean simplicity of a well-written sentence?
How do you get them to pay attention in a world of instant gratification?
You can always dress up like Sacagawea. You can dance around your room in your lab coat bellowing, “She blinded me with science!” You can bring in your dog to show off his Pavlovian response.
Students love these kinds of things, no doubt about it. But every day? For every lesson? It just isn’t realistic.
Save your most attention-getting intros and time-consuming planning for cornerstone lessons; those that future learning is dependent upon.
For the day-to-day, however, you need on-the-spot strategies you can count on to get students to brighten up, lean forward, and hang on your every word—or at least most of them.
Here are three simple strategies you can pull out of your back pocket whenever you need them.
1. Exercise
Before beginning your lesson, ask your students to stand and join you for two-minutes of light exercise. You can do jumping jacks, knee bends, twists, stretches, or your favorite yoga poses. Anything that spikes the heart rate will do.
Studies show that exercise can boost brain function, improve mood, and increase learning. I’ve found that it clears mental clutter and provides the energy boost students need to be at their best.
Once they sit back down, your students will be refreshed, rebooted, and ready for learning. Use exercise breaks throughout the day and you’ll notice a difference in your students’ attentiveness and performance.
2. Storytelling
Storytelling is a powerful way to introduce lessons. Nothing captures attention as effectively. For example, tell a five-minute story about your first roller coaster ride, and by the time you get to the topic of potential energy, every student will be strapped in and following along.
The inherent mystery in stories draws students into whatever world you create for them. And it keeps them there as they transform your descriptions into moving pictures in their head.
Stories also provide deeply layered context for students, linking their memories, emotions, and viewpoints to your lesson objectives. This makes complex ideas, like potential energy, easier to understand and remember.
Note: Storytelling can do more than just improve attentiveness. In fact, done a certain way, it can be one of your most effective classroom management strategies. To find out how, see Key #9: Be A Great Storyteller in the book Dream Class.
3. Curiosity
This strategy uses curiosity, which all students have in abundance, to entice them to follow along. And it’s as easy as it gets. Easy, though, doesn’t mean less effective. You can use this strategy several times a day, and it will never lose its attention-attracting luster.
The curiosity strategy starts with a promise. The teacher asks students to pay close attention, to mentally engage throughout the early stages of the lesson because, if they do, there will be a payoff at the end.
For example, the teacher might say, “Stick with me through these first couple of steps and I’m going to show you something really cool.” (Or we’re going to do something really cool–or amazing, scary, hilarious, beautiful, fascinating, easy, fun, or any number of possibilities.)
By holding back the part of the lesson that is most interesting or attractive to students, and dangling it like a carrot, you provide students a compelling reason to pay attention.
When you pause and look around the room before revealing the one thing they’ve been waiting for, you’ll see the anticipation on their faces. And their recall of everything leading up to that moment? Spot on.
There Is Always A Way
I know there are times when teaching can seem overwhelming. When nothing seems to work. When you’re tired and stressed. The hours are long. There is always so much to do.
But there is great hope. Because beneath the frustration, beneath the gloom and doom roar of the media, beneath the jaded cynicism of some of our colleagues, is this quiet fact:
There is always a way.
Shortcuts, strategies, and solutions abound to make teaching easier, faster, less stressful, more effective, and a lot more fun.
You really can create the class you want.
And I’m here to help you.
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I really like those ideas on how to get students to pay attention!! As a future teacher, I can see all of those strategies to be very useful and I will have to keep them in mind for when I am a teacher!
Hi this is Manar a teacher from Egypt, I really like your ideas I will implement one of them tomorrow wish me luck.
Good luck, Manor! I’m sure you’ll do great.
Michael
Michael.
I just talked to my daugher who has taught 5th grade for over 15 years and she has a class that has more behavior problems than Carter has pills. They have been a class from the beginning of not caring, talking above the teacher,not listening plus much more. She has always been able to manage her classes, but these children are missing out and I am concerned about my daughter’s health and well-being with this group of children. I did run off some of your articles, but she said she has tried so many of her behavioral tactics and nothing seems to work. Any suggestions for her to maybe change her stratagies?
Hi Lliz,
This website represents my suggestions. There are over 130 articles all designed to give any teacher the confidence to successfully manage–and then thrive with–any group of students. I think a couple of hours on this website, working through the the categories listed in the archive that most suit her needs, would really help.
Michael
I have a class of (17students) 9yrs old where everyone wants to be the leader. They speak out loudly in class, chat before starting and during assignments. Always putting down one another. Knows what other students are thinking and what they are saying. I am now on mid-term break and would like to try changing their attitudes towards their school work.
Dear Michael,
I am a veteran teacher who recently posted about taking over a class that is out of control. In addition, for the past year, I’ve been a scoring leader for a project called Measurement of Effective Teaching (MET). Through it, I’ve gotten to be a fly on the wall in a significant percentage of the 5,500 classrooms that took part in the project. I can attest from this and from my own experience that modeling and consistency in enforcing the rules and everything else you’ve addressed is absolutely SPOT ON as far as creating a dream class.
I do have a question about students who chronically sleep in class. How do you handle this (and students who are frequently sick in the classroom)? I never allow sleeping in the class, but I have had some students who, even after talking with parents and getting a clean bill of health, continue to sleep, even when they try to stay awake.
Thanks,
Nancy Lynn Smith
Hi Nancy,
If you create a classroom your students enjoy coming to every day, you won’t have a problem with sleeping–or even daydreaming. End of story. However, as you’re implementing your classroom plan and your way of doing things with your new students, if it happens, or even if a student lowers his/her head down onto the desk, enforce a consequence–follow your plan as you would any other misbehavior that interferes with learning.
:)Michael
Hi Micheal,
I really enjoy your thoughts on classroom management. By reading your articles i have changed my classroom management to the better. Thank you!
I would like do get your advice on this ting that troubles me. It concerns one of my math classes. As I’m teaching a subject, they rearly ask questions. They can answere questions that I give them, but they don’t ask ” What did you mean by …. ” or “How did you get …”
Hi Tore,
I think the answer to why they’re not asking those questions lies with you. It could be that they’re confused. It could be that you’re doing a really good job of teaching and they don’t need to ask follow up questions. It could be that they’re not engaged or they’re bored or the curriculum is too easy. Again, it’s a question that only you can answer by looking closely at what you do in relation to the success and behavior of your students.
:)Michael
Thanks, Michael! appreciate the good tips!
You’re welcome, Charlie!
Im a teacher at a university in northern Mexico and I agree that storytelling is a great tool for getting your classroom attention. I found out by accident how much they enjoyed listening to stories. I also found out that you need to let them know who is encharged. Remember you are there to teach more than to make friends.
Right you are, Enrique!
:)Michael
Hi Micheal.. i am taking your suggestion to be put on my case study. thank you so much. i am trying to adjust it with the culture in my country! thank you so much! 🙂 ily! wish me luck ok! 🙂
Hi Ana,
I wish you luck, Ana, but please refresh my memory. I don’t remember making that suggestion.
Michael
hihihihi your suggestions.. i should put ‘s’ there 🙂 there is too many brilliant ideas! but~~~~~ i am afraid that i cant be as good as you 🙁 you really sound formal. 🙂 wishing me luck and stuff heheehhehehe 😛
Good luck, Ana!
Today I had an interview with teacher in prep. She told he had bad attention in the class. If she ask any question to him he say he do know. Can pl. suggest me some ideas to apply on him to pay attention in his class. Thanks sam
Hi Sam,
My suggestions are in the Attentiveness category of the archive. I will, however, revisit this important topic in the future.
Michael
This is an original song I created for my classroom management strategy. Students need to feel comfortable and safe in a classroom despite the disturbances other students cause. In my student teaching; I discovered that rambunctious students need creative classroom management strategies so the teacher may proceed with his or her lessons with minimal verbal reprimand. I believe body language is the most effective and appropriate method in commanding order in a classroom.
In many of my classroom observations, students were constantly reminded to stay on task, be on their best behaviors, and stay focus with his and her classwork. I decided to use the following phrases: behave, pay attention, and do my work…so the student does not get caught messing around. However, instead of the teacher verbally reminding the student, why not let the student remind the student(s). Play the song for the students, and have them sing together the chorus as a class. To integrate hand signals, I tell the students to only raise “three” fingers, as if they were raising their hand.
The “3” indicates:
1-“Behave”, 2- “Pay Attention, 3-“ Do My Work”
Many students have adapted to this strategy quite well as they hold up “3” to remind his and her classmates that they are ready for school…”how about you?” Once the strategy is in place, and practiced for a few days, students start to respect their teacher and their peers once a “3” is raised. Teacher: “Kieran, I like that you threw up a ‘3’, thank you!” Other students will see this, and want to demonstrate that he or she can do the same. Remember, as a teacher, if you practice raising a three, rather than talking over the students, clapping hands, ringing bells, or what ever distracts the students, you will gain more respect from the students because you are not joining in with the noise level. Save your vocals for the song, and use a “3” to maintain the masses. You will have a lot of fun!
I wish you well!
Hi Michael,
I have just started my first job as a newly qualified teacher in a private school in Dubai. The school is in the middle of turning itself around under new management as the teachers last year seem to have let the children do as they wish. As a result of this, I have now found myself in a class that does not know any boundaries. They are so noisy they cannot hear me, they will not be quiet long enough for me to even explain a fun activity, and the language barrier is so difficult, they often mimmic my words and accent as a joke and could not care less if I take away privileges such as break times. To be honest, they probably aren’t even aware they are being punished as they won’t listen to me explaining! Please help me, I am really struggling here.
Thank you
Hi Catherine,
You have to start over from the beginning, teaching your classroom management plan and routines thoroughly—so you can teach. I recommend the book, The Classroom Management Secret. If you can’t get a copy, then begin in the Classroom Management Plan category of the archive and then go from there.
Michael
thank you very much Micheal Linsin .. although I have been reading your site for many times first time I post … I just like to thank you heartly for you help in my classroom management .. thank you a million ..and keep up the same spirit.
You’re welcome, Sham Amed!
Michael
in my class when students start to talk nd make noise i shout to stop.bt they take too many times to silent.how can i stop them talking?
Hi Fara,
We have several articles that address this topic. Please read through the Attentiveness category of the archive. You should find your answer there.
Michael
how can i draw children’s attention in some activity at home place!!