How Can You Respond When Students Don’t Pay Attention?

Our initial reaction when seeing the following infographic from Mia MacMeekin was to think about instructional design rather than classroom management.

That is, work backwards from a student-centered, inquiry-based, self-directed, and inherently personalized learning model where students, while plugged in to relevant digital and physical communities and working closely with mentors and peers, solved important and authentic problems through a mix of design, creativity, and macro critical thinking.

Then we awoke from our naps, wiped the drool from our lips, and realized that for many teachers, the reality they face each day is very traditional:

1. Establish a learning target

2. Create lesson for students to practice mastery of said target

3. Assess

4. Repeat

And in that model, being able to redirect students, get their attention, and refocus them on the lesson is the job of the teacher–and one an expert teacher deftly integrates into the assessment, time management, unit design, and all of the on-the-fly adjustments therein.

So with that context in mind–and parallel to the related graphic 27 ways to check for understanding–is the following image: 27 Ways To Respond When Students Don’t Pay Attention.

Check out Mia’s site and let her know what you think.

27 Ways To Respond When Students Don’t Pay Attention