7 Simple Ways You Can Help Students Pay Attention

by TeachThought Staff

For many teachers, helping students “pay attention” is probably the wrong way to help improve what you’re probably trying to improve.

Listless students.

Apathetic responses.

Uninspired work.

Talking.

Texting.

Behavior issues.

“Off-taskedness.”

Daydreaming.

These are the hallmarks of a classroom and curriculum in need of some significant rethinking rather than a few “takeaways” to help students “stare longer at work they don’t care about.”

That said, for others, the challenge may indeed by one of pure student engagement. You may work in a very traditional classroom, or have brief “spurts” of direct instruction, PowrPoints, note-taking, and so on, that can benefit from improved student attention and engagement. If that’s the case, below are 7 simple ways any teacher can implement at any time to, to some degree or another, help students focus more intently.

Provided in the following infographic from Reading Horizons are some strategies for increasing student engagement.

7 Simple Ways You Can Help Students Pay Attention In A Traditional Classroom

1. Use the 10:2 method (2 minutes of response for every 10 minutes of instruction.)

2. Incorporate movement into your lessons

3. Pick up the pace

4. Provide frequent feedback

5. Allow 5-7 seconds of “think time”

6. Have students use the 3-2-1 method of summarizing

7. Periodically pause mid-sentence

image attribution readinghorizons.com