For teachers and educators, one of the ways in which this problem can be addressed is by making the learning process more engaging. This could involve ensuring that every student in the class is participating in a learning exercise or that each student is contributing.
If every student in the classroom is being engaged, the students themselves will be more alert because they know they could be called upon at any moment.
Encourage Student Leadership
Students need to become an active part of the learning process in order to feel as if they have a vested interest in maintaining focus. One of the ways in which teachers can help make students more involved in the learning process is by encouraging leadership within the classroom.
More often than not, what happens is that some students who aren’t actively participating in the classroom are feeling disengaged. This causes them to have trouble maintaining focus.
To bring them back to a place where they feel integrated, teachers should delegate leadership roles on an alternating basis to different students in the classroom.
This will give all students a chance to understand the importance of being proactive in the classroom. It’ll also help them to gain a greater appreciation for the role that a teacher plays in the classroom.
Connect the Material to Real Life
In order to help students feel more connected to the material that is being taught, teachers should strive to make connections with the material being taught and real life scenarios or examples. This will help students internalize what they are being taught.
This is important for several reasons. Over the course of a typical school day, students learn a lot of material. If that material remains abstract, it can be hard for the students to absorb that material. After a certain point, they might also have issues with focusing because there’s too much they’ve been taught in a specific time frame.
Making connections between the material and real life is something that has been shown to energize students. This is because it helps students make personal connections and therefore understand the material quicker. It’ll also help them to remember that material for longer.
Illustrate the Importance of Planning
In many cases, students come into class and are taught according to the lesson plan for the day by their teachers. The teachers identify what needs to be taught and typically goes about it in a very systematic manner.
In order to keep students focused during this process, it’s important to teach students the importance of pre-planning. Pre-planning can apply to numerous aspects of the learning process. Teachers should encourage students from an early age to get into the habit of planning. This could include reflecting on what they anticipate learning every day, how to go about absorbing the new material they’ve been taught, how to approach homework and assignments, etc.
When a student gets into the habit of being mindful with their learning and planning how to learn, they’ll inadvertently start to be better at staying focused in class.
The ‘No One Right Answer’ Approach
The ‘no one right answer’ approach fosters a rich and dynamic learning environment. Here, teachers are encouraged to dispel the notion that there is always only one right answer to any problem or discussion.
Instead, teachers should encourage healthy discussion in a classroom. This approach allows for students to contribute a plethora of strategies that can be used in order to get to a successful outcome.
If this sort of approach is employed in a classroom, students not only become more engaged in the learning process, they feel as if their views and opinions are valued. This will encourage a deeper focus and attention from students because they know that they’ll be contributing to discussions in the classroom. It also encourages students to weigh and compare different approaches and make choices accordingly.
This learning approach encourages a higher level of thinking among students in the classroom. This will naturally make students feel more energized and focused.
A teacher has a lot of responsibility when it comes to helping ensure students are learning effectively and are engaged. Part of that involves ensuring that students are able to focus for long periods of time and that they are energized at the prospect of learning. To meet these goals, teachers can incorporate a wide variety of strategies in the classroom, ranging from encouraging greater participation to changing the approach to learning in the classroom. The best method will depend on the individual students in your class, and therefore might involve a certain degree of trial and error. None the less, the effort will ultimately be worth in order to help students focus better and be more energized.
