Engaging & Maintaining Students’ Attention (Part III)
August 5, 2012
Maintaining Students’ Attention & Participation
by Sandra Rief
This is the third of a 4-part blog on getting, focusing, and maintaining students’ attention – particularly important for students with ADHD. Once you get and focus students’ attention, here are some strategies for keeping them engaged and participating in the lesson:
- Keep students actively engaged. Provide many hands-on and kinesthetic learning opportunities.
- Move around in the classroom – maintaining your visibility.
- Teach thematically whenever possible – allowing for integration of ideas/concepts and connections to be made.
- Present at a snappy, brisk pace.
- Be prepared and avoid lag time in instruction.
- Use higher-level questioning techniques. Ask questions that are open-ended, require reasoning and stimulate critical thinking and discussion.
- Decrease the amount of time teacher is doing the talking. Make all efforts to greatly increase student responses (saying and doing something with the information being taught.
- Use direct instruction techniques and other methods of questioning that allow for high response opportunities (e.g., partner/buddy responses, unison responses).
- Structure the lesson so that it can be done in pairs or small groups for maximum student involvement and attention.
- Alter the way students are called on to avoid calling on students one at a time. Instead have students respond by ‘telling their partner’, writing down or drawing their response, or other alternative ways.
- Make frequent use of group or unison responses when there is one correct and short answer. While presenting, stop frequently and have students repeat back a word or two.
- Use the proper structure of cooperative learning groups (e.g., assignment of roles, accountability). It is NOT just group work. Students with ADHD do not typically function well in groups without clearly defined structure and expectations.
- Allowing students to use individual white boards throughout the lesson is motivating to students, and helps maintain attention. If used properly it is also effective in checking for students’ understanding and determining who needs extra help and practice.
- There are also electronic response systems such as 2Know! from Renaissance Learning, iRespond, and Clicker. There classroom response systems are highly engaging and motivating.
- Use motivating computer programs for specific skill building and practice (programs that provide for frequent feedback and self-correction).
- Document cameras, interactive white boards, iPads, and other tools of technology are wonderful for engaging and maintaining students’ attention and active participation in the classroom.
Adapted from my books: How to Reach & Teach Children with ADD/ADHD, 2nd edition and The ADD/ADHD Checklist, 2nd edition (published by Jossey-Bass)
Tags: ADD/ADHD, ADHD, attention, keeping students' attention, maintaining attention, student engagement
