Changing up your formate, voice tone, having active participation in the discussion can help.
Random questions can help.
Hi Ilene,
In our school we know students who work the night before are very tired. For that reason I change the mood or atomsphere in the classroom often, we refer to it as a change of state. We also encourage them from the first day to stand, get a drink or even coffee if it helps them stay alert. If more than one or two are sleepy sometimes a standup activity helps a lot to recharge thier batterys!!
Hi Randy,
Moving about the room worked for me as well. I find that if someone is about to doze off, a tap on the back of their chair helps bring them back. I will then softly ask them to stand. Also I will suggest they go to the restroom and splash some water on their face. Another way is after about 15 minutes of power-point, I stop, turn on the lights, and ask everyone to stand and stretch a bit. I then review and ask questions while they are standing. After that we hit the P/P again.
Cheers,
Constant change seems to work best for me. Change my voice, location, or story. I have a lot of energy in the classroom. some of it transfers to the students. Probably why I crash when I get home. But I find if your active they want to be active. you set the tone. This also has a negative side effect. You will have that student with high energy supercharged. There is no way to get them all.
I find that PM is the problem time for trying to stay awake. I usually tell them not to eat a big lunch. I have my students all day so in the afternoon I keep the lectures short and include lab times, also am able to send them on short five minute breaks. In the AM, lots of coffee!!
Indeed, sometimes they are ACTUALLY tired, but often, this is posturing,...they are trying to see if, and how long, they can "get-away-with-it" before you'll address it. It's a competition amongst them. They play the one upmanship game. Sadly, it usually occurs because they are not fully engaged in the class.
I agree having them stand doesn't disrupt the class and usually wakes them up
I feel singleing out a student a student can be an embarassing thing and might put a wedge so to speak between you and the student.I like using examples as much as I can or something for them to fidget with.Maybe shorten my lessons to 15-20 minutes.
I think there is no real solution with today’s learners when it comes to sleeping in class. Through the years, changes in our society and technology have encouraged this type of damage to our bodies through the influx of technological eye candy to keep young minds aroused for longer periods of time. “There are so many things to do and not enough time to do it”. “I’m young so my body can recover quicker” “I’ll sleep when I die!”.
I will often change my delivery to keep their minds accessing new information in a different way until I find what works best. Sometimes…nothing works.
i do the same thing but alot of times i wioll use the white board for demonstrations and get the "sleeper" to become active by having them come to the board and show us how the test is preformed
To respond to your question about how the students react to being asked to stand. I use the same technique in my classes and the students are informed on day #1 of class that this consequence is enforced. I have found that after being asked to stand once or twice, the students will then either not fall asleep or they will voluntarily stand up and move off to the side of the classroom so that their classmates are not distracted by them. I actually encourage them to get up and move around the classroom and put their hands on the training aids we have in the classroom.
Hi Everyone,
A number of you have made some very good comments on how to work with students that are having trouble with staying awake. Thank you for sharing the many different strategies that can be used to get them refocused and back into the learning game.
Gary
You make a great point. I try to keep students busy by keeping them in activities. I lecture for a half hour (at the most) and then as a class we participate in activities. It tremendously cuts down on sleeping. I also have them moving from their seats to keep them awake! It works for me.
This problem of the limited attention span in the mornings is somewhat universal in education. It really doesn't seem to matter if the student is 19,45, or older. For most of us sitting in a classroom (especially when the chairs are too comfortable) can be a challenge. I can vividly recall Navy boot camp and the numerous technical classes that followed...Standing up was one technique that helped. Caffine when pallatable for the individual helps some. Time out for a quick walk around the building or around the halls at a brisk pace can help.
I am learning about an instructor can really help their students with the chains of state.
Hi Ilene,
You raise a good question. Something you might want to do is to keep the students moving around the lab or classroom. I lecture 10-15 minutes and then we do an activity, then lecture, then activity. The remainder of the class is spent in the lab where they are constantly moving. Point is to not let them get settled into their seats where they can sleep. I don't single out the students for sleeping I just don't give them the chance to sleep.
Gary
I am wondering if the students respond well to the instructor asking them to stand? I imagine that the typical college aged student would not want to be the center of attention standing during a lecture or classroom activity. Is this something that is presented on the first day of class?
Finding out why they are tired has helped in most of my situations, If they are really bad I have sent them home after talking it out and explaining that getting 5 or 6 hrs of sleep today can help tomarrows class experience. yah they take a 5 or 6 hour hit but when they come back they are usually ready to go and have very few problems after that. Not much help if they have already missed alot of class time.
When I lecture, and don't need the whiteboard, I walk about the room. This gives students a different visual focal point (so they don't nod off) and allows me to walk past the ones who do nod off ... this presence usually beings their attention back to the class.
Maybe try some kind of points deduction for repeated sleepers. Give them a warning then dock them points next time.
I will ask them to stand for some time they seem to beccome a little more alert when they stand for a period of time I tell them that as long as they feel if they are going to sleep they should stand becuase the material being covered is important I tend to find that the AM classes tend to have more problems with sleeping than the afternoon
