Ideas on maintaining attention span of students
I have found that fluctuating voice tone and levels helps to keep attention. Also, to not focus for more than 5-10 minutes on one subject before transitioning the next part of the lecture. Please share techniques you use during your lectures.
I have a "smarty pants dance" I do when a student answers a particularly difficult question. They love to see me look like a fool, and I don't mind it one bit. They laugh and it makes the day go by faster.
I fluctuate my voice a lot during lecturing the class, this also makes the students think I'm weird, but I keep their attention, and I try to throw in real life experiences I've been through to enhance the lecture.
If I can, I will relate it to a story I have out in the field.
Also I have students come to the board for math problems, class quizes and after lesson reviews. I let the student that was just at the board hand the marker off to the next student that has to come up to the board. My only rule is that the student getting the marker has not come up to the board yet for that round(sometimes we do this multiple rounds at the end of class). This process seems to keep their attention better during class.
If I start to see everyone drift off, I will tell a joke. My students are all 18 years old or older.
I too move around when I lecture, I find it helps when the students have to look at me moving around. It breaks up the monotony of standing still.
Hi Kim,
Great model and great involvement. You are doing a super job of engaging your students at all levels of learning. Keep up the good work.
Gary
Hi Colette,
I like your method. Students will maintain more focus if there is movement and research shows that by following someone visually it gives a bit of relief in concentration. So by moving to pick up a tool you are giving your students a few seconds of concentration relief and then they are ready to learn once again. These are "mini" breaks if you will in their learning flow.
Gary
I love your idea to assign portions of the demos for individuals to coordinate. I teach a writing course, and I present the material and then break the students into groups to problem solve, or if there's a lot of material, I assign groups to read their section and present to the class. I will fill in any missed important stuff, but then when they teach it, they learn it better than if they were just listening. Then we may respond aloud or respond in groups. My motivating force is to talk as little as possible and to make them talk as much as possible.
I make sure I move around the classroom - sometimes even leaving a tool off my station so that I have to move a few feet to retrieve it.
It helps them stay more focused if they think I might need something.
I also ask for assistance from the "audience".
I can do everything without moving but I found this keeps my culinary students more engaged.
Hi Charles,
Well said. You have captured the essence of planning instruction around the attention span of students in concert with the content that needs to be delivered. By having content sharing and then application the cognitive retention of students will be greatly increased.
Gary
I agree with your limiting topic focus to 10 minutes. Because most of our instruction takes place in a lab/shop setting, a significant amount of time is devoted to demonstrations. I try to involve the students by inviting, or suggesting, or even assigning portions of demonstrations to individuals who must then co-ordinate their parts of the demonstration. Ten minutes is an adequate amount of time to perform/demonstrate one step of the procedures we utilize. My experience with such demonstrations has encouraged me to continue using this technique. The speaker changes, the emphasis changes, and the variety of viewpoints and applications preserves interest and attention.
