Hello, This is the first time that I have tried this so please bear with me. I am a part-time clincial LN instructor and I am new. Your suggestions regarding inattentive students sounds good. I have heard the walking around the room before and even standing near the inattentive student would probably work. However, I have not had this particular problem since most the time the students are occupied/learning in the clincal setting with direct resident/client care. Thanks, Dale
Hi Michael,
Questioning a student on the lecture is certainly a great way to help them regain their focus.
Patricia
Hi Meher,
You must get and keep the students involved in order to hold their attention. A lot of our students certainly have wondering minds.
Patricia
My strategy is to keep the class attentive by constantly asking them questions, ask them to give examples and to walk around.
And sometimes, all you need to do to get the attention of someone who's drifting is to target that student with a question about something you just covered.
Some of the material I teach gets very dense, and, must be covered quickly. Predictably, eyes and brains start to glaze over. When I see this, I stop abruptly and say very quietly, "How's everyone doing with this stuff?" It gives the whole class a nice, sudden break and lets them mentally stretch for a few moments. The humor of it also seems to help them regroup and move onward. For individual students nodding off, I wander over to them and gently ask if they're alright, suggesting that they stand up and maybe go throw some water on their faces to help get back in the groove. If it continues, I have chat with them outside of class.
I find that the students love to hear stories about my experiences as a dental hygienist. I work part-time teaching and part-time clinically as a hygienist. The two days in which I teach I always share a story or experience that is relevant to the topic in which I am lecturing. This spurs a rash of questions and interest before we get down to business! Tying the material into relevant information motivates the student and definitely captures their attention!
Not standing in one place helps with inattentive students and also getting them involved in discussion. Start off with an easy question so they don't feel picked on and get the other students involved in helping the inattentive student answer the questions. Make the student feel like part of the class and what he/she says is important and useful to the discussion.
to capture the attention of students of this type I think it's important to know whether the course content is very dificl or not, check it, find ways to prepare interesantey so if you need to change teaching strategies, provide tutoring to the student to more participatory class, more practice, use images, videos, make balanced small groups to discuss parts of the class.
I like to engage in break-out groups for small discussion sessions. This motivates students to interact and at least participate somewhat because they may not feel as much pressure or nervousness from larger groups. Also by moving around and making the students move around as well keeps their attention longer.
I do not allow texting in my class, that seems to be the #1 attention distractors. I mention that if they need to take or respond to a call, please leave the room, reminding them that these should only be for brief, emergent calls.
I also try to engage the inattentive student by calling on them when I have a question, if it is something in the text or workbook, I remind them of the area that we are reviewing and wait for their response.
By asking the student what his or her opinion about the subjet or if possible making him an example of the class subjet.
I often walk up and down every so often in class and that helps the student by having to make a concerted effort to keep their attention on me.
When move around lecturing it get the students attention and I ask question as I go
Hi Franklin,
Guest speakers are no doubt a breath of fresh air. They act as positive reinforcers as to what we have already taught. Students love guest speakers.
Patricia
in our program, i find guest speakers can be more effective to re-capture students attentions and to re-motivate quite a bit. i guess is receiving that different perspective, or it might just be refreshing to hear the information and how it was applied from a different perspective.
Capture the attention by displaying some techniques that are new to them, causing them to engage in discovery of the material objectives.
i actually make them work on group assignments, or make them do something hands on, that way they have to stay involved and motivated. If that does not work, i make them go home and write a paragraph or two on the topic i was discussing in the class that day, by researching it on the internet.
This is a good strategy just moving around your class and being interactive keeps your students on their toes. Cliffhanger work great as well.
I have been very fortunate in capturing students attention. I believe it is because of the passion that I have for the industry that I work in. When the students see how excited I get to work on almost anything in class, this gets them excited as well.
I have some students that don't get as excited as others and I trying new things to get them as excited as everyone else.
