Broken Record

I often feel like a broken record. I share directions, plans, or a story and am later asked a question that was clearly answered in what I already shared. Or better yet, during a “conversation” I ask a question that gets answered with a “yes” when it wasn’t a yes-or-no question! Ha ha. But seriously, I laugh because otherwise I might cry. 

No one wants to have to say the same thing repeatedly. It is tiresome and monotonous, and makes you feel like others don’t care to hear what you have to share. 

As a mom and wife, I have learned to wait until I have the focused attention of my children and spouse when I am communicating something important. Often I even ask them to repeat it to me just to make sure there is no miscommunication, which works fairly well. However, as a teacher I have more difficulty making sure those I speak to are focused and attentive. I mean, often I am speaking to a class of 25 or more students, so it's almost a given that at least one if not more of them are going to come up after the lesson and ask a question that has already been answered. Or, worse yet, they won’t ask a question and will carry on without the new knowledge and wind up struggling.

Attention and focus are an essential component of the learning process. 

So, how do we help students gain focus and be attentive during our lessons? We start here.

1. Length: Use the age=minutes rule of thumb. Our lessons are as many minutes in length as the students are years old, and we cap it at 10. Students need a break from instruction to process and store new learning.
2. Purpose: Design lessons with one to two learning targets. It is easy to layer on all the things students must learn, and often if our lessons go too long, it is because we are teaching too much. We want students to remember what we say, so we shouldn’t say too much. 
3. Connection: Know your students, and use what you know to grab and keep their attention. What are they interested in? What instructional practice would be most effective? Design lessons with your specific class in mind. 

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