10 Tips to Keep Classroom Concentration High

We’ve all had children in our class who can’t seem to keep their eyes on the same spot.

The worse their concentration is, the more likely they are to disrupt the rest of the children.

But how do you keep them focused during lesson time?

Here are ten tips on how to keep your students on the ball and open to what you have to teach them.

1. Make them hand in their mobile phones

Phones can be very distracting for students, particularly those who are hearing the pinging sound all the time while in their lessons.

The temptation to check them will prove too much for some who subsequently will not take in much of what you are saying.

For that reason, it is a good idea to get your students to hand over their mobile phones to you at the start of the lesson.

For this reason, it is a good idea to get your students to hand over their mobile phones to you at the start of the lesson.

Some teachers place them in a lockable cupboard so that they don’t find them until the bell sounds. You can see a selection of these on the TechXpress website.

2. Take attention breaks

To prevent the attention of your student from waning, it is a good idea to take an attention break every now and then.

You may let them quietly talk with their friends, read, meditate, or even play some soft soothing music at this point.

Just give them a few minutes to do that, but it will go a long way in getting their concentration back on track.

3. Make the lessons as varied as possible

Experts postulate that inside a classroom, children can only focus for a period equated to their age, multiplied by two to five minutes.

Thus, in a typical classroom of five-year-olds, they will only be able to focus in between ten to twenty-five minutes.

This is why it is so important that your lessons be as different as possible. Fortunately, there are many ways to do this.

One of the most effective ways is to set up different learning stations where small groups of students all cycle through to do different things like watching a video or having an article read aloud to them. Other things can include them creating artwork, listening while you teach, or doing puzzles.

Another is to break your lesson up into chunks that focus on learning through a different sense, e.g., seeing, hearing, touching, and, where appropriate, smell.

4. Open the windows

Did you know your brain uses 20% of the oxygen you take in to function properly? Subsequently, unless it is cold, you should open the windows of the classroom as much as possible.

Nothing can compete with fresh air in making your students much more aware and attentive to subjects being taught as long as you expose them to increased levels of it.

5. Take the lesson outside

While on the subject of fresh air, if it is a nice day and you have somewhere to sit, why not consider taking your children outside?

As the saying goes, a change is as good as a rest. So by moving out of the classroom environment you improve concentration considerably.

6. Get the children to switch seats

Alternatively, if you want to avoid taking them outside, or the weather is inclement, then ask your pupils to swap chairs mid-lesson.

Doing this will give them a different view of the classroom, which should result in them regaining their focus for a bit longer.

7. Keep visual distractions to a minimum

While it is good to display varied learning materials and work students have done on your walls, you can have too much of a good thing.

Indeed, the more you have on display, the more visual stimulus there is to distract your students. Which, in turn, could easily result in their ears and minds drifting away from what you are saying.

For this reason, it is worth adopting a less is more approach to keep your students on task.

8. Play Memory Games

Another nice way to help your student sustain attention is to establish their power to sustain concentration over a period of time using memory games.

You don’t have to make it too complicated. A simple game like ‘match the numbers’ or ‘I went to the shops and bought’ can do wonders for sustaining their attention span.

9. Keep them well hydrated

Apart from fresh air, water would be another resource for helping your students remember what you are teaching them. You should, therefore, encourage them to sip water at regular intervals in class.

In hydrated form, it helps its brain cells to be able to communicate better with each other. It gets rid of the toxins and waste that can reduce the effectiveness of brain functions and ensures that it receives the healthy nutrients it needs.

10. Start a competition

Sometimes the best way to engage your students is through a good, old-fashioned competition.

You could divide them into groups and quiz them on the different pearls of wisdom you taught them during the lesson, and that might be enough to immediately engage and interest them.