The Master Teacher Blog

Gaining and holding student attention is a daily, hourly, and—sometimes—even a minute-by-minute challenge. We need students’ attention if we want them to learn, whether we are engaging with them individually or as a group. However, finding and choosing the right approaches can be challenging.

Of course, we can take a direct path by telling students to pay attention, but such admonitions can become routine and their power to attract attention can diminish. Threats can lose their impact and often repeated exhortations become background noise.

The best attention-grabbing approaches tend to be interesting invitations, surprising promises, and compelling requests. Additionally, holding student attention is easiest when they see a purpose for what they are learning, or how it will play a meaningful role in what will happen. Here are seven phrases we can use as starting places to capture and hold the attention of our students, depending on the topic, issue, or subject.

“Have you ever wondered why ________ happens? Today we are going to find out.” This question can be a great way to create interest and spark curiosity. Of course, some students may never have given the issue or circumstance any thought, but our introduction is an invitation to consider and a promise to discover something new.

“I am curious to hear your thoughts on something I am considering.” This statement communicates our interest in how students will respond to something that we are thinking about or planning. We are seeking their perspectives and offering to consider what they think before we decide.

“Let’s think about this in a different way.” These words send a message that there are different ways to approach an issue or think about a problem. The invitation can be a timely way to nudge students from becoming stuck in a less than helpful way of considering a problem or confronting a challenge. It also can be a strategy to help students reframe something that has happened in their lives or with their learning.

“I think you are going to find this interesting.” This statement sets the stage and invites students to listen for something novel, surprising, ironic, or engaging. It can be utilized to introduce a mystery, a surprising fact, or an unusual happening. The idea is to draw notice, create readiness, and build curiosity for what will come next.

“Tell me a little more about that.” This request invites students to continue to share information or details on a topic about which they have already spoken. It can be a way of collecting information related to an incident, a feeling, or an area of confusion. Importantly, this statement communicates our interest in, and our valuing of what students say.

“Can I ask a favor?” This question may seem curious. Yet, it is powerful. Asking a favor is a compliment. It implies that the other person has the power to accomplish something that would be helpful to us or others. It also gives the person who does the favor a sense of value and our respect.

“Let me tell you a story.” The prospect of a story is inherently interesting. Our brains are wired for stories. We might recount something from our experience, share a metaphor, provide an example within a narrative, or place an aspect of what is to be learned in the context of a storyline.

What other phrases, invitations, questions, or requests have you found to be useful in attracting and holding students’ attention? Be sure to share your best strategies with colleagues and collect the “best of their best.” The more options we have to choose from, the more likely we will be to find what works.

Teachable moments can be magical times for teaching and learning. After all, they hold the potential to open doors to exploration. They can capture intrinsic interest and lead to amazing learning adventures. However, they often arrive unannounced and can be easily missed or misinterpreted. They can even seem like interruptions and distractions rather than invitations to learning. 

These (often serendipitous) events can emerge as questions, mistakes, misconceptions, unfounded assumptions, and other seemingly innocuous comments and observations. Unless we are open, aware, flexible, and attentive, teachable moments can present themselves and dissipate without our realizing what we missed. Fortunately, there are practical strategies we can employ to recognize and make the most of teachable moments. Here are seven ways we can be ready to recognize and exploit these special teaching opportunities. 

First, we can be fully present. If we allow ourselves to become preoccupied with what we have to say and what we intend to happen, an unanticipated connection, useful observation, or provocative question can pass us by and leave a teaching and learning opportunity unexploited. Noticing and capturing teachable moments often is referred to as practicing attentive flexibility. 

Second, we need to listen closely and deeply. Students often tell us more about what they want, need, and are interested in than we realize. An important misconception may lie beneath confidence. Curiosity may hide behind a promising question or comment. Listening for what is not said can be as important as what is spoken. We can ask ourselves, “What are students telling me without saying it?” 
 
Third, we can watch for and capture connections to students’ lives. When students see how what they are learning may be relevant to their lives, casual attention can turn into engagement and compliance can shift to commitment. 

Fourth, we might make mistakes and elevate errors. Powerful learning experiences can emerge from examining the nature and causes of mistakes. Confusion and misconception can become the source of new understanding and memorable learning. Normalizing not knowing can make exploration and risk-taking safe and open the door to memorable learning moments. 

Fifth, we can teach with peripheral awareness. We can listen for side comments, confusion, or excitement. These and other similar behaviors can signal a change in energy in the room and may signal an opportunity to shift our attention and pace to explore the cause and implications. Teachable moments are often found in the unplanned and unanticipated responses students have to our instruction. 

Sixth, we might ask purposeful follow-up questions to explore what is behind a student’s response, what drove a perplexing question, or where a comment might lead. Teachable moments are more likely to surface in response to a secondary question than an opening or initial question.

Seventh, we can resist planning in excessive detail and with rigid pacing. Thinking of the lesson as a guide rather than a hard and fast blueprint can build in flexibility to pursue potentially teachable moments. We might identify the “must do’s” in the lesson so that we can adjust as the lesson unfolds and we see how students are responding. Too much structure can create pressure to follow the script rather than follow the learning. 

Capturing teachable moments does not mean that we must chase every unanticipated happening or pursue every off-topic comment or question. Rather, we can trust our instincts, use what we know about our students, and remain flexible enough to adjust and refocus when we sense something important may be available to pursue.   

Are you wondering where you will find the next generation of teachers for your school? You might find yourself searching far and wide to recruit and hire… but the good news is that reality is much simpler. Many of the teachers who will work in your school in the future are sitting in your classrooms today.

Consider the following:

• More than 60% of teachers work in the same state where they grew up.
• More than half of early-career teachers work within 15 miles of where they grew up.
• More than 75% work within 40 miles of their childhood home.
• Approximately 75% of teacher applications are for jobs within 150 miles of their current residence.
• Teachers who work close to home tend to stay in the profession longer.

The implications of this information are both important and useful. First, the quality of the learning experiences that students who will be future teachers have today will likely carry into their expectations and performance in the future. Ensuring high-quality learning today can increase the quality of tomorrow’s teachers.

Second, students who later become teachers often form interests and aspirations well before entering college. Early exposure to teaching opportunities and exploration of what a career in teaching can offer can increase the likelihood that today’s students will choose an educational professional.

Third, because we have access to them now, we can encourage students who may have an interest in teaching and support them in exploring what teaching is like, including the wide variety of roles teachers play in schools. This opportunity can also make our school a location of first choice.

Fourth, students who see themselves in the role of a teacher are more likely to choose to teach. Giving students practical, hands-on experiences (such as having them plan and lead a lesson as part of a project-based learning activity) can help them to see the possibilities for themselves.

Fifth, we can structure formal experiences through career pathway programs, internships, and apprenticeships to increase the knowledge and confidence students bring to their career decisions. Importantly, these programs are most effective when formal, skills-based learning opportunities are integrated in these experiences.

Sixth, when students have developed teaching-related experiences, skills, knowledge, and confidence, they are likely to find greater success in post-secondary programs and be better prepared for the reality and rewards of teaching when they enter the profession.

Finding and hiring teachers to serve our students is challenging. However, with long-term planning and investment in today’s students, we can increase our potential to hire teachers who understand our community and students, are well-prepared to enter the profession, and who will stay longer.

Visit our Paraeducator Career and Technical Education Pathway page to see how this program for high school students aligns with your school’s Grow-Your-Own program!

References:

Blaushild, N. L., Mackevicius, C., & Wigger, C. (2023). Investigating the “draw of home” and

teachers’ career decisions. EdWorkingPaper No. 23-826, Annenberg Brown University. https://doi.org/10.26300/rcph-kq59

Edwards, W., Kirksey, J. J., Burden, K. Q. L., & Miller, A. (2024). Teaching close to home:

Exploring new teachers' geographic employment patterns and retention outcomes. Teaching and Teacher Education, 145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2024.104606

Convincing students to do what we want and need them to do can be a challenge. Admittedly, some students are easily motivated by a challenge, a relevant topic, or even the expectation that they accomplish a task or learn a skill. Yet, other students respond less positively or not at all to generic motivational efforts and approaches. We may think that the only way to motivate them is to rely on fear, threats, shame, or criticism. 

Negative motivational approaches often seem as though they work—at least in the near term. When we threaten students with negative consequences such as failure or public shame, they often comply—at least while we are watching. When the choice is to criticize students as being lazy or careless, it may seem that they give more effort or pay closer attention—for the moment.

However, negative motivational approaches often come with a high price. Consider:

• Demands for compliance rarely result in long-term learning commitment.
• Criticism can erode confidence in learning potential.
• Threats can lead to avoidance of punishment or disapproval rather than learning driven by curiosity and creativity.
• Discouraging and harsh comments are more apt to leave students feeling unsafe and disliked than motivated.
• Coercive approaches are more likely to generate resentment, avoidance, and even defiance rather than to motivate.

Some people may argue that they know their students, and they are able to discern when a negative approach is necessary. In the short term, they might appear to have a point. They may seem to stimulate the behavior they demand via negative approaches. However, what is less obvious and more important are the long-term consequences that negative motivational attempts can generate such as:

• Diminished trust.
• Reduced self-respect.
• Lower levels of self-confidence.
• Weaker self-regulation behaviors and skills.
• Increased dependence on others for direction.
• Greater needs for external validation.

So, what are some positive alternatives to dependence on negative motivational strategies? Here are six options to consider and build on:

• Correct behavior while affirming the student’s worth and potential.
• Reaffirm student agency through choices, recognition of progress, and goal setting.
• Offer positive pressure through attainable challenges, clear goals, and timely feedback and encouragement.
• Connect learning to student interests, purpose, growth, and service to others.
• Notice and reinforce effort, progress, and goal achievement.
• Hold high expectations and support students to meet them.

Without question, motivation is a crucial element in learning. Finding ways to motivate and teach students how to motivate themselves can be challenging. However, resorting to negative motivational strategies comes with significant risks for students that can be lifelong. The additional time and thought required to stimulate learning interest and commitment via positive approaches are more than worth the effort and can benefit students long after they leave us.

Teaching involves lots of talking. We introduce new concepts and skills, provide guidance and support, offer feedback and direction—all of which require verbal cues and interactions. It is also true that what we say, the words we choose, and the timing of our communication matter.

Unfortunately, over time, our speech can fall into patterns that feel natural, but we may give little thought to the messages they carry. They may be phrases and statements that we heard from our teachers, or they may just seem useful in the moment.  Nevertheless, what we say can have a greater impact than we realize. Let’s examine seven common teacher statements that can shut down engagement and undermine learning.

We don’t have time for questions.

We might be reluctant to interrupt a planned lesson or the flow of an ongoing explanation. However, questions are indicators of curiosity, confusion, and interest in learning. Ignoring or refusing questions risks stifling curiosity, deepening confusion, and fostering disengagement. Whenever practical, we need to take questions as they surface. If the answer to a question can wait, we might invite the student to hold the question and promise to address it at the conclusion of the current activity. Or we might signal that an opportunity for questions is coming soon and ask students to jot down their questions so they are captured and can be addressed.

I just explained this.

This statement may be correct, but if students were not listening, couldn’t hear us, or the explanation was not clear to them, they won’t be able to use our explanation to move their learning forward. Rather than pointing out that an explanation has been given, we might focus on what students did not hear or understand. Checking for understanding is likely to be more supportive of learning than focusing on what students should have heard and understood. 

You need to try harder.

The amount of effort a student is giving may be inadequate to support development of the intended learning. However, effort is only one contributor to learning success. Focusing on effort alone can leave students feeling unable to succeed and with nowhere to turn. Good strategy, deep reflection, sense making, and effective use of resources also are crucial to learning growth. Balancing effort with other contributing elements can give students multiple places to find success.

This should be easy.

The fact is that what may seem easy to us or even for some other students may not be easy for all students. Declaring that a learning task should be easy risks discouraging or undermining the confidence of students for whom the new concept or skill requires struggle. The implication of the statement is that if the learning task is not easy, it is the students’ fault, or that the student is not a good learner.

You should already know this.

It may be true that we have already taught students what they need to know to be successful with a current learning challenge. However, our teaching is not the same as student learning and recall. Our verbal observation of what may be obvious suggests that the problem lies with the student, when the cause may be shared or at least more complicated. Rather than lamenting what students do not know or do not recall, our time will be better spent, and students will be better served by refreshing, reviewing, or reteaching what students need to know to be successful. 

You are so smart.

On the surface, praising a student’s intelligence may seem like a good confidence builder. Yet, the statement implies that the student was successful because of his or her intelligence alone. Unfortunately, intelligence by itself can only take learning so far. Without good strategies and effective effort, students can encounter challenges for which their intelligence alone is no match. Consequently, students may give up, believing they are not smart enough to go any further. Alternatively, they may avoid learning challenges that risk revealing that they are not as intelligent as we assume.

Just follow these steps.

Following dictated steps might lead to a correct answer, but it does not necessarily lead to learning. Not knowing why or understanding the relationship between actions and outcomes can leave students dependent on remembering the steps to take, not why the steps are important or how they lead to a correct answer. Further, this admonition suggests that there is a single way of solving a problem or finding an answer, while in most situations multiple paths can lead to success.   

We have much to say to students and they have much to learn from us. It is worth the effort to examine the common phrases we use and the exhortations we depend on to urge students to learn. We need to lift students up and focus their attention on where it will make the greatest difference. Consequently, we need to choose our words carefully.

Every day we face the challenge of guiding students to make the transition from what they were doing before they entered our class, to getting them ready to engage in what we have planned. Some students may come to us filled with energy and excitement over news they just heard. Others may be distracted by an unfinished conversation. Some may be stressed by conflict with a friend. Still, others will show up with other emotions, distractions, and concerns.

Of course, we cannot always know where our students’ minds are, but we need to find ways to settle their emotions, spark their thinking, and help them shift their focus and get ready to learn. We know that the first minutes of class are crucial to making or breaking the quality of learning we have planned.

Consequently, we need to move quickly to gain their attention and focus their thinking. The good news is that there are several quick, high potential strategies we can tap. Here are six options to consider.

Two truths and a myth. Engaging students in assessing what is true and what is not can be a great way to focus student attention and capture their curiosity. Students might be allowed to discuss their assessments with classmates and develop arguments to support their positions. Throughout the lesson, you might point out elements of truth and hint at what people often assume or believe that is not true. You might conclude the lesson by returning to the truths and myth to discuss what students have learned and explore the likely basis of the myth.

Solve this challenge. Consider inviting students to solve a problem, question, or challenge related to what they will be learning. Obviously, students are likely to struggle to find success with something which they have yet to learn about. However, their exploration and struggle can be great way to hook their curiosity and build commitment to tune in to your instruction. You might return to the activity at the conclusion of the lesson to debrief and help students see how what they have learned has empowered them to find solutions that eluded them before the lesson.

Make a prediction. You might provide a brief description of what students will be learning. As examples, you might provide a hint or share a mystery about an historic event, a surprising invention, or accidental discovery. Students might predict what event, invention, or discovery is involved or they might predict how the event relates to what they will be learning. As the lesson unfolds, students are likely to be paying close attention to reveal whether their prediction is correct. You might conclude the lesson by revisiting the predictions and discussing with students whether their predictions were correct and what they have learned.

Dump your knowledge bucket.  One of the best ways to build strong and sustained recall of information is to have students occasionally write or discuss everything they know about a topic, concept, or skill. The technique, known as “retrieval practice”, can also be an effective way to have students refresh their prior knowledge in preparation for additional learning. The twin benefits of this activity make it a great choice to prepare students for learning.

One question to explore. Present students with three to four sentences describing what they are about to learn. You might share uses, questions, or interesting facts about what lies ahead and then ask students to consider and write a question that occurs to them in response to what you shared. Consider sampling questions to gain a sense of what students are wondering. Where you can, embed answers to some of the questions in your instruction. At the conclusion of the lesson, return to the questions and discuss with students those that have been answered and which questions remain. You might answer some additional questions or commit to address them in future lessons.

What experts/famous people say or do. Find quotes or short stories about the topic or skill to be learned from people whose names or work students are likely to recognize. You might share their words about why the concept is essential to understand, how someone uses the concept in their work or creative endeavors, or a recent discovery about or new application of a skill or concept. As examples, you might share a story about how a grammar mistake led to confusion or misinterpretation in an important event, a quote about how a math concept was instrumental in early space travel, or a scientific discovery that changed the way we understand a key force in nature.  Giving students context and making connections to famous people or people they admire can be a useful way to create readiness for learning.

Think of these strategies as starting places to try and then modify to meet your needs and respond to the age and maturity of your students. The keys are to have the activity connect with what you want students to learn, give students a role to build engagement, and follow up to provide closure and reinforce what students have learned.

Most of us probably agree that today’s students have shorter attention spans than students did in the past. The research on whether this is true is mixed. However, one thing is certain: students are more distracted today than their predecessors. Their brains also face greater competition for attention than students in previous generations.

Yet, our ability to teach students and their ability to learn and remember are heavily dependent on their being able to focus and absorb information. To be clear, when we refer to attention span, we mean the amount of time we can maintain our focus or awareness toward a given stimulus such as a person, an object, a task, or an idea. However, as simple as this definition sounds, there is more involved than persistent attention. The environment within which we are attempting to focus matters. The more distractions, the more difficult it is to pay attention.

Some students come to us with strong attention skills. Other students do not. However, the ability to focus and maintain attention are learnable skills. With instruction, support, and coaching we can help students to become better at focusing and sustaining attention. Meanwhile, we can create conditions that make giving attention easier. The combination of these two approaches can make a significant difference in the length and strength of our students’ attention spans. Here are eight strategies we can employ to provide support and help students to build their capacity to focus.

Coach students to avoid multi-tasking. The ubiquitous presence of technology makes resisting multi-tasking even more difficult for today’s students. Yet, multi-tasking—or task switching as a more apt descriptor—is a major culprit in reducing attention spans. Having multiple screens open and maintaining a virtual conversation with friends while completing homework, for example, is a recipe for poor performance. Students’ ability to maintain focus is heavily dependent on doing one thing at a time.

Reduce the number, variety, and strength of distractions. The array of potential distractions competing for the attention of students is wide. The presence of cellphones, smart watches, and other technology are obvious sources of distraction. However, excessive wall decorations and clutter in the classroom can create competition for students’ attention. Background noise, lighting, and other environmental elements can add to the challenge of focusing and maintaining attention.

Limit cognitive overload. Cognitive overload occurs when students attempt or are asked to take in and make sense of more information than their brains can handle. When students’ brains become overloaded, they are likely to miss important information, become confused, and fail to recall what they learn. We can help students to increase their attention and stay focused by making our directions simple, brief, and concise.  We also might break larger, more complex tasks into small, manageable segments and have students focus on the work in sequence rather than tackling everything at once.

Build in brain breaks. Breaks during learning offer more benefits than we might think. Beyond giving students an opportunity to stand and stretch, breaks can refresh and reenergize the brain’s capacity to focus. Breaks also support the brain to develop mental clarity. Interestingly, the brain often continues to work on its own to organize and make sense of what students are learning during short breaks.  A brief stand-up break and accompanying stretch can make a big difference to maintaining focus and expanding attention spans.  

Set specific goals and build attention persistence. The presence of goals that students find meaningful can create energy and build persistence to build their attending capacity. Strategies such as the Pomodoro technique, in which students focus for a predetermined amount of time and then take a break, build focusing “muscle” while creating a sense of urgency and purpose. Over time, students can increase the length of time they practice focusing and vary the topics, objects, and ideas on which they focus.  

Design attention-supporting activities. Our brains are naturally inclined to respond to certain stimuli. Stories are natural attention attractors. Throughout most of history, stories were a primary source of learning. Physical movement connected to learning, such as gallery walks and role playing can be effective attention sustainers. For some students, soft music and even the sound of a metronome can help them to sustain focus. However, it is best to check with students or try music and rhythm with them before making it a regular practice.

Employ multi-coding. We can assist students to accelerate their learning by employing more than one input strategy to support concepts and content. For example, students might listen to a mini lesson, draw representations of what they are learning, explain their understanding to another student, or physically act out an interpretation of what they are learning. Not only does multi-coding help students to expand their attention spans, they also are likely to understand and remember more of what they learn.

Build in purpose and utility. Students are more likely to remain focused when they see a reason for or value in what they are learning. The presence of a reason to pay attention can be a strong motivator and sustainer of focus. Similarly, when students are learning something that will empower or enable them to do something with what they learn, attention is much easier to sustain. Giving students choices in their learning also can help to sustain and expand attention as students are more likely to commit and persist with activities they have chosen.  

Learning does not happen unless students pay attention. Sometimes we need to manipulate and manage the environment to make it easier for students to do so. At other times we need to teach and coach students to build and strengthen their ability to remain focused. Regardless, our success and the success of our students depend on the choices we make and the actions we take to ensure, build, and sustain their attention.

As we turn the page to a new month and calendar year, now is a good time to step back and consider what lies ahead and what we want our students to achieve. How can we have the greatest impact on learning? Where might we make some changes? What holds the greatest potential to lift the learning performance of our students?

Of course, there are many options and possibilities to consider. However, there is a relatively short list of high impact actions we can take that can make an outsized difference. In fact, just five key elements can combine to accelerate student learning, build higher levels of achievement, and make learning more meaningful.

The good news is that each of these elements are within our control. But they need to become part of our relationship and engagement with students every day. We might think of these five elements as ingredients in a recipe for success in the second half of the year— and beyond.

Confidence in student potential

Students rarely perform at levels beyond what we believe they can. Students feel when we think that they can do better than they show and are quick to sense when we believe that they lack the potential to succeed. What we believe about our students matters—a lot. Multiple studies have shown that what teachers believe about the potential of their students can be a major predictor of their achievement. Now is a good time to revisit what we believe about our students’ potential for success and build our confidence on their behalf.

High expectations

Students typically rise to the level of our expectations. When we hold high expectations, students are more likely to strive to meet them. High expectations are a powerful way to communicate to students that we believe in their potential. On the other hand, having low expectations almost always results in low achievement. It is a message to students that we do not believe in their potential. Having high expectations that students may not quite meet is far preferable than low expectations that students can easily satisfy.

Timely support

Our belief in the potential of our students and holding high expectations for their learning are heavily dependent on students experiencing timely, useful support. Telling students that we believe in their potential and have high expectations holds little meaning and value if we are not present and ready to guide, coach, nudge, intervene, and teach when they need it.  

Relevant and purposeful learning

Confidence, expectations, and support have the greatest impact when what we ask students to learn seems relevant to their lives and purposeful enough to invest their time and energy. Of course, not everything we ask students to learn may seem immediately relevant or serve a purpose that is obvious to them. However, when we help students to see connections to what they already know and point out life applications where they exist, we can build credibility to carry through when connections and relevance are less immediate. Meanwhile, we can coach students to set and track learning goals. The presence of meaningful goals and the ability to see progress often can be a useful substitute for immediate life relevance.

Safe space to take learning risks

Learning that is challenging and worthwhile almost always involves mistakes and errors. We can encourage students to press at the edges of what they know and feel safe that making mistakes while learning will be accepted—even celebrated as evidence of new and challenging learning efforts. We also can encourage students to use what they learn to explore new questions and discover new learning on their own. The autonomy to explore new learning without fear of embarrassment and criticism when they fail can be a powerful learning motivator.

Of course, the impact of these elements is even greater when we form strong, positive relationships with our students, help them feel as though they fit in and belong, and they are valued beyond the grades and test scores they achieve.