Teaching children and youth is undoubtedly a rewarding job. However, there are times when it can also become extremely exhausting. Since some classes can be more behaviorally challenging than others, in this post we share some tips for teachers to apply in the classroom to improve interaction with your students and effectively maintain their attention.
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Reward Good Behavior in a Fun Way
Inventing some sort of game to reward students for good behavior is a good strategy to encourage good behavior. One idea is to create a class “raffle.” At the end of each day, you can give out two tickets, one for academic effort and one for good behavior. These two students enter the papers with their respective names in the raffle jar. At the end of the week, you can take two papers at random and reward the winning students with a candy bar or whatever else you can think of.
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Avoid Punishing the Whole Class
Even if the whole class is misbehaving, you must remember that there will always be students who follow your instructions. Punishing the whole class for the behavior of some may generate more resistance.
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Anticipate Problematic Moments
Establishing marked routines is a good strategy when the class is very chaotic. These routines can be specifically designed to deal with particularly problematic times, such as when the bell rings before recess or when transitioning between different activities.
For example, you might set the following goal: when the bell rings, ask the whole class to be completely silent for 30 seconds. Promise them that if those 30 seconds are met throughout the week, there will be a reward for the whole class, such as watching a movie or enjoying a shared snack.
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Learn from Hypnotists
What is the first thing a hypnotist does? They make you aware of something you are already doing. For example, they say “feel the weight of your eyelids” or “notice the weight of your legs”. Anyone can feel the weight of their legs, but they don’t notice it until someone tells them.
Teachers can use this technique when giving commands to their students. First, ask them to do something they can do immediately, and once the whole class has done it, give another command related to the task at hand. For example, tell them to “all focus on me,” and once 100% of the class has done so, ask them to open a certain page in the book, read a certain text, etc.
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Generate an Expectation
Look for a curious fact that might be interesting to your class and use it to generate intrigue in your students. For example, at the beginning of the lesson, you can tell them “I’ll tell you later why the Jedi in Star Wars violate Newton’s laws” and then give them the answer (lightsabers don’t make noise in space).
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Offer Choices
Whenever possible, ask your students how they prefer to proceed. “Would you prefer to do this project individually or as a group?”, “Should we assess this topic with a written test in class or would you prefer homework?”. By giving your students a choice, they will feel more involved and responsible for their learning process.
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Change Your Tone of Voice
Not speaking in a monotone is one of the most common ways to avoid falling into monotony, so taking this into account can promote focus and attention. By emphasizing important aspects, using relevant examples, and even allowing time for jokes or banter, your students will pay more attention and their concentration level will increase.
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Control the Difficulty Level of the Activity
As teachers, we need to keep in mind that too much or too little difficulty will make it easier for inattention to occur. Knowing what needs to be explained at all times and maintaining tension will promote increased attention and stimuli in students. If there are tasks that cannot be solved or, on the contrary, are too simple, this will cause students to become disconnected. It is essential to assess the level of difficulty.
