Teacher Tips: How to Keep Student Attention

Many times teachers find it a struggle to keep students paying attention in the classroom. You may have been teaching in forty-five minute periods for years, and then suddenly your school has switched to block scheduling of ninety minute periods. How can you keep students' attention? How can you prevent them from falling asleep during your lectures? Here are some helpful tips:

Strong Presence

Students will surely doze off if you aren't able to speak loudly, clearly and with a bit of personality. Avoid speaking in monotone and try to make your lectures lively. Students will be more apt to pay attention to a teacher who smiles and establishes good rapport, than one who scowls and uses fear tactics to keep students in line.

Interactive Lessons

Students of any age will appreciate lessons where they can get involved. Say no to long teacher monologues and yes to asking questions. Allow students to figure out information rather than have it fed to them by a spoon. If you want to present a set of facts from a research document, break students into groups and have them find the facts themselves. Students learn in a variety of different styles, and you should incorporate audio, visual, and kinesthetic aspects into your lesson plans.

Eye Contact

Don't be afraid to make eye contact, even with those students who you'd rather see in detention than in your class. Eye contact lets students know that you are in charge and that you are involving them in the lesson. It will also discourage them from doing other work under the desk, catching some z's, or chatting with their neighbors.

Humor

You may not be a born comedian, but students appreciate when teachers can make them laugh. Ask your students who the funniest teachers in the school are. Spend some time talking to those teachers or observing them to see how they can get students to laugh. Students learn better when they are having fun, rather than when they feel threatened or pressured to achieve.

Confidence

As the teacher, you need to know your stuff well. Students will not be very willing to pay attention to a teacher who has to continually look at the book when giving a lecture. If you're teaching about the scientific method, you should know it inside and out. Don't let students see you fumble, mix up the order, or have to look in the book to answer a class question. Be well-prepared and look over your lesson plans prior to the class. If your class sees that you really know what you're talking about, they'll put more value on your words and listen more attentively.