20 Ways to Keep Your Students’ Attention Span From Waning

As the end of the year approaches, it can be more and more challenging to keep your students’ attention span. Brain Breaks are important, but there are plenty of things you can do within a lesson to keep kids from daydreaming…or worse yet, nodding off.

Here are some ideas:

Desk Switch

Students have ten seconds (count down from ten) to find another desk to sit in that is in a different part of the room than their normal desk. Students stay in that desk for the rest of the lesson.

Why?

1. Switching desks improves their attention span by getting them up and moving.
2. Sitting in a different place in the classroom will give them a different perspective and wake up their brains a bit.

Position Switch

Have students turn their chairs around and sit straddling the chair with their hands resting on the back (girls in dresses can sit side-saddle). While good sitting is important, a few minutes of sitting differently can keep kids alert. Another idea is to let kids sit on their desks with their feet on their chairs (which they will love!)

Wander as You Teach

If you don’t need to be glued to the board, then wander throughout the classroom. Most kids will track you, which will keep their attention span strong, and if you see someone having trouble focusing, you can stand right next to him or her for a quick perk-up.

Use Play Dough

Give each child a small ball of play dough to fidget with if you are doing a lecture-type lesson.

Foam Ball Toss

Throw students a foam ball when calling on them to answer a question.

Repetition

Randomly and frequently ask students to repeat what you just said.

Fun Words Can Increase the Attention Span

Choose a fun word, such as, “Shazam!” or “Bazinga!” Every time you say the word, students must use both hands to hit the tops of their desks two times and then clap two times. Say the word several times throughout the lesson. It will wake everyone up!

Use an Accent

If you have experience in theater, improv, or just like to have a little fun, teach a small portion of the lesson with an accent or imitating someone famous.

Puppets and Stuffed Animals

With younger students, teach with a puppet or give a voice to a stuffed animal.

Tell Jokes

Throw in a joke every now and then.

Use Student Volunteers

Any time you can call a few kids up to the front to be part of a demonstration, do it. It can be as simple as having them hold up signs (rather than displaying the same information on the document camera) or writing an answer on the board. Better yet, just call on students to help rather than asking for volunteers.

Silent Commands

If a lot of kids look sleepy or their attention span is just gone, stop talking and write a simple command on the board such as: “Put both hands on your head.” The silence should alert daydreamers that something is going on. Follow up with two more written commands. Make the last one something with sound just in case a few kids haven’t caught on, such as, “Clap three times.” Continue with your lesson.

Bright Clothing

Wear bright colored clothing. If you want to keep their attention span, you should be the most interesting thing in the room.

Partner Explanations

Have students explain something they just learned with partners.

Require Responses

Require a response from everyone, rather than calling on one student, by using individual whiteboards or by having students signal yes or no with sign language.

Being Outside Automatically Increases the Attention Span

This, of course, could have the opposite effect with students being even more distracted, but on a beautiful day, it could be a nice break for everyone to sit under a tree with a clipboard rather than inside at a desk.

Animate PowerPoints

Animate those PowerPoints! If you don’t have time or know how to do it yourself, you could probably find a helpful upper-grade student who could add some animation to a PowerPoint that already has the content.

Note-Taking

Require students to take notes. Every so often, have them do a quick, related sketch in the margins. For example, if you are learning about Abraham Lincoln, give them 30 seconds to draw a log cabin in the corner of the paper.

Take a Break when the Attention Span Wanes

Just take a minute to refocus! Nothing like a reset for improving attention spans!

Higher-Level Thinking Questions

Throw in a higher-level thinking question that is related to the lesson (but not part of your objective) and have a quick discussion. For example, if you are learning proper ways to use a comma, ask the students which punctuation mark they think is the most important and why.

This wakes up the brain and naturally improves the attention span. Questions like these are also fun to put at the bottom of a worksheet and have students answer on the back.

Ticket Out the Door

Let students know at the start of the lesson that they will need to write down three things they learned as their “ticket out the door.”

You Got This!

Keeping students engaged and maintaining their attention span can be challenging, especially as the school year winds down.

By incorporating these 20 strategies into your lessons, you can help ensure that your students stay focused and attentive. Whether it’s through movement, novelty, or interactive activities, these techniques will help you capture and hold your students’ attention span, making your classroom a more dynamic and effective learning environment.