10 Tips for Managing Focus in Your Classroom

With school breaks coming up, your students might be excited to begin their days of little homework and longer sleep-ins. Our educators at Mobile Ed Productions, Inc. have a few tips to keep your students focused before their upcoming breaks (or any time of the school year).

It’s common for students at all grades levels to struggle with focusing in the classroom or while completing homework. Some reasons a student might lack strong focus include: 

• Confusion with material
• Limited practice truly focusing
• Lack of motivation
• External stimuli
• Different learning styles
• Poor nutrition or sleep
• Anxiety
• Learning disorders

Mobile Ed Productions, Inc. has created a list of tried-and-true factors that educators can control in their classrooms to help improve the focus of their students. Our team would like to recognize that these are our general suggestions that work for many classrooms but may not work for all students. All students are different, and some students might require further diagnosis or specialized adjustments. 

• Set Goals. Talk with students (together or one-on-one) to discuss why you're completing certain assignments. Depending on the classroom, you can also get an understanding of what students would like to learn from the experiences in your class. Goals can be a quick motivator for many students. Place goals in a spot your students will see them or can access them at any time. Consider printing out checklists for your students to help students know their next steps and stay organized. 

• Create Deadlines. After you’ve created goals, you’ll want to explain to students how long they have to reach that goal. Time can be a motivator for many students. To erase any confusion on their deadlines, provide visual countdowns (such as projecting a timer on the board or keeping a classroom calendar). We also recommend planning ahead to allow students more time if needed. 

• Take Breaks and Get Moving. This is a classic principle in the classroom but an important one. After students have completed a lesson, reward them with a stretch break, a walk, a dance session, or a game of Simon Says (a classroom favorite). Breaks in the classroom decrease stress and can increase brain function, allowing students to stay focused on the task at hand. 

• Change It Up. Routine is crucial for students of all ages, but changing things up once in a while can keep students excited and looking forward to the next “new” thing. You know your students the best: in what small ways can you change up your classroom routine? One favorite way to change this up is using school assemblies. Assemblies can establish a school community by bringing classrooms and grade levels together while also offering important and educational information. Mobile Ed Productions, Inc. specializes in making school subjects exciting and interactive for students. Check out some of our programs.

• Remove Visual Distractions. Visuals in classrooms such as posters and photos are proven to be distracting for students, thus decreasing test scores and inhibiting learning. If possible, take down some unnecessary visual distractions while still keeping your classroom a positive environment. You may also try covering up tempting areas of the classroom such as a bookshelf or toy shelf by using sheets or boxes. 

• Embrace Humor. Humor can be a wonderful tool in your classroom. Humor can naturally build community in your classroom by lowering tension and finding commonalities. Research also shows that humor activates the brain's dopamine reward system, and dopamine is crucial for “goal-oriented motivation and long-term memory.” 

• Let in Some Sun. Exposure to natural sunlight releases the hormone serotonin in the brain, which makes us feel calm and focused. If possible, open some blinds or venture outside to complete a quick lesson. 

• Keep It Short. Educational research explains that breaking up lessons into smaller parts (with breaks in between) increases student attention and focus. This principle goes hand-in-hand with the importance of taking breaks in your classroom as mentioned above. Brainstorm ways your lessons can adjust to this principle, if possible. 

• Use Color to Draw Focus. Color increases our attention level and naturally draws our focus. Use colored worksheets or colored whiteboard markers to keep students focused on the task you want them to remain focused on. 

• Embrace Flexible Seating. Another tip you may have heard from us before is to mix up where your students sit. Seating arrangements influence how students “communicate” and “interact” with you as the teacher as well as other students which can increase motivation and focus in your classroom. Changing this up once in a while can give opportunities for students to find locations and students that work best with them. If you don’t want to permanently move students around in our classroom, you might try letting students complete their tasks in a beanbag chair, on the carpet, in the library, or outside once in a while. 

Mobile Ed Productions’ goal is to make high-quality educational material entertaining and engaging for students of all ages. Bringing in educational programs (physically or virtually) can help “change things up” in your classroom this season. Our educational programs meet curriculum requirements in all of our subjects and can be a beneficial tool for educators across the country. 

For more helpful resources for your classroom, visit our weekly blog.

This blog post is inspired by Your Therapy Source and My Tech Classroom.