Understanding Children's Attention
This week at PLC we discussed children's attention spans and how we can best grab the attention of our students. The book encouraged meditation, which we all thought was a weird idea to use with children. We can see how meditation could help the students control their emotions and self-regulate; however, it seems rather dangerous. As teachers, we all shared how we get students to calm down or help them focus. For example, Joyce shared how she does a quiet exercise with the students if they are not listening. We liked how the book suggested telling students to take 10 deep breaths if they are upset, emotional, or anxious.
One idea we talked about was how children are overstimulated in our culture today. Our culture subtly encourages multitasking and short attention spans. This is evident through commercials, pop-ups, ads, etc. It is all about see, grab, go. In the real world, children are told to do many things at once. However, at school they are to focus on only one task. The book said that this is a mixed message to students. Miss Steiner shared that she sometimes lets her students draw during her read aloud. Some of the students can pay attention to both, while others struggle to do two things at once. Since multitasking is a worthwhile skill, it is something that students should learn to do. Yet, it can lead to over-stimulation and confusion depending on the age.
This book is definitely teaching more about the child's brain and how we can effectively teach in our culture today.
