Low-Effort but High-Impact Ways to Get Your Students' Attention

It’s eleven o’clock on an ordinary Tuesday. You’re teaching history class; but as you look across your classroom, you’re not sure how much of what you’re saying is sinking in.

Sally is staring out the window. Michael is doodling in his notebook. Billy seems to be systematically destroying his eraser. Laura and Gloria are actually looking at you; but upon closer inspection, you see their eyes are unfocused and glazed over, so you’re not sure that counts.

In a situation like this, it can be easy to get frustrated at our students. After all, we’re working hard to present this information to them; the least they could do is give us their attention. We don’t have the time or energy to pack every single lesson with creative, innovative, attention-grabbing moments. Why can’t they just sit still and listen when we’re talking?

These frustrations may have some validity—yes, sometimes students are lazy with their attention. Sometimes they don’t choose well.

But on the other hand, do you remember what it was like to be a student? Listening with focus and intention all day long gets very exhausting. Or just think about how easily your own attention wanders on a Sunday morning while listening to a sermon. It’s not that you don’t want to listen or that you’re trying to get distracted. It’s just that the human brain struggles to sustain attention on one thing for an extended period of time. (And if that’s true for us as adults, how much more will our students with still undeveloped brains struggle?)

The good news is that there are some simple, low-effort tricks you can pull out at a moment's notice that will help grab your students’ attention again. Often, we don’t need to do anything elaborate or earth-shattering.

The human brain is wired to focus on the unexpected. And while that is the driving force behind students zoning out (one person talking for fifteen minutes is too consistent to strike the brain as novel), it also means that just a small variation will be enough to make you the most interesting thing in the room again.

Here are some ideas of simple ways you can regain your students’ attention:

Talk in an accent

You’d better believe that in the scenario described above, if you suddenly started talking in a British accent, you’d become much more interesting to Billy than his shredded eraser. Obviously, this one only works if you can, in fact, talk with an accent. But students usually don’t mind if your accent is inconsistent or imperfect. They’ll just be intrigued by the randomness and delighted by the touch of silliness.

Tell jokes

Kids love jokes—even if they are corny. Do a bit of work beforehand and look up jokes and puns related to your lesson. Sprinkling some jokes in throughout the lesson will be both a natural way to attract their wandering attention as well as a nice brain break for your students.

Use voice variation

Particularly in a lecture-based lesson, don’t underestimate the power of your voice. Drop to a whisper. Add dramatic pauses. Use different voices for different characters in your history lesson.

Stand on your stool or desk

This one is so simple and only takes a few seconds of forethought, but it works surprisingly well if not overused.

Include call and response

This is probably most natural in a context like math class, where you can solve problems on the chalkboard and have students call out the answers to calculations as you go. However, look for ways to add whole-group input to other lessons as well. If you’re reading from a textbook, have everyone join in the last word of each sentence. If you’re teaching a process with a set of steps, write the steps on the chalkboard and have the students call out each step in unison before you do it. If you’re working with marking grammar sentences, prompt students to call out the answers to prompts like, “Verb? Subject? Prepositional phrase?” etc.

Use your students’ names

This one is particularly effective for younger students, though in the right context older students will enjoy it as well. When giving examples, try to include your students and their lives. Re-write story problems to include your students or scenarios in your classroom. When dictating spelling words, make up sentences about your students (it can be especially fun to have a story or theme that continues from week to week. For example, one year during our spelling tests I made up stories about our class going on weird field trips as I dictated the spelling words for the week).

Be ridiculous sometimes

This is somewhat related to the previous tip, but children love to have their imaginations engaged. Often, the sillier or more outlandish something is, the more fascinating they find it. This can be easily applied in math story problems. Instead of Mr. Carter going to the grocery store to buy 36 oranges and put them into 4 bags, have Mr. Carter need to herd 36 rhinoceroses into 4 cages. Instead of just determining how many strokes per minute John is canoeing, recreate the scenario to have him canoeing across a river of hot lava—and he will only survive if he can paddle at least 45 strokes per minute.

Adjust examples to include unexpected elements like giant gummy bears or chocolate waterfalls or a herd of llamas or the school principal. This simple switch from the expected to the unexpected can be incredibly powerful.

Have a “secret word”

This one will take a bit of advanced preparation, but it can be especially helpful for a lesson that you know will include a lot of lecture time. Before you start teaching, tell your students that you’ll be saying a certain word a certain number of times throughout the course of the lesson. They need to try to figure out what the “secret word” is. The word could be related to the lesson, or it could be a random word that you include in creative ways (this is why some advanced planning will be necessary). Plan the specific times you will use the word. Have them written down on a paper in front of you. You may find your students will listen more closely than they ever have before!

Wear a hat or costume

Come up with a simple piece of headwear or costume that relates to the lesson. Your students look at you all day long; changing your appearance can add interest and novelty.

Change position

Have students sit backwards in their desks and teach from the back of the classroom for a while. Let them sit on the floor or on top of their desks for part of a lesson. Include chances for them to stand or use their bodies in other ways. (For example, Touch your elbow if you think A is correct and touch your nose if you think B is correct. Solve this problem and lift your feet off the floor once you’re finished. Put your hands on your head while we read this paragraph. Now put your hands on your shoulders while we read the next paragraph.)

It might seem like these things are so simple that they’re not worth the extra effort or potential distraction, but movement is essential for optimal brain function. Getting in the habit of doing things like this helps students keep their entire bodies engaged in the learning process.

Switch roles

This works best for reviewing previously-learned concepts (which is another prime time when students are likely to zone out). Tell students that they’re the teacher now, and they need to tell you how to do something. You could go around the room and have each student say one sentence, letting them build on each others’ answers. You can also use this as a chance to make them really think about each step of a process; feign cluelessness and let things go awry if they give incomplete or vague instructions.

Maintaining student attention can be a constant battle for a teacher. But sometimes, small and simple things can be the most powerful weapons in your arsenal.