Students Experiencing Inattention and Distractibility

Do: Follow a structured and predictable classroom and/or VLE routine and schedule. Have schedules and rules easily accessible to help manage students’ expectations.

Don’t put students in groups without structured roles and clearly defined tasks.

Do: Provide students with organizational tools and strategies. Check in frequently to make sure that students are continuing to keep materials and assignments organized. In VLE, make the organization as easy as possible, especially for young students. For example, provide checklists of materials to have ready for class and keep all video links in one place so they can be easily found.

Don’t assume that making or posting announcements or assignments just one time is enough for students to remember to complete them, or that all students (and their parents/guardians for VLE) are equally computer savvy.

Do: Help students set manageable goals for long-term assignments. For example, for a paper, set separate due dates for the outline, first draft, peer review, and final draft. Increased attention and reduced distractibility are teachable skills.

Don’t make judgments about how much attention is appropriate. Especially in VLE, attentiveness may look different for different students.

Do: Break work sessions and lectures into short chunks to help with sustained focus. For example, assign a subset of math problems with a break, instead of all the math problems at once. In VLE, incorporate bio breaks into video lessons to give eyes and bodies a break from the screen.

Don’t assume that all students in your class have the same ability to concentrate and focus. The ability to focus is highly variable across students, ages, gender, and contexts.

Do: Praise on-task or focused behavior. Notice the good that the student does. Say, "Wow, look how hard you are working!"

Don’t blame or shame students (or parents/ guardians) for attention problems.

Do: Privately address off-task behavior in a gentle way. For instance, privately tell or message/e-mail students, "Try to focus on your work now and in 5 minutes you will have a break."

Don’t reprimand or shame students for fidgeting or off-task behavior.

Do: Provide meaningful rewards for completion of key tasks. When possible, allow students to choose the reward, such as free reading time and Zoom breaks for VLE.

Don’t rely solely on extrinsic rewards such as sticker charts or prizes.

Do: Keep in regular communication with families to keep them informed and identify possible reasons for inattention (e.g., lack of sleep, limited technology, or other issues).

Don’t make assumptions or claims about what is causing students’ inattention.

Do: Help students see the connection between on-task behavior and success by making explicit connections between effort and positive outcomes. For example, say, "Look how your hard work on your math homework increased your understanding!"

Don’t criticize, compare to work of peers, measure/contrast to past work, or diminish even small accomplishments, especially from their previous non-VLE experience.