Three Tips to Increase Student Attention Spans

Three Tips to Increase Student Attention Spans

September 27, 2022

Anyone who teaches children knows that student attention spans are declining. Many educators report that it’s getting harder and harder to drive engagement in their classrooms. Some are even giving up and saying that it’s now impossible for children to stay focused on anything at all. I disagree!

Ask any video game designer or social media content creator, and they’ll tell you that this is a golden age of engagement in their mediums. So what’s stopping educators from tapping into these trends and breaking out of traditional classroom norms?

Over the last few years, I’ve been watching the developments and thinking out of the box. Here are my top three tips to help you increase student attention spans in your classroom.

Stop Distractions to Increase Student Attention Spans

To increase student attention spans, it’s essential to create the right environment. But in doing so, it’s not always easy to find a balance between contributions to learning and additional distractions.

In my class, I achieve this balance by designing what I call a focus-friendly classroom. It truly is one of the easiest ways I’ve found to drive student performance and increase student attention spans. That being said, it’s important not to go overboard in your designs. You need to consider the impacts of any changes before they are implemented. 

For example, reducing clutter around student work areas is a great way to decrease distractions, but what exactly do you consider clutter? Do class supplies count as clutter? If so, how will your kids access these things when they are needed? Will this transition end up causing more distractions than just having all the supplies where they are now?

Creativity Helps Increase Student Attention Spans

In the age of smartphones and their endless streams of memes and games, how can a teacher possibly hope to increase student attention spans? Easy, get creative.

Someone out there is thinking up all that content, why not do the same? That’s right, become your very own content creator for your classes by taking the traditionally boring tasks in your class and shaking them up with a digital twist. 

Instead of writing a poem, write and perform a rap song. Working on fractions? Try filming a cooking show where your students bake a cake using fractions as the measurements. 

The bottom line, meet your students where they are. Use your imagination, and if it sounds fun, give it a try.

Physical Activity Increases Student Attention Spans

In the mind of a child, the traditional hour-long lecture class can feel like an eternity. They’re stuck in a chair, listening to an adult drone on and on about some uninteresting topic. Some of them describe it as torture. 

As teachers, it’s up to us to read the room, and shift gears when needed. One of the most effective ways to clear the cobwebs and reset the mood of the class is a brain break.

Brain breaks are a simple tool and can be as easy as everyone standing up and stretching for a minute or two. Others are more involved, like creating a topic-based dance the class can perform together. 

Either way, brain breaks are a great way to increase student attention spans and avoid boredom and related problems in your classroom.

About the Author

Hello, I’m Kevin Asher Karnes. I’m a certified English Language Arts and Career and Technical Education teacher at Polytechnic Senior High School in Fort Worth, Texas. I teach beginning to advanced level courses for children in grades 9 thru 12.

As a teacher, my goal is to help my students develop intellectually, socially, and emotionally. I design my lessons to accommodate all learning styles and strive to maintain a safe classroom environment that encourages curiosity, risk-taking, and the sharing of ideas.

In addition to managing my classes, I’m the assistant chair of my department, the sponsor of the Content Creator’s Club, a Junior Achievement International Educator, and an ESL and TEFL certified tutor for English learners. 

I hold a BA in Economics and a Master’s Degree in Business Administration, both from the University of Massachusetts. I’m a highly qualified teacher in the state of Texas, certified in English Language Arts and Reading Grades 7 - 12, Hospitality, Nutrition, and Food Science Grades 8 - 12, and English as a Second Language Grades 7 - 12.

In my free time, I enjoy photography, downhill skiing, and cooking with friends.