Hi and welcome back to Attentionology for K – 5 Teachers!
Attentionology is celebrating our eighth anniversary this month helping teachers meet tough challenges that increase each year.
Since I began publishing Attentionology in March, 2010, the numbers continue to skyrocket.
What numbers?
Answer: Teachers and support staff in elementary schools who are challenged with educating increasingly distracted children in a world of sensory bombardment.
Call it a rolling sea-change in education.
So many concerns. So many questions.
Why do kids struggle to sustain concentration in today’s classrooms?
What role does and can technology play in helping or hindering the educational process?
What kinds of support do teachers need and want now?
What curricula work best?
How can parents and the community at large help schools reach their goals for the greater good?
These are not new questions, but the issues they address continue to challenge us.
Certainly no one answer to any of these questions is a prescription for helping children achieve goals anywhere in the world today.
But, as we celebrate Attentionology’s eighth anniversary as an international education blog, now read in over 170 countries around the world…Attentionology remains committed to its mission:
Offer educators easy-to-implement, creative classroom-tested tools and strategies that are based on the science and art of catching and holding young students’ attention.
Response to this blog from readers like you has been favorable. That continues to be cause for celebration and a driving force for me.
When I first planned to publish Attentionology, I wanted to know what challenges other teachers were experiencing in their classrooms.
Surveys that I conducted confirmed my own observations…decreasing attention spans have become the norm rather than the exception in K – 5 classrooms.
Educators suggest a combination of factors are causing this trend:
- exposure to constant information
- fragmented family life
- limited supervision by adults who are often distracted themselves
- constant animation on media outlets, including hand-held devices and TV
- children’s expectations to be continually entertained
Any of these factors can make a teacher’s job tougher than ever.
Many educators have found that the use of Attention-Getting Elements helps address these challenges.
Attenton-getting elements are like ingredients in a teacher’s favorite recipe.
Attention-getting elements can benefit teachers every single school day by supporting their curriculum and their strategies for classroom management.
Check out their 8 Great Benefits…
…Teaching tools and tricks that incorporate attention-getting elements can be used to
1) begin class with a high energy level
2) introduce units of study
3) hold a class’ interest in lessons and activities
4) keep kids focused and on task in groups and independently
5) prevent lost time during transitions
6) promote healthy lifestyles and good character
7) promote world knowledge and interest in protecting vital natural resources
8) encourage curiosity and critical thinking and model and encourage a love of learning.
When educators apply the science of sustaining concentration with the art of teaching to reach specific goals, they can anticipate good outcomes in meeting the challenges before them in a world full of ever-increasing distractions.
As we celebrate our eighth anniversary, please share comments about how attentionology.com can better serve you.
Remember, you don’t need to be a magician to work magic in any instructional setting!
Talk with you again soon,
Barbara ♥ The Lovable Poet