Ask any teacher who has been back to live teaching in the classroom how quarantining has affected student focus, and you are going to hear a groan. The kids have come back from their four or five-month mandatory lockdown talking louder and much more. They talk to their games, the computer, their shows, and anyone within ten feet. I have a theory that they were ignored a lot because Mom and Dad were trying to work from home and couldn’t have the interruptions. This didn’t deter them from trying to get their parents’ attention; they just went into the autodrive: “Mom, Mom, Mom, Mom…”
They have continued this chaotic, chatter-filled existence in their classrooms. The only difference is that we are paid to pay attention to them. Even so, they continue the incessant talking and sound effects. It is very hard to get the kids to settle down and focus on the lesson at hand.
I know there are those who believe that these kids are no different than all the other kids their age who have trouble focusing, but I’m telling you that it is different. I’ll give you an example. Our fourth graders had been working on knowing their state capitals for geography class for eight weeks. They’d played games and raced writing in answers on maps. By all opinions, they should have been ready to pass a test at this basic recall level at any point after the third week. Yet, when given the task of naming the capitals of each state eight weeks after their introduction and all of the practicing, only eight of the twenty-three could score enough correct to receive an A. This was knowledge-level information!
Those same kids had a full school year to memorize their lines for our musical. Six days before the performance, we were only able to get through nine pages of practice due to me having to prompt almost every line. I told them that on Monday, every time they could not pick up the line from a first three words-prompt, I was taking their recess for a day so that they could stay in and write their lines. Over the weekend, they focused, and we covered 25 pages that Monday in the same amount of time we had covered nine.
Now, one could argue that this is a case of procrastination, and I can see that line of reasoning. The kids, though, griped of not being able to hold themselves to the task of memorizing. It wasn’t till a threat was issued that they began to get serious about limiting distractions.
Twenty-one Pilots (a singing group) has a song in which the singer laments about his car radio being stolen, and now he has to listen to the thoughts in his head… and he doesn’t like it. My own teen students echo this sentiment. Could there be a connection? Could the reason the kids like constant media feeds and constant noise be because they are too afraid to be left alone with their thoughts. We do know that many teens are habitually self-demeaning, and this seems to stem from what they read about themselves from others on the Internet. Could the fact that we are also telling them “Not now, honey” and buying them tablets and gaming systems to keep them occupied and out of our hair be reinforcing the idea that their thoughts are not worth hearing?
In a world competing at every turn for our attention, we have got to learn to unplug and give our full focus to the people who matter to us. No, not all day. Just pick a time. “Honey, I’m going to finish up this project. I will don’t at 6:00, and dinner isn’t until 6:30. Let’s you and I sit down and you can tell me all about this project of yours.” Most kids I know reason that they better make it good. They will focus on getting as much in as possible in the allotted twenty-five minutes.
If you find your child has becoming much more “annoying” (for lack of a better word) since the pandemic, take it as a sign. Your child is feeling like he is not a focus. Pinpoint some time and see if junior doesn’t start scheduling focus times with you!
- Michelle