Duration: 13:36
About the teachers
Henri King is completing his Master of Teaching through a teacher training program. Henri was previously a youth worker.
Kellie Nicholson has been teaching Years 7 to 12 in metropolitan contexts for 20 years.
Emma Cheers has been teaching for 6 years. She has experience in both rural and metropolitan contexts, teaching primary school students in Years 2 to 5.
Transcript
[On-screen text] Viewer advice: First Nations people should be aware that it is possible that some individuals depicted in this video may have since passed away.
Henri King, classroom teacher, Xavier Catholic College: Gaining all students' attention is bringing them back to you, the teacher, as the focus.
Kellie Nicholson, Head of Department, Science & IT, Woodcrest State College: It's very difficult to give any class or any student an instruction if they're busy doing something else.
Emma Cheers, classroom teacher, Renmark Primary School: I find that students' behaviour can become disruptive when they're unsure of the requirements of a task or they haven't quite understood an instruction. So, therefore, gaining their attention, then giving the instruction and then checking for understanding is really important in minimising disruptions.
Henri King: If I'm standing at the front of the classroom, trying to shout over students to tell them what we're learning about, 90% of them could miss that information if they're doing their own thing. But if I regain all of their attention and bring the focus back to me, it means I can have 100% of students listening. And that allows me to get them the information, which helps them not miss a thing.
Emma Cheers: Before gaining students' attention, I make sure to position myself where all students can see me.
Kellie Nicholson: The technique that I use to gain all students' attention is a countdown.
Henri King: I monitor students by pausing and scanning, acknowledging behaviours that are meeting the expectations and correcting behaviours that aren't.
Kellie Nicholson: I've developed my techniques in gaining all students' attention through trial and error. It took the ability to go in, to try something, to be able to reflect and acknowledge whether it worked or not, to tweak it, to go back and try again and to follow that process over and over and over until I got it to what works for me and what suits my teaching style. I make a very important point at the beginning of the year to spend time in my classes to explicitly teach the expectations.
The intestine’s hard to dissect.
Student: Where's the poison?
Kellie Nicholson: It's on the back. Yeah.
Three … two … one. Equipment down. Eyes on me. Thank you. All right, excellent job with the dissection. We’re now going to start our cleanup routine. Three … two … one. Laptops at 45. Thank you. Good job, guys, well done. Okay, so these are just revision questions.
The things that I consider when I'm gaining students' attention depends on the activity. Once the students have a good idea about what expectations are in the class, I find that I don't always need to count down. Sometimes, going and standing in the spot in the room that I would normally begin the countdown can be enough for the students. Sometimes, they need more. Sometimes, they do need me to do the countdown. If I know that students are highly engaged in an activity and I go to the spot in the room, I'll quite often give a longer countdown because I know that they're having some really robust conversations that I don't want to stop. So, I do have to gauge where the students are at in regards to the activity, and that will inform me about how I go about getting their attention. Considerations when monitoring the students is how quickly their attention is coming back to me. So that might allow me to cut the countdown a little bit short or to go a little bit faster. If I notice that some students are finishing things off and need a little bit more time, it won't be – even though it's a 3-second countdown, it will be longer than 3 seconds to allow them the time to finish that off and then to give their attention to me.
Three … two … one. Laptops at 45. Thank you. Good job, guys, well done. Okay, so these are just revision questions.
The impact of gaining all students' attention on my teaching practice enables me to ensure that all students know what the expectations are and what activities we’re completing. That decreases the likelihood of students becoming off task because they don't understand what they're doing.
Emma Cheers: I have developed my techniques in gaining students' attention through a lot of trial and error. I've found that the method I use works particularly well for my age group as it forces them to stop and have to do some sort of action. So, I try and involve hand actions where possible. If I've noticed that my students are a little bit more heightened or the activity that they're doing is a little bit more engaging, I'll incorporate bigger movements so that they really have to stop, think about what they're doing and then look to me. I've explicitly taught my students the responses to the techniques that I use. I introduce, perhaps, one movement, making sure they master that and then bring in a new one. By changing these movements and techniques regularly, I find that my students are engaged. It's actually something that they get excited to see what movement might be next, and it makes sure that they are all listening and looking at me, ready for that next instruction.
If you can hear me, do this … this … this … Thank you for your eye contact. Well done. And hands down. Okay. Oh, I've lost a few people. I'm going to give you 5 more minutes. Some of you are up to your sentences. Okay. Wrapping up those conversations in 3 … 2 … 1. Thank you. Great eye contact, thank you. Okay, who thinks they know? Who is he? What does he do? Right. If you can hear me, do this … this … this … Okay. As we go in, sanitise hands.
When gaining all students' attention, it's really important that I'm positioned where every student can see me. So, that might change depending on where I am in the classroom or the school. However, it's paramount that all students can see me and I can see them. The technique that I use to gain all students' attention is ‘copy me’. So I will often say, ‘If you can hear me, do this’, followed by a small action that students can do where they are. I will then choose a second action until I have 100% student compliance.
If you can hear me, do this … this … this …
I use a countdown when I've got students in partner or group situations involving peer discussion. So, I use a simple countdown after I've given them some allocated time. A simple, ‘Finishing up in 3 … 2 … 1 …’ allows them a little bit of a warning to wrap up their conversation without cutting them off completely. When I'm monitoring students, I'm looking for those that are correctly following my instruction. I'm also looking for those that might need a discreet reminder of the expectation.
Beautiful. This … This … Waiting for one person. And this.
Gaining all students' attention allows me to manage my classroom in an effective way. This means that I am able to give short, concise instructions that I know my students will be able to follow. And this minimises disruptions to teaching and learning.
Henri King: I've developed my techniques for gaining all students' attention mainly through a process of getting feedback through observations from other colleagues. When I was first trying, it didn't work because it was basically a process of me trying to be louder than the other students. But as soon as I was given some tips and directions through observations from other teachers, it just showed me how much easier it was to have a consistent routine and then to explicitly teach that routine to the kids and then to put it into practice. I teach my students the expected response to the techniques I use through modelling it in the classroom and actually explicitly teaching it as part of a lesson plan. So, at the start of my lessons, once students are in the room, I'll always review whatever behavioural routine we're trying to enact or we're refreshing in the classroom. So, I'll have a visual prompt on the board.
Number 2, we're going to remember our countdown.
And then I'll model that to the students. And then I'll name the expectation that I expect that new routine to meet.
Five … Four … Three … Two … Excellent, Kevin, well done. One … [Speaks Tiwi language] Zero, be quiet. Good! Good morning. Excellent work, boys. Well done. That's our countdown done. Now we're learning about ... Carmody, AJ ...
[Speaks Tiwi language] Yes. Oh, Outlaw, excellent. [Speaks Tiwi language] Frilled-neck lizard, yes. Good work. We're going to write this word up. Waiting, 5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1 … Excellent. We are going to write this word down and put it on our word wall. Can you write on your whiteboard, ‘reptile’? All right, you mob, quick reminder, eyes up the front in 5 … 4 … 3 … thank you, Jake, thanks, Shanay … 2 … thanks, Jolena … 1. [Speaks Tiwi language] Zero. Thanks, everybody. Excellent. Just looking up at our final task ...
My considerations when I'm positioning myself to gain all students' attention is I need to be somewhere that they can't miss me. For me, that's front and centre of the classroom. That's where they're going to be watching anyway if there's something on the screen. So, if I put myself in front of the screen at the centre of the classroom, that way I can see everyone and I know everyone can see me. I always try and explicitly name that and praise it. So, if particular students have already put their pens down and are facing the front, I'll name that, I'll thank them for that, I'll praise that. And that helps the process along.
Three …
Kevin: Two.
Henri King: Two … excellent, Kevin, well done … One …
I'm considering, what kind of behaviours are they exhibiting that I want to direct them away from? I'm trying to draw it all back into focus, back on me and away from disengagement. Effectively gaining all students' attention has a really positive impact on my classroom management because it means that I can keep students on board with me, ready for the next step of learning throughout the whole class. If I didn't have that technique, it would kind of mean that the students can run away with the class, they can disengage, or they can get restless and rowdy, and I'm out of control, and the class kind of goes off the rails. But with that technique, it allows me to draw students' attention back to me and the class to run really smoothly.
Excellent work, front row. Facing the front, already writing. Fantastic start. Great work, Paul.
[On-screen text] Gaining all students’ attention: Recap of steps
Steps for gaining all students’ attention:
- Position yourself where all students can see you.
- Use an audible prompt to get students to focus on you.
- Pause, scan and respond to students’ behaviour.
Acknowledgements
- Briar Road Public School, New South Wales
- Renmark Primary School, South Australia
- Woodcrest State College, Queensland
- Xavier Catholic College, Northern Territory
- Tammy Kerinaiua for Tiwi translations
Keywords: student engagement, disruption, disruptive behaviour