Distraction is a commonality amongst students of all ages. At one point or another, all students have lost interest in the discussion or lecture at hand and gazed through the window of their classroom or their phone screen. Distracted, Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It, by James M. Lang was an enlightening and informative read that I recommend to all professors/teachers and administrators. As a university student, I try my best to focus in class, but inevitably, my mind drifts to what I have to get done by the end of the day or my weekend plans. Lang outlines his work and breaks up the different concepts of distraction and attention into bite-size chunks that engage the reader through every page.
One topic Lang emphasizes throughout his work is that teachers should not be asking, “Why can’t my students pay attention?” but rather, “How can I help my students find meaning?” One reason students have difficulty focusing is because they are fed information without ever being given the question of why they are learning a topic. Without this, students don’t fully grasp “the point” which can make it challenging to put their learning into practice. From the student perspective, it seems that many professors are just going through the motions, not caring.
Lang highlights this downfall and offers alternatives to this procedure. Instructors should make the syllabus inviting, “take a look at that first passage of prose that your students will see when they encounter the course, and ask yourself whether you have written it to present a box of content, or to stir curiosity for the intellectual journey they are preparing to undertake” (Lang p. 131). The passage of prose he is referring to is the opening paragraph of a syllabus, usually the course description and objectives. In the chapter Curious Attention, he not only wants to spark the curiosity of the students but remind professors of their reason for studying their subject, “Whatever reason you study what you study, something about it caught your attention and provoked your curiosity at a very basic level. Can you find your way back to that original moment, and then evoke it for your students?” (Lang p. 132). While students can come into a course with individual curiosity about a subject, the professor’s role is to stimulate students’ situational curiosity. That is, making the material as fascinating as possible which can be done by posing questions as a puzzle or outlining the mystery that lies at the heart of a professor’s respective discipline. Curiosity is strongly linked to attention and sustaining that attention for long periods of time is another challenge.
As a Director of the D’Amour Center for Teaching Excellence at Assumption University, Lang understands that it’s difficult for anyone to give their full attention to someone lecturing on developmental psychology, astrophysics, or whatever the subject may be for an extended period. In the chapter, Structured Attention, he writes of different methods to capture students’ attention throughout the entire class period. These include but are not limited to modularizing your class into small chunks of 20 minutes or less, varying the pattern of your teaching modules (opening writing exercises, group worksheets, discussions, lecture, etc.), and rearranging the room to engage everyone in the class. When students walk into a room and know exactly what’s going to happen for the next 90 minutes, it isn’t engaging, it’s predictable. By rotating through teaching methods, students will be familiar with a professor’s style but there will be a touch of curiosity and therefore increased participation because they are unsure what kind of task they will be asked to do. Additionally, by utilizing tasks that involve discussion or student participation, it engages the students with one another and the material. Lang emphasizes that community building is key to fostering a supportive and curious classroom.
The topics mentioned above are only touching the surface of Lang’s work. He discusses the Tech Ban and his take on what level of technology should be used within the classroom. He also points out more detail-oriented tasks that can easily go unseen by professors. For example, the simple act of trying to learn student names is just as important as the material itself. Students want to feel like they matter, and names solicit attention. Lang covers all areas of distraction, attention, and curiosity. It was an eye-opening read for me and while I am not a professor, I have learned a great deal about myself as a student and my learning style.
I encourage all professors and administration to read this nonfiction work on distraction, reflect on their current teaching tactics and determine if there is something they should change in their methodology.
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