In my class of five year olds, the ability to focus on either the teacher, during whole class instruction, during group Reading, or on follow-up tasks is something that many children struggle with. My inquiry is around finding out how to encourage all my students to focus, in order for them to
B. know what they're supposed to be doing, and
C. ensure time (which is precious) is not wasted re-telling what has just been said one, two, three (or more) times.
I chose to base my efforts on three students whose focus was particularly challenging. I spent time working with this focus group, with things like positioning them to make sure their focus on me was easier. I was continually reminding them to "Focus!" "Look at me. Don't look over there." "Keep your eyes on your book (work)". There wasn't a lot of change, to be honest. Unfortunately, one child moved to Australia, and one moved out of our area. So, with only one child left in the group, I decided to make this a more 'whole class' inquiry.
I looked on-line for inspiration, and read about the part role playing has with children, and how they respond to watching and practising, really anything, with positive outcomes. So I decided to give this a go with my class.
I began with focussing on completing tasks - follow up iPad work, Worksheets, Completing
puzzles etc. I asked the class to shut their eyes and imagine that they'd finished everything they had to do. 'How does that feel' I asked them. 'Happy' was the reply. And what happens when you've finished a task? I asked. 'You get to play' they answered. 'Yes' I said. And we shut our eyes and imagined finishing the tasks, and getting to play. They felt happy, as I sent them off with a task in hand.
Has this worked? Well, it's early days yet, but I have seen an increase in completed tasks. I'm going to keep monitoring this strategy for the remainder of the year, and I'll be able to tell if it's something I should be using each year. My gut instinct is that I should.
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