managing the flow of attention
DESCRIPTION
This presentation is designed to help classroom teachers manage the flow of attention in their students. Topics covered include identifying the three types of attention and how they impact learning, teaching strategies that maximize attention while not overloading working memory, and practical classroom management tools such as how to give effective directions and using music to increase on-task focus.TRANSCRIPT
Teaching in the Age of Distraction : Managing the Flow of Attention
Presented byWilly Wood
“OK, fellas, we have some new rules!”
How full is
full?
Distracted Drivers respond one and a half seconds slower
Sources of Distraction
“Better Attention Always Equals Better Learning.” -John Medina
Arousal
Medium Arousal Level is Best
Ways to Raise Arousal
• Acknowledgements• Affirmations• Celebrations• Music• Movement• Choices
Stimulus Driven Attention
“The human brain—like the brains of all vertebrates—is hardwired to
immediately notice sudden movement in our field of vision.
We not only notice, we are compelled to look. When our
evolutionary predecessors gathered on the African savanna three million years ago and the leaves next to them moved, the
ones who didn’t look are not our ancestors.”
-Al Gore
Controlled Attention
What Gets Our
Attention?
Will it eat me?
Can I eat it?
Can I mate with it?
Will it mate with me?
Have I seen it before?
Novelt
y
Same old, Same old
Too weird for understanding
More Familiar
Novel
Less Familiar
Recognizable, but not routine
Routine
Novelty should be used for
Instruction
Routines should be used for
Management
“You can have your students’ Attentionor they can be making meaning, but never
both at the same time.” -Eric Jensen
The “Tides” of Learning
Crest of the Wave
Attention Signals
Eliminate Distractions
Don’t Overload Working Memory
The Exception:
Flow
“Multi-tasking, when it comes to paying attention, is a myth.”
-John Medina
“…A person who is interrupted takes 50 percent longer
to accomplish a task. Not only that, he or she makes up to 50 percent more
errors.” -John Medina
The art of giving effective directions
One At a Time
See Me
Background Music
Characteristics of Background Music: Behind Individual Work
• Instrumental only• 60 to 80 beats per minute• Unfamiliar• Repetitive• Very low volume• Genre not important
Characteristics of Background Music: Behind Small Group Discussions
• Instrumental only• 80 to 100 beats per minute• Medium volume• Genre not important
How full is
full?
Thank you for your kind attention!