Distractions in Pre-K through Third Grade, are so common that across the nation, they’ve implemented that no child is left behind and that all children reach academic proficiency. I believe that lots children go through phases of being distracted and/or disinterested in school. It is important to remember that a child’s relationship to schoolwork can change from one grade to the next. Sometimes children become more confident or focused as they grow older, sometimes a new teacher can make a big difference. The beginning of a school year might produce a teacher who enjoys the challenge of engaging distracted little ones or simply gets “a kick” out a particular kind of student. This can make a world of difference in a child’s ability to concentrate
“For the next six hours, I was going to enjoy a thoroughly secure, warm, and stable environment.” As stated by Barry. She found comfort drawing, which she often did early at school before class would start. Some children aren’t as lucky as Barry was, some go to school just because it is required. The requirement of subjects being taught in school, just aren’t sparking that flame in a child’s mind. If they had something to look forward to after class ends, such as an after school program, perhaps the excitement would build up and the concentration on studies will begin to exist again.
As a student in the school system, there are many mental conditions that could affect how they perform on a daily basis. One of the most prevalent is Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This is defined as “a disorder characterized by a persistent pattern of inattention and/or hyperactivity (Gale Encyclopedia of Medicine). There is much research that is currently being done on this subject as it does impact many students in the K-12 system. As of 2011, it was estimated that around 11% of students had been diagnosed with ADHD. While seems like a small amount of students, it equates to about 6.4 million (Data & Statistics). A huge amount of children in school are having trouble focusing in
They need to learn the difference between multitasking and trying to do multiple things at a time. Knowing what can have little attention and what needs your full attention can help out a lot. For example when you are talking to someone, that is when your full attention is needed, as well as working on homework. When something needs a little bit of your attention it will be okay to be distracted. For example it is okay to work out and watch television at the same time, because you are just trying to either entertain or distract yourself to make time go by faster.
Some of the most common words moving around in the psychiatric circle are attention Deficit; hyperactivity; Ritalin; ADD, ADHD. These words are being most commonly discussed by most educators, physicians, psychologists and young parents in the society today. In spite of extensive advancements in technology which has brought new insights into the brain and learning, there is still a lacuna in the field of problems faced by children who are unable to remain focused on the task given to them in the classroom owing to their inability to pay attention.
As a college student, the amount of students on powerful meds for ADHD and ADD is shocking. It is a topic seen in every classroom and heard in many dialogues. Conversations can be overheard frequently about how easy meds are to get and how effortless it is to receive a diagnosis. However, while I know that a vast number of students are taking prescription drugs for ADHD, I don’t think that I ever realized the full extent to which this disorder was effecting America’s youth. It wasn’t until I spent my time volunteering as a paraprofessional in a fourth grade classroom that I felt I truly understood the weight that the number of ADHD diagnosis’s were having on our nation’s children. The supervising teacher I was working with told me that in her classroom of 22 children, six of them were on some sort of prescription medication for ADHD, and many parents that I spoke to tended to blow off the risk factors involved, remarking that the drugs improved their school performance. I was shocked at this figure, especially because after working with the children, even on the days that they forgot to take their medicine, I found that by using different methods of instruction, many of the children didn’t seem to have much less trouble focusing than the children who did not have ADHD. So when we were assigned this paper, I set out to disprove the myth that children who act out in school have must ADHD and need to be put on prescription drugs in order to do well in school.
These symptoms prove to be particularly challenging to children and adolescents. Although they may be quite intelligent, their lack of focus frequently results in poor grades and difficulty in school. Children and adolescents with ADHD tend to act impulsively, without addressing the consequences of their actions until it is too late. Their attention spans are much shorter than most children?s are, thus they become bored easily and frustrated with ...
During cognitive development it is important that teachers allow time for students to have breaks in between classroom tasks such as recess and other extracurricular activities. Learning large amounts of material is easier for children to understand when it is taken in as chunks. Assign children with short tasks and switch from demanding activities to less demanding activities (Biehler & Snowman, 2000).
I observed at St. Eve’s Learning Center location in their preschool room. The center has a naturalistic feel to the environment and all of the staff is friendly and welcoming. The classroom displayed best practices, modern theories and research, and followed expected standards set by their accreditations.
Many teachers keep their students’ attention by rewarding them. If students are not paying attention, many times, they are punished. “The prize and the punishment are incentives towards unnatural or forced effort, and, therefore we certainly cannot speak of the natural development of the child in connection with them,” (580). Montessori believes that punishing and rewarding students will corrupt their spirit to learn, instead believing that students should be positively reinforced. Positive reinforcement is when a child is presented with a motivating item after presenting a desired behavior in hopes the behavior will happen again. It’s important that the children present the desired behaviors on their own, not forcibly. In the Montessori Method it is important that children develop at their own pace, learning what they are interested in through curiosity, rather than being forced to sit and learn topics of disinterest. For example, I was in fifth grade learning multiplication tables. We were given a multiplication worksheet. The student who completed the most multiplication facts in one minute won a prize. I was a student who wasn’t good at math. During these I became frustrated, feeling as if I was being punished for not knowing my facts as well as other students. According to Montessori, students are not learning the facts because
Fuson, K. C., Clements, D. H., & Beckmann, S. (2011). Focus in grade 2: teaching with
In contrast, if children do their homework in school, there are fewer people and objects that distract their attention. Teachers and other hardworking students offer encouragement. At school, children have access to tutors and teacher’s aids. There is always somebody who can help to complete their homework and answer questions.
All effective educators need to find ways to motivate their students. The kids that fill our classrooms have different strengths and weaknesses. It is critical that teachers recognize the strengths and weaknesses of their students so they can use the right classroom management strategies to motivate their kids. In this particular case, the student named Jodie is inattentive and uninterested and neither the teacher intern or classroom teacher have a clue how to handle this situation. Ms. Marcia Thomas, who is the young intern feels that Jodie is just a problem child that lacks motivation and there is nothing she can do for this particular student. Ms. Thomas and the lead teacher Ms. Egan both lack the needed classroom management strategies that are necessary to motivate and engage students in a positive learning environment.
" I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps,
In a successful, fair, and equitable classroom, it is a teacher’s role to be an instructor that encourages a classroom that is filled with opportunities to teach students self-discipline. Students, especially in middle school, are in a state of development and it is crucial that teachers at this grade level are facilitating development that is positive and successful for all students. I believe that in a classroom students should have the opportunity to be both physically and mentally involved in the classroom. At this age, students are very excitable and tend to be very active, so it would be beneficially to the overall success of a classroom that students are given work that involves their active minds and bodies and serves as an outlet
Children are intelligent, precious, sweet, clumsy, messy and very expensive. However, we, as parents still love every inch of them. Not all children are the same, every one of them are unique in their own way. For example, some children have different learning patterns than others. Some learn faster than others and some behave differently than others. Also, some children respond differently to rewards and punishment from one another. According to education.com teachers are trained to identify students who demonstrate high or low motivational skills through observation. During this observation motivated students engage in takes with intensity and feelings, where as unmotivated students procrastinate and direct their attention somewhere else. Unmotivated student are also said to give up easily on tasks given.