EP289 A practical guide to building students’ attention stamina and ability to focus

<p>How long can you read a book without getting distracted? Do you swipe through TikToks or reels before they’re over because you’ve gotten impatient? Do you find it hard to just stream a TV show or movie without also looking at your phone or doing another activity at the same time?</p> <p>Yep — the shortened attention span issue isn’t something unique to Gen Z.</p> <p>It’s something that I think almost all of us in modern western culture have been impacted by…and there’s good reasons for that. In this episode, I’ll share:</p> <ul> <li>Some of the reasons why it’s difficult for us to concentrate and think deeply</li> <li>Why the ability to focus for extended periods will be like a superpower in the coming years</li> <li>A 3 step process you can teach students for redirecting their attention when they notice their minds wandering</li> <li>How to make intangible terms like “stay focused” easy for students to understand</li> <li>The 5 step classroom practice you can use regularly to help students build capacity for concentration over time</li> <li>The limits of the human ability to do focused work, and what valuable tasks students can do once they’ve maxed out concentration for the class period</li> <li>Cal Newport’s research on how to alternate periods of deep work and shallow work</li> <li>How–and why–to break the addiction to staying busy with low-level tasks and spend more time (on our own and with students) in deep work, focus, and concentration</li> </ul> <p><a href= "https://truthforteachers.com/truth-for-teachers-podcast/how-to-improve-student-focus-and-attention-stamina/"> Click here to read the transcript and participate in the discussion</a> or, <a href= "https://www.facebook.com/groups/truthforteachers/">join our podcast Facebook group here</a> to connect with other teachers and discuss the Truth for Teachers' podcast episodes.</p>