Attention Is an Achievement: How to Help Students Stay Present and Focused in Class

Educators tend to think about the problem of distraction in the classroom as a modern one. Educators might battle digital devices for students' attention, but literary and philosophical heritage testifies to a robust tradition of people who have lamented their inability to pay attention in contexts that demanded it, from work and school to spiritual practice and relationships. Despite this, many educators act as if attention is the norm and distraction is a falling away from that norm, a characteristic of poor (or bored) students. Part of the work as educators, Howard argues, has to include acknowledging and deliberately reshaping behavioral norms that operate in the classroom, during both face-to-face and online instruction. If that work is not intentionally done, the norms will hold sway and dampen participation, no matter what creative teaching strategies might be used. That same work must be done for the attention norms that operate in courses. This article discusses three strategies, that can be used in concert in any type of college course, to help instructors do that work.