“The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. The great teacher inspires.”
- William Arthur Ward
Have you ever experienced that You slipped into a thought while listening to a lecture in the classroom or meeting and suddenly your thoughts break off and you realize that you were not there for sometime?
Such things are very common in the life of students and also in the life of adults. It is called ‘daydreaming’ or ‘mind wandering’. Many students might have experienced the same things in their lives and many teachers might have seen such students daydreaming in the classrooms.
Have you ever wondered why it happens ? What are the reasons behind it? Why isn’t every student attentive in the classroom? What should we do to prevent such a situation in our classroom? What can we do as a teacher to help such students? These are important questions to be thought upon.
No teacher would like to let their students daydream during their class. It’s a kind of failure on the part of the teacher. And we have also felt as a teacher or seen other teachers being irritated upon finding such incidents in the classrooms. But before getting irritated, we should ponder over the factors behind daydreaming or mind wandering.
Any subject disliked by a student will surely push him towards boredom and it will result in daydreaming. When you dislike a subject, you wouldn’t like to listen to it, even though you are sitting there throughout the lecture.
Many studies found that students reported higher levels of daydreaming in classes they disliked, particularly those with low levels of perceived relevance and engagement. Dislike for a teacher also compels the students to dislike the subjects he is teaching. This is also an important factor in day dreaming
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Atmosphere of the classroom is also working for the interest of the students. Any boring or irritating atmosphere of the classroom will surely lead to disinterest of the students. Monotonous way of teaching also causes disinterest. The physical condition of the students will also impact his concentration. Along with these, there are many elements that impact the interest of a student.
Then how to engage them in the learning process in the classroom? It is the question everyone asks. To solve an irritating daydreaming or mind wandering in the classroom, a teacher has to have various new skills and techniques. We can’t conquer modern problems with generation-old techniques. Today the modern generation has a little attention span compared to their predecessors. Social media and electronic gadgets have impacted their concentration power a lot. Now they need to be handled with special care and techniques.
To end or minimize daydreaming in the classroom, we need to apply several techniques.
Engagement of the students :
Engaging lessons will surely leave powerful impacts upon the students. The teaching-learning process should engage them. Once they are engaged in the activity or tasks, they would surely concentrate and stop daydreaming. The process of daydreaming or mind wandering starts with the idleness of mind. Once you provide them with an activity, they will start engaging. For that you have to make your lessons more interactive rather than monotonous. Interaction will provide them space to join you. Another point is introducing realia while teaching. The real life objects will catch their attention. They will boost their concentration ability. We can also teach with practical applications.
Varied Teaching Methods:
A typical teacher generally uses a board while teaching. But rather than using the old methods and techniques, we should go with the new and innovative methods. We can use group discussions, activities, multi-media projections, hands-on activities etc. A single method will not serve the purpose of every student. For that, we need to use different methods and techniques.
Incorporating Technology:
Nowadays, technology matters a lot. The child you are teaching in the classroom is under the great impression of technology. When you mingle it with the educational topics, it would be easy and cozy for them to start learning. Integrating technology in the classroom will make our lessons more dynamic and appealing. We can also use various educational apps and videos on YouTubes. We can also create our own resources for the topics.
Establish a Positive Classroom Environment:
Establishing positivity in the classroom paves a way for smooth and cozy learning. A student can’t join you until he feels comfort and attachment. The positive atmosphere will evade the fear in his heart and he can easily join you in the activity. If there is any trace of negativity or criticism, he will slip into silence, and would never dare to participate. But when he feels positivity and assurance that he will not be laughed at with wrong answers or silly ideas, he will open up and participate in the activity. Thus, positivity matters a lot for active participation.
Student-Centered Approach:
Taking inputs from students in the classroom is very essential. They should be allowed to share their thoughts or perspective in the classroom. It will encourage them. Letting your students speak on the topic will also create positivity among them.
Regular Bumps :
Here bumps are nothing but short breaks or change in activity in the classrooms. Long duration of an activity pushes children towards idleness and boredom. They have less concentration power. Hence, we need to divide our teaching process in short fragments. Short jerks at the end of short activity will end their idleness and bring them again to active mode. It will also provide them space to get refreshed.
Individualized Instruction:
Some students might be struggling with the subject topics in the classrooms. The teacher should identify such students and should address them personally. Personal attention to such students will encourage them to understand the topic and be active during the session.
We can surely minimize daydreaming or mind wandering with the above techniques. But which technique suits you depends on the situation of your classroom. You can use Any of them or more than one of them to get better results in the classroom. Write back to us if you apply these tricks and find better results.
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