The problem of concentration or - If I had a pound every time I felt distracted...I wish I had a puppy.

Concentration and engagement is a key issue for every teacher, especially new teachers like me. I realised that you can have the most brilliant, engaging and stimulating range of activities but if there is a huge car accident on the roundabout right outside my classroom window then I'm on to a loser. To try and swing the odds into my favour I've put together a list of tips and tricks which have worked in my classroom that my students can take into other environments.

1. Let them eat cake
Maybe not actual cake, but some sort of non-messy, quiet food which students can munch throughout the lesson. If they're hungry their mind will wander.

2. Let them play
The saying goes that the devil makes work for idle hands and that is certainly true in my classroom. Some students need that external stimulation to allow their mind to really focus on what they see and hear so give them something to fiddle with. If you give them a whiteboard and a dry-wipe pen to 'draw what they feel' about what you're discussing as a group they're engaged and they're fiddling. I know that this is true because I have to fiddle with something during class discussions.

3. Drink, drink, drink...
If they're thirsty they'll be distracted. If they think they might be thirsty in the future they'll be distracted too. Circumvent the issue and request that they bring a drink of water to every class.

4. "I need a tissue"
I get this one all the time and my suggestion that they use their sleeves does not go down well. I'm fitting a toilet roll dispenser in my new classroom and I'm hoping that I can sweet talk the cleaning staff to fill it up on the normal loo roll run. For some, taking a very short break to get some tissue is all they need to refocus and get back to work without leaving the room.

5. Scaffolding
Even asking my 17/18 year old A2's to write a one hour timed essay you see their eye bulge as their brains start to disengage. There is nothing that I can do to change the format of the summative assessment but I can do a lot to scaffold the run up to completing it. Instead of researching, assimilating and writing up all of that information in one huge lump they do tiny little sections over a period of time and build it up. They understand it better and can actually use the information instead of just regurgitating it.

6. Insist on organisation
I nearly broke down and cried when a student asked to borrow a pen and paper two weeks before the final exam. It made me question everything, if they turn up without these absolutely fundamentals to a lesson knowing full well that they have needed them EVERY OTHER LESSON that year then how will they know anything in their exam? Will they remember to get to the exam on time? Will they even turn up to the exam? Ever since then I have insisted on very specific list of resources and a filing system that every student brings with them every lesson and the first activity of the lesson is to get it out of your bag and on to the desk. No faffing during the actual lesson.

7. What's wrong with headphones?
When doing a longer independent task I see no problem with students listening to their music as long as they understand and follow the rules.
a. You must choose a playlist and then listen to it without changing the track.
b. You must use both earbuds so other people can't hear the music
c. You have to keep half an eye open for when I wave frantically at the front if i want everyone's attention.

If it helps someone get into their own little world and really concentrate then I would be mad to stop them!

8. Go with it

I can't compete with a solar eclipse and that's okay. 

There have been so many times that I have put together a carefully considered lesson plans with very specific activities and then I discover that the group wants to take it in a different direction. When I first started teaching I was a slave to the lesson plan, if it wasn't on then I didn't do it but now I've realised that the best way to hold a student's attention is to give them ownership over what they're learning. If they're doing what they want to be doing in the way they want to do it then everyone is happy.

9. Some times it's just a bad day
One of the hardest lessons I've had to learn as a teacher is that you cannot fix every problem that comes your way. In the ten minutes left of first lesson after the recent solar eclipse I don't think I got a single moment of work out of any of my 2nd year BTEC students who were sitting there. Their mind was still squarely focused on what they'd just seen (and that the world had not ended...) and there was nothing I could do about that. You can't always win the room because sometimes the outside stuff is bigger than whats going on in the classroom on that day at that time. And that's okay.