TEACHING & LEARNING 

DO I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION?

BY ANDREW WARE (DEPUTY HEAD OF SECONDARY) 

We have all heard stories of students who will put their textbook under their pillow in the hope that they will learn its contents in their sleep. How? Nobody knows. Osmosis perhaps. We know, of course, this is impossible. That is certainly not on the list of recommended study options for our students here at BHCS!

However, we can fall into thinking that learning is just something that happens when students and teachers are in a classroom together. This is not the case at all, as outlined by Doug Lemov in his seminal book ‘Teach Like a Champion’ (p.19): “What students attend to is what they will learn about”. In other words, learning only happens when we pay attention. It’s not an accidental or incidental thing.

To give something our attention is not just a cognitive act (where we focus our mind) - it is also a moral act (where we focus our heart). What has our attention has us, even just for the moments that it holds our attention.

We all know what this is like; we have all been at a show, or a sporting event, or worshiping at church, and completely lost track of time, because we were giving our full attention to where we were, what we were doing, and what was happening. It can also happen in the small things, as well, lost in a TV show, or a good book. It has our attention, we are engaged, we are ‘all in’!

It’s easy to see, then, why attention is so important in education. But I am now going to say something somewhat controversial: teachers cannot get students’ attention. Attention can only be given. Certainly, teachers, including all of us at BHCS, should strive to teach our lessons in a way that is engaging and attention-worthy. But attention is one of the most valuable commodities we as humans possess, and it is something that we can control - we can give it, or not. 

The challenge, of course, is that we live in a time when our attention, or more specifically, our ability to pay attention, is being eroded. Even those of us who are a bit older have noticed that since the rise of smartphones and social media, our ability to pay attention for long periods of time has diminished. So, what is it like for our students who live in a time so ‘on screen’, we live in a distracted time. 

What to do? There is no simple or full answer to this question. There are things that we are doing as a school, for example, the move back to hard-copy textbooks in Secondary this year, reducing the amount of time students are on screens. In Secondary, we also have our BHCS Engagement Ladder, encouraging students to engage deliberately with (give attention to) their learning. 

As for at-home advice, engage your child in conversations about what they learned today, and you will soon hear where they’ve paid attention. Encourage them, as well, to ‘pay attention’ when they are at school. We would also suggest limiting screen time and allowing students to engage in reading a book, having prolonged conversations face to face, completing a puzzle, or playing some kind of analog game. All of these will help students to build their skills in giving their attention, which will put them in good standing not only for their learning, but for every part of their lives.