Blog post #3:
Nowadays there are so many distractions in the classroom. Whether it is because students like to talk a lot, or maybe it is because students become distracted with technology. It is important as a teacher to know how to not let your students lose attention and make sure they are always giving you their undivided attention. According to Dirksen, in order to keep a learner’s attention you need to “talk to the elephant.” When it comes to attention there is the elephant and then there is the rider. The rider is the rational part of the brain. It is always is steering you into the pathway of success. Whereas the elephant is the “attracted-to-shiny-objects,” part of the brain as Dirksen states. To make this a bit more understanding the rider is the one telling you to eat a salad, and the elephant is the one telling you to just eat the mcdouble instead.
So, as a teacher I believe it is important to set an example for your students so that they are more than likely always going to listen to their rider. I have had teachers in the past who just brush off their responsibilities as a teacher and put a movie in for the whole class period that way they can grade papers. Then I have had teachers who plan out their lessons so that there isn’t a minute throughout the day where we weren’t learning and interacting with classmates. As a student, seeing a teacher just brush off their job is very discouraging. Usually in those cases my classmates and I would just pull out of phones and not even watch the movie. However, being in a class that was fun and engaging all the time really helped me to listen to my rider. With that being said, as a future teacher I will always make sure I am learning about my students’ personalities and figuring out how to get them to listen to their rider.
It is safe to say that a lot of times it is easy for everyone to let the elephant take control, but then there are times when we become motivated and the rider takes control for a while. In my opinion, the time between studying for a unit test and actually taking a test can be the hardest part. For me studying is not easy, so a lot of times I drift off on youtube and next thing I know I went from studying math to watching makeup tutorials on youtube. In times like those it is crucial to change things up. In my classroom I will never let students off on their own to “study with a partner,” because half of those partner groups will not end up being 100% successful. Instead I will create fun ways for us to study as a whole class such as trivia, and then I will also send home additional fun practice such as a matching game or a link to a game online. That way inside my classroom I can always keep the rider’s (my student’s) on their elephant, and hopefully that will influence them to continue to be the rider outside of the classroom.