Managing the screen-time balancing act
TEACHERS NEED TO RECOGNIZE SIGNS WHEN KIDS ARE LOSING THEIR FOCUS OR GETTING FIDGETY. ONE THING WE TRY TO INCORPORATE IS BREAKS TO HELP STUDENTS MAINTAIN FOCUS WHILE THEY’RE EMBEDDED IN THE CLASSROOM IN ORDER TO REDUCE STRESS AND MAXIMIZE WORK. [THE BREAKS] ARE NEVER LONG. WE CALL THEM INTERVENTIONS. BUT THEY DEFINITELY HAVE A HUGE BENEFIT FOR INCREASING FOCUS AND REDUCING STRESS. — THERESA BLAKE, DIRECTOR OF POSITIVE EDUCATION, APPLEBY COLLEGE
With the advances in technology, the effectiveness of online learning has grown by leaps and bounds. But with the renewed lockdowns there has been a growing concern from parents about the number of hours their kids spend on-screen.
The notion of “Zoom fatigue” is often discussed in business circles. But the same holds true for classwork, where it’s all too easy for a student to disengage and tune out after a period of time.
Thankfully, the hours designated to class time per day don’t have to be spent listening to lectures nonstop. Schools are working diligently to ensure that students’ screen time has enough variety to keep them engaged, from scheduling breaks and small breakout sessions, to sharing interactive tools to keep the conversations going during instruction.
“No one has the attention span to be on camera for an hour or more,” says Fraser Grant, assistant head of school at Appleby College in Oakville. “That would be a completely unreasonable expectation.”
As director of positive education at Appleby, Theresa Blake’s full-time job is helping teachers support students in the classroom. These days, a lot of her work is focused on developing tips and tricks for teachers to help them ensure students are present and engaged online, and how to know when they’re not.
“Teachers need to recognize signs when kids are losing their focus or getting fidgety,” she says. “One thing we try to incorporate is breaks to help students maintain focus while they’re embedded in the classroom, in order to reduce stress and optimize work.”
Breaks can take on many forms, from mindful moments such as a short round of breathing exercises. “They’re never long. We call them interventions,” she says. “But they definitely have a huge benefit for increasing focus and reducing stress.”
Sometimes it helps to take a ‘brain break’. “It could be getting students to stand up and play a quick round of rock, paper, scissors — it keeps them moving.”
Quick ice-breakers at the beginning of class can help to set a positive tone, she says. “Maybe they can bring in an object or picture that is meaningful to them they can show to the class. It really helps to create focus.”
One class was encouraged to bring their pets during class. “Kids loved it. It gave them a break to refocus on their lesson.”
Other suggestions include offering students an opportunity to lead a portion of the class, allowing them to leave for a few minutes to work on questions, or creating short online games or quizzes.
Elise Currier teaches grade 7 and 10 English at The York School. Her approach is to mix short bursts of instruction, group discussions, and independent work. “It’s so important to break the class into many different activities so they can move from one thing to the next. Tools like Google Meet are really, really helpful for that.”
Students have also engaged in book clubs online. “We’ve had a lot of luck with those because they’re able to do their reading and a lot of work at home. When they come back, they’re building connections and having a conversation with each other about what they read.”
Currier strives to structure different ways to meet and chat, such as a virtual field trips using Google Earth to explore where novels are set. The key, she says, is knowing how to use available technology tools to engage meaningfully with students so they can share comments online, record themselves critiquing their work, and provide feedback during presentations. “Pear Deck for Google Slides is a great tool for that because they can sign on and provide feedback as they go along.”
Grade 3 teacher Griffen Daoust at The York School says he goes out of his way to create distractions for students at home. “We try to get them to look for materials and things they have at home, then find ways to connect with what they are doing in class and use them as a learning opportunity.
For one science unit on structures, he told them to use any material they liked to complete the experiment. Their foraging efforts included Jenga blocks, LEGO, marshmallows and spaghetti, to name a few.
Given their young age, students can get fidgety, he admits. “That’s a big signal for a body break. That might be getting them to stand up and shake shaking each of their limbs while counting down. I won’t give any direct instruction for longer than 10 minutes without a body break or interactive session. It keeps the focus going.”