Without concentrate, it’s impossible to accomplish anything important. That is why at Scholar Base, we help children develop their ability to focus.
The little ones only have a limited amount of focus energy and we don’t want them to dissipate these on irrelevant thoughts or activities.
However, concentration is something many struggle with (not just the children).
The Instant Culture
Millennia and the Generation C today have very short attention span. They want everything now, right this moment. And they are easily distracted with newer shiny objects (oh look squirrels).
These constant distractions make it difficult for the children to remain interested, their minds wander off before you could finish your sentence. They have many work-in-progress projects because abandoning tasks they’ve started working on has happened too often.
When this becomes a habit, the child, who later grows up to be an adult will not be have self-control or be concerned with accountability. He or she becomes easily scattered, is all over the place and not be able to persevere in achieving her goals.
Concentration Is Not Just For The Classroom
Without concentration, students can’t keep still while teachers are delivering lessons or giving classroom instructions.
Without focus, students are not able to listen attentively, analyse what’s spoken, digest it and provide a proper response. They need concentration to keep their minds off distractions and wandering thoughts.
But the ability to focus is required in social life as well. Without concentration, children can’t build meaningful relationships if they don’t have the patience to listen and to allow them to finish talking or showing them whatever it was that they were discussing.
Not All Find Focus A Challenge
It is important for educators to understand that not all children learn in the same way.
It is easier for some to focus while others may require a little more help. Note the different personality types even in the little ones.
Attention span are typically shorter for the younger children. But the key thing it needs to be included in the learning programme. It needs to be emphasised and taught.
Fun Learning Does Not Exclude The Training Of The Mind To Focus
Contrary to some students’ beliefs, school isn’t just all fun and games, although we have a lot of those.
The primary purpose of the education system is to educate the students; to lead and guide the students, to transfer knowledge and to help expand their faculties and disciplines.
But discipline works hand in hand with concentration. Games, reading, writing, speaking can all be used to help a child develop his concentration muscles. It is something that can be trained and learned.
How To Help Children Develop Focus And Concentration?
- Use stories and imaginative lessons and activities to draw the students in. If they are fixed on the subject with great interest they will filter out the “noise”.
- If they are not able to concentrate, find out if it’s because they are tired, unwell, or over stimulated. An instance of not being able to focus is not the same as the person lacking the ability to focus.
- Make sure the activities provided is suitable for the learning ability of the child (usually related to his age).
- Choose a conducive environment. Close the classroom door, find a quiet place, turn off mobile phones etc.
- Break down complex tasks into smaller group activities. gamify activities ad see their eyes shine!
- Provide positive reinforcement in the form of praise or encouragement when the child is able to stay on task.
- Build up the attention span from 2 minutes to 5 minutes. Switch activities often but help the focus during the 2 minutes. Sound a bell at the end of the duration to help generate some definite end points.
- Play games that require focus, memory games and learning new vocabulary will be helpful.
Make Concentration Conducive
The child’s ability to concentrate is influenced by the enthusiasm about the activities or the topic. It also depends on the environment, the people they do the activities with.
So teachers need to be creative in making the activities attractive. This means good relationship between mentors / teachers and students.
Reaping The Benefits
By developing the ability to concentrate, the children can experience great satisfaction from their accomplishments. Focusing effort to complete a worthwhile task increases a student’s self-esteem and allows for a greater interest in learning.
Anyone, not just a student, who is able to remain focused on their goals and is able to concentrate on the path to achieve them, will be able to reach success in life.
Working under pressure and meeting set deadlines won’t be an issue because they would have learned to focus, prioritize and get on with it.
You can click here to see other learning programmes we have at Scholar-Base.
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