Graphing Attention

[Editor’s note: Ms. H is the pseudonym for a second-year special education high school teacher in Manhattan.]

I work on a daily basis with teenagers with ADD and ADHD. They show the common traits characteristic of these disabilities – restlessness, inattentiveness, activeness.

Last year, I quickly noticed that the special education students in my Collaborative Team Teaching (CTT) classes were not completing assignments as quickly and efficiently as their general education counterparts.

In an effort to bridge this gap, I started an active research project that has had phenomenal results in my classroom over the past 1 ½ years.

Special education students with attention retention challenges in the CTT class are given “Attention Monitoring Check sheets” at the beginning of class.

During the class, a pre-recorded chime rings 4 times on an otherwise blank CD. When the chime sounds, students record on a scale of 0-4, the extent to which they were paying attention at the time of the chime.

The students average and compile these results from their “Attention Monitoring Check Sheets” monthly, graph their attention spans, and set goals for the next month.

This is a great tool for my students because it provides them with a visual, helps them to pinpoint times in the period where they tend to be distracted (ie-Motivation, Mini-Lesson, Group Work, ect), and empowers them to be active participants in their own learning by making goals for the next month.

Since initiating this practice in my classrooms, I have seen a dramatic increase in productivity in my students, both in the quantity and quality of their work. I hope that this is learning that will stay with them for the rest of their high school careers and beyond.

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