You obviously wouldn’t have become a teacher if you didn’t love kids. If you do have a distaste for the little munchkins, it may be time to find a new job. But assuming you’re not on that path and need some advice on how to keep the kids’ attention for longer during the day, here it goes.

• Play Play Play: Depending on the grade that you’re teaching, the kids you’re in charge of may be no more than five or six years old. I promise you that when you were that age all you wanted to do is play. And since not much has changed since then, kids still just want to play. For many school is just buffer time between the time they wake up and the time they get to go home and play with their friends. To keep a better handle on the class throughout the day you absolutely MUST keep this in mind. Sure, play time can’t be non-stop all day but if you want to get through to them, it will have to “play” a big part (Pun definitely intended).

• Incorporate Play Time: So, assuming you decided to let the kids play all day and not get work done, you’ve captured their attention and let them burn off their after-breakfast and after-lunch energy. But now you have a bigger problem. Turns out the school board doesn’t like their students playing all day and not learning. So to honor their requests, you can incorporate all of that play time into a fun learning experience. Kids love games and colors so if you take the “boring” material and incorporate it into a game that the kids can get into and enjoy without realizing they’re learning, you’ve killed two birds with one stone.

  

• Be a Big Brother/Sister: As they get older in elementary school things start to change. At the tender age of eight or nine, kids are more susceptible to influence than the younger ones. So if you’re a fourth or fifth grade teacher, keeping their attention will be a bit more difficult. As the teacher, you’re their role model. So if you talk to them like adults and let them know that you think highly of them instead of just as kids, they’ll respect you. You’re not there to be their best friend, but you are there to act as a mentor to them. Just like you looked up to your older siblings when you were young, your class will look up to you as well if you take charge and treat them as adults.
• Rewards: Kids are big on rewards. They don’t have to be big rewards or even rewards in grade form. I know of teachers that used to give out lollipops and small Tootsie Rolls for class participation. While it may cost you a dollar or two to buy a big bag of candy, you’ll have the class’ attention for as long as you need if you reward their positive behavior or until you run out of candy.