The whole class is chatting or busy in activity, but you need your quickly grab your students’ attention. What do you do? Every teacher has got some sort of attention getting signal up their sleeve. I remember one of my teachers had a wooden frog that croaked when she stroked a dowel across it’s bumpy back. Another used xylophones. Another would hit a gong, and we’d sit there and quiet down as the vibrations faded away. The sounds certainly caught my attention, but I’ve never quite taken to these quieting tools, probably because I am a very efficient person. Are you going to lug the frog with you on a field trip? Can you take the gong with you outside? Do you really want to wait 18 seconds to get your class quiet every time you need to say something? For me, the answer is no.
Here are the three attention-getting signals I used the most, and I’ll explain why I found them to work best for me.
1. Spongebob Squarepants
This originally started off as “Marco Polo,” where I’d call out, “Marco!” and the kids were supposed to respond, “Polo!” Then I realized the kids had no idea who Marco Polo was. Instead of educating them, I just decided to change it to “Spongebob Squarepants,” per a student’s suggestion. It caught on quickly, and every child in every class always knew what to do, even if I’d never officially taught them how this call and response worked. This came in handy when I had other students from other classrooms in my room. Everyone knew that the response to “Spongebob” was “Squarepants.”
I use this one when I just want to pause students in a noisy activity, whether it’s pair-sharing, groupwork, or a game outside. I yell out my half, and they respond with their half. Sometimes, I mix it up and sing it out in silly and fun ways, which is useful in grabbing the students’ interest and attention that much more effectively. If I sing “Spongggeee-booooob” in an operatic fashion across an octave, they instinctively follow and sing “Squarrrreee-paaaaants” in the same style across the same octave. It’s funny and fun for them, and they easily turn their attention away from their noisy activity and onto me to laugh at my antics and then to pay attention. Win.
Sometimes, I just call it out really quickly, twice in a row. The first time is loud, the second time is a whisper, so that at the end of the whisper it’s so quiet that no one dares make a peep and interrupt the silence:
I bellow out loudly, “SPONGEBOB!!!”
They yell back, “SQUAREPANTS!!!”
I hunch over and whisper, “Spongebob!”
They huddle in a whisper, “Squarepants!”
*chirp chirp*
It’s a perfect stage for me to give my little blurb.
You can use whatever words you like, but two 2-syllable words probably work best.
2. 5-4-3-2-1!
I use this one when their hands are busy and I need them to actually stop their activity and pay attention. Maybe they’re in the middle of working with noisy math manipulatives and I need to give them the next steps. Thirty kids working with plastic or wooden pieces is a noisy thing, so I want them to pause their hands and face me. Spongebob Squarepants will not do the trick. Everyone might say the response word and stop talking, but hands will continue working and playing and making plastic-on-table noises, which shows that I don’t have their full attention. At the very least, there is still background noise while I’m talking, and that bothers me.
Instead, I throw a peace sign up in the air and loudly count down from five: “Five! Four! Three! Two! One!”
As soon as anyone hears me, they are to throw their own peace sign up in the air, turn to me, and count down with me. They usually catch me at about “three,” and the whole class is usually all with me by “one!” I make a big deal about it being “5, 4, 3, 2, 1–” *SILENCE.* I reward them with a point if the whole class is indeed putting their peace-signs in the air and paying attention. They’re pleased with themselves each time. Plus, the students seem to enjoy marveling at the complete change in atmosphere, from bustling, noisy activity to sudden stillness and silence. It is a little awe-inspiring sometimes.
So train them up on that one so you can use it when you need their mouths and hands to be still. Art. New games outside. Math manipulatives. Science hands-on projects. Music. It’s very, very useful!
3. Check Yourselves!
I’ve talked about this one before, here. These are for the times when you’re teaching and should have the students’ full attention, but don’t, for whatever reason (it’s hot, it’s after lunch, you’re boring, spring break begins in 34 minutes). Students seem to be unfocused or fidgety and you need them to snap back into it for a few more minutes. Just teach them what it means to “Check Yourselves!” and then use that to quickly reel their focus back in as you finish your lesson.
Things to keep in mind when calling students’ attention
Here are some things I learned– mostly from experience and making mistakes myself. New teachers can keep these in mind as they start out!
- Don’t overuse the signals. Part of the effectiveness of these is that they are fun to shout out and catch students by surprise. But don’t wear it out. We had an after-school YMCA program, which had a rotating cast of counselors throughout the years. Outside my door, I would often hear them do their singsong call and response melody, and the kids would usually respond well the first time. But the counselors would use it three or four times in a row, or within a minute, and the kids soon tired of it. They had given their attention the first time, and each successive use of it weakened its power. By mid-year, the kids wouldn’t quiet down until the counselor did it a few times and also called out, “Hey, ____, pay attention!” You shouldn’t need to do that. One quick go is all it should take. Overuse of the signals trains your kids to require more than one call and response.
- Make sure you have something useful to say. If you’re going to stop everyone from an activity and hold their attention, have something useful to say. Get all your amended instructions out at once, and try not to hem and haw and pause too long while the students are attentively listening. Don’t keep doing it again and again over the next ten minutes. No one likes to be interrupted that frequently.
- Demand full attention each time. Otherwise you train kids to think that until you really mean it, they can keep reading or talking or doing, and they may miss your instructions/updates. I expect my students to look at me, mouths closed, hands still. I only keep their attention for a few seconds, max, as I give the update, and then let them return to their activity.
- Don’t drag it out. I’ve seen teachers go on long rants when they pull the students away from their activities, and sometimes lose track of what their original point was. Kids are seriously interrupted from the activity they were doing and, well, think about how you’d feel if someone did that to you.
What about you? What are your go-to attention getters? Everyone’s got something different that works for them, and kids all know the drill. Feel free to share your ideas here!
7 responses to “Effective Attention Getting Signals”
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I used some of those and they worked well! Other favorites: writing something nonsensical on the board until they are all looking, dancing nonchalantly & quietly in front until all eyes are on me (prob because I’m a horrible dancer), using an egg timer, and a clapping response (requires them to put down what they are doing). I agree that it can’t be overdone or students get tired of it!
Great ideas! Yeah, the clapping one is handy to get them to put down what they’re doing :). Also good for huge groups or noisy places when you don’t really want to yell that much!
One of my favourites, as an Outdoor educator at a YMCA, was using the “clap” signal.
Great for when it’s noisy, in a gym or outdoors, and you don’t want to yell,and the “hands up” doesn’t get noticed….
In a strong but normal voice, say “clap once if you can hear me” then clap. A heartbeat later say “clap twice if you can hear me” then clap,clap. A heartbeat later, say “clap three times if you can hear me”, then clap,clap,clap.
Usually by four you’ve got mostly everyone’s attention, and five can be “clap twice…” and then acknowledge their efforts…. “Thank you for your attention….” and then launch into whatever it is they need to know. If it’s quick, they can remain standing or if not, maybe i’ll ask them to please take a seat.
Also, I find remaining polite, even slightly formal (but not mockingly so) helps to maintain that atmosphere of respect.
Yes yes, the clapping one is fantastic! Thanks for sharing in detail! Great for outdoor spaces and huge groups since it travels further each time you clap!
Me? Boring? Nooooooooooooooooo, never!! 😀
And as a beginner, I do tend to make those mistakes you speak about: getting everyone’s attention and then saying unimportant stuff, making it go on and on and… on !, or worse, mixing up mistakes : calling everyone’s attention and then letting one raised hand (about weather or a handout from another teacher and so on) interrupt the perfect moment of attention.
Thanks for those tips, and I like the clapping response idea, that sounds pretty nice! I’ll certainly use that next time, and/or mix it up with the “peace” 5-4-3-2-1 idea.
Yay teachers! 🙂
Sounds like you are so reflective about your teaching, and that counts for SO MUCH! The clapping one does work super well. I thought about including it here but thought it was widespread enough that most people have heard about it before :). Give it a shot– it’s very useful especially for large groups and outdoor spaces, when it’s hard to yell out so far.
These are awesome ideas. Munchkin’s preschool uses a meditation bowl as a gong (I realize it’s the same issue as the frog and such, above 🙂 ) – they’ve taught everyone to take a deep breath and then listen quietly. You can’t help but pay attention to the bowl when it’s rung… the sound is arresting.