Distractions from learning: when activities distract from the lesson

Many of my thoughts expressed on this blog have come from a book called Why Don't Students Like School by Daniel T. Willingham. One point he brings up in his book is: how is your student thinking about the information that is being presented? Often, our purpose in presenting a lesson is to get the student excited about the topic. Sometimes, our well intended purpose goes astray when the student focuses on the wrong thing. For instance, that hands-on lesson that involves making a map of Japan out of cookie dough? Were your students actually thinking about the geographical layout of Japan or were they thinking about licking their fingers or adding more blue to that ocean? That is one thing to consider when making lesson plans. What are your students really thinking about? Unit studies are well-known, well-liked method of learning in the homeschool world. When studying pioneer days, homeschool families may choose to hand dip their own candles or make a corn husk doll. I've heard of brave, endeavorous families building a full size wigwam in the backyard to add to their study of Native Americans. There are many fantastic, memorable projects to undertake as a homeschool family. However, sometimes these projects can be distractions from the real learning that takes place. How will you know if a hands-on project will be a distraction or will help cement the information in your student's mind?

Ask them later
One tale-tell way of knowing what your student really got out of the lesson is to ask them later. Have your child explain to a friend, your spouse arriving home after a full day of work, or a grandparent. Ask them: what did we do today? and why did we do that? If they can explain what happened and most importantly why it happened, the lesson was a success!

Watch their reaction
During the lesson, what is your student doing? Is he fully engrossed in what he is doing? Are his questions relating to the information you want him to learn? Or is he asking odd, unrelated questions? Is he fixated on playing with the materials or creating something that does not relate to the lesson? If you find that your student is distracted or is not relating the project with the information he needs to retain, then this particular activity did not meet its original purpose.

Trial and Error
So how do you know ahead of time that a lesson will focus your students' attention on the learning at hand? How can you steer clear of activities that serve as a distraction? A big answer to that is trial and error. If you repeatedly see activities turn into distractions, you'll need to ask yourself what was it about those activities that did not focus on the lesson? How did the topic veer away from the lesson? You can also ask yourself ahead of time, by running through the lesson in your mind: what is my student supposed to think about and does this lesson focus his attention on that?

In conclusion
Hands-on activities, projects, and unit studies can be a wonderful addition to school and homeschool learning. A parent or teacher needs to assess if the activities will help the student to learn the lesson or if the activity will serve as a distraction.