If children aren't focusing or interested in learning, it's probably
not because they're lazy, and it's probably not because you need better
behavior management or to develop deeper relationships with the children you teach.
It might be because they're not curious.
And before you panic, this is not about turning your classroom or homeschool
upside down or abandoning structure.
In fact, the real solution might be combining something very old
with something very responsive.
I keep seeing teachers and parents everywhere saying the same thing.
Children won't start, they refuse.
They're distracted.
They can't focus, they don't care.
And I totally understand the frustration, but here's what I've
noticed over the years teaching K to two when children are genuinely
curious, focus is really the problem.
Structure isn't the problem.
Content isn't the problem.
The problem is when learning has no ignition point, when there's
nothing to spark interest.
'cause remember, we are up against screens nowadays.
Recently, as you know, if you've been following me for a while, I've
switched from a traditional teaching model to a classical education
model, and I'll do more episodes on classical education in future.
But as you know, if you've been following me for a while, I'm a big fan of
inquiry-based learning, and so I've been looking at how inquiry-based learning
fits into classical education, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how these two
approaches actually complement each other.
Thank goodness.
Now stay with me until the end when I'm going to introduce you to
a framework to help you implement everything I'm telling you today.
Now we tend to think of education in three camps.
There's the traditional, which has been taught in most schools right
now, which is based very much on the industrial style model of teaching, and
I'm not focusing on that here today.
Classical education, which is really the old way of teaching.
It's structured, it's content rich, it's teacher led, and then there's inquiry
based learning, which is more responsive.
It's child led sort of, and it's curiosity driven.
But what if disengagement is happening because we are separating
what actually belongs together.
Now there's a thought.
Classical education you see focuses on building a strong,
coherent knowledge base.
Strong language, rich stories and ideas, and cognitive
challenge as well as structure.
And all these things I've intuitively
a huge supporter of, but without curiosity, it can just become
compliance driven learning.
On the other hand, inquiry based learning gives you ownership
or gives children ownership.
Help gets that questioning going, which is also very much
part of classical education.
There's also the components of investigation.
There's a lot of energy and engagement with inquiry based
learning, which of course is why I like to use it, 'cause that's.
The kind of way I roll, but without structure inquiry can
also become scattered and chaotic.
But inquiry-based learning and classical education is actually
a very powerful combination.
Classical gives children content and knowledge that's worth knowing.
Inquiry gives them a reason to care.
And when you combine content with genuine investigation, curiosity
ignites and when curiosity ignites,
focus follows.
So here are six steps that you can implement right away to get your
students more focused and curious.
Number one is start with rich content, not just activities.
Instead of reading or lecturing, and then following that with a worksheet, try
reading a vivid powerful picture book.
Or a story or bring in a real object or a beautiful image or a question
tied to the narrative, give them something worth wondering about.
Number two is ask before you tell.
After you've introduced the content, ask what do you notice?
What do you think is happening?
Why do you think that this tiny little shift.
Activates ownership.
Number three is teach explicitly after the curiosity is sparked.
This is where classical structure shines.
After discussion, you teach the vocabulary explicitly.
You model the writing explicitly.
You build a sentence together, you practice the skills.
So what happens is that curiosity opens the door, and structure builds the skill.
And number four is make your tasks short, clear, and purposeful.
'cause young children disengage when work feels disconnected or
when it feels endless or when they don't understand the point.
So instead, tie your task directly back to the question that you explored.
You might say something like, we are writing this because we're trying
to explain what we discovered.
Now, the work suddenly has meaning.
Number five is protect the cognitive load.
Young children cannot focus for long periods without mental breaks.
Your structure might look like 10 minutes of deep learning and focus.
Then you have a movement break.
Then you can do some reflection and then you repeat the process and
this, prevents that refusal spiral.
And number six is make narration a habit.
And this is a powerful strategy that I've just recently learned from the
classical tradition and Charlotte Mason.
This is when you have children retell what they have just heard you
read or what they've just heard you teach, you let them explain it or
teach it back in their own words.
Narration is a powerful strategy that simultaneously builds memory and focus,
and I've been seeing just how powerful this is in my very own class with my
little kindies over the past three weeks.
So if you want children to focus, give them something worth focusing on.
This is exactly why I created curiosity without chaos.
Not to make learning louder or to pile more onto your plate, but to
show you how to design learning that ignites curiosity while still
keeping structure calm and clarity.
And curiosity without chaos is gonna help you integrate your planning is
going to help you structure inquiry calmly and without overwhelm.
And if your biggest struggle right now is getting your children to engage
and focus, then curiosity without chaos might be just what you need.
Get the link in the show notes or in the description if you are on YouTube.
And thanks so much for listening.
If you appreciate this episode or the content that I create, then please
leave a review on Apple or Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts that
will really help the show be discovered.
So until next time, take care of yourself and be blooming curious.