What’s keeping students from staying focused in rehearsal?
Well, what isn’t?
- Practiced disinterest from compulsory course they aren’t interested in.
- Practiced waiting for clear demands or punishment from autocratic leaders.
- Practiced short attention spans thanks to short form video content.
- A need for release from busy and stressful days. That safe space you created? It’s safe to be distracted in.
- A world that feels to youth like it’s (literally and metaphorically) on fire.
- All the usual heightened emotions and drama of being in school.
- Increased occurrence of brain variations that feed into distraction.
- An inability to see past today and commit to longer growth arcs. (aka a lack of prefrontal cortex)
The solutions to the problem are three.
- Patience. This won’t be solved today. Or probably this week.
- Empathy. These are real, diverse, and difficult challenges they’re facing.
- Teaching. We model, we hold high expectations, and we practice repeated correction.