Being a good listener is the first step to excelling in studies. Be it during tuition or during class lessons, being attentive is of utmost importance. Students need to cultivate the habit of listening carefully to what the teacher has to say during lessons. The second time when students review the material by themselves during their study session at home, everything would seem so much more familiar. Hence it is absolutely essential for students to be an active listener during class.
Here are some tips for students to stay active and attentive during lessons!
ELIMINATE DISTRACTIONS
Students should actively try to eliminate as many distractions as possible. Students can get distracted in different ways. Some may be distracted by their phone and social media while others may simply zone out and stare out the window. Regardless of what it is, students must try to identify what usually distracts them and try to eliminate it.
For example, if students get easily distracted by their phone, they can shut down their phone or leave it inside their locker so that even if they wanted to use it, they are unable to do so. If students get distracted by their friends, they can try to sit at a different place or simply tell their friends that they want to try and focus on the lesson.
Most of these distractions can also be avoided if students sit at the front as teachers can monitor them more closely and help them focus on the lesson.
ASKING QUESTIONS
When the teacher is teaching, students should constantly think of questions and also ask themselves why whenever they learn something new. No matter what the teacher is teaching, there will always be a question to ask as teachers will inevitably miss out on a few details that can help to understand the concept better.
Taking down notes on every point the teacher says and putting some thought into what they have learnt will help students find out which parts of the lesson they do not understand. Many students choose to zone out and ignore the teacher once they feel lost during a lesson instead of asking questions which is detrimental for their learning.
ACTIVE PARTICIPATION
Actively participate in class discussions. Most teachers will spend some time during their lesson interacting with the class such as asking questions, asking the class to discuss a topic and providing food for thoughts. Participating in these discussions may seem like a waste of time but they are in fact very useful in helping students speed up the rate at which they learn.
Whenever the tutor calls on someone to answer a question or share something about the lesson, students should always take the opportunity to volunteer. Even if they get the question wrong, teachers will always appreciate the effort that the student puts in. Once actively participating becomes a habit, students will become much more focused during lessons.
EFFORT OUTSIDE OF CLASSROOM
Staying attentive and focused during lessons does not only require effort to put in during. It also requires effort outside of lesson time and at home. One common sight that is seen in classrooms is students falling asleep during lessons. Whether it is because they stayed up all night studying or stayed up gaming, many students lack sleep.
Many think that this is unavoidable due to the massive workload that schools give their students but this is generally not true (except for extreme cases). Students end up causing their own sleep problems by procrastinating work and not making study schedules. Instead, students should prioritise sleep and build their study schedule around it instead of eating into their precious sleeping time.
Pre-reading topics and preparing before lessons also help to prevent students from getting lost during lessons. All this extra effort put outside of lesson time can go a long way in helping to maintain focus during lessons.
INTERNALISING INFORMATION
Lastly, some students may have followed all the steps above but still find themselves losing focus and getting lost during lessons because they focus too much on their notes instead of what the teacher is teaching. Textbooks and notes are only supposed to be used as a guideline for students to follow during lessons but students end up reading them to learn instead of listening to their teachers.
Even if students are able to understand the content just based on reading their textbooks, they are still missing out on certain things that the teacher might have said that were not in their notes.
Some students can even get carried on and read later parts of the notes on their own which can result in unnecessary misconceptions hindering learning in the future. Thus, students must understand the importance of listening to their teacher and use their textbook to help them focus on the lesson instead of distracting them. By following these methods, students can excel in their studies and beyond a shadow of a doubt, they can excel in examinations as well!