Here are 8 tips when you need help staying awake and engaged in class when you are zoning out, spacing out, distracted, daydreaming, or flat-out falling asleep! These are all real issues that every student faces. If you are having problems outside of class, you may want to learn how to use mindfulness to improve concentration. Here are a few ideas to teach you how to pull your attention back to the important material being discussed in class.
Tip 1
One, turn off all electronic devices and put them away. Put your cell phone in a locker, the front of the room, keep it away from you so you’re not tempted. Recent studies show multitasking is ineffective. You do your best when you focus on one thing at a time. Electronics pull your attention away from the discussion and you might miss important information.
Tip 2
Two, sit as close to the front on the classroom as possible. Students who sit at the front score higher on tests for many reasons. There are fewer distractions from others, the material on the board is easier to read, and it is harder to fall asleep when you’re closer to the professor. Also, sound begins to dissipate at 8-12 feet away; so if you are beyond that range, your ability to understand is more difficult. Finally, those in the front are making a public commitment to learning, which actually results in more learning.
Tip 3
Three, recognizing that daydreaming happens to all of us, use a few strategies to get back on “To Do” list and then get back to paying attention. A second technique is to visualize you and your professor are in a one-on-one conversation. Focus on his or her eye, body language, and facial expressions just like you would in a one-on-one meeting.
Tip 4
Four, defer judgment. When you disagree with something that was said, write it down, mark it with a big “D”, then spend some time after class reflecting on the disagreement rather than focusing on it during class. Dwelling on it through the rest of the class is just going to take you away from the class and you are not going to be engaged with the discussion.
Tip 5
Five, participate. If your professor asks for volunteers, then occasionally raise your hand. I know, I know. Most of you don’t want to be “that student” that is constantly raising their hand to hear themselves talk. But decide to raise your hand every other class or once per class. Regardless of whether you are speaking aloud or not, you should always be answering the professor’s questions in your mind.
Tip 6
Six, on days when you are really finding it hard to stay engaged, write your goals at the top of your notes. For example, your goal might be to get on Law Review. It might be to keep your scholarship money or just to make it through school. Write it at the top of the page as a reminder of why paying attention is important for you. This gives you a reward, something to look forward to for paying attention. Also, make sure you are taking notes the right way.
Tip 7
Seven, ignore the professor’s lecture style. Maybe your professor says “um” all the time and you start counting the number of times he or she says it. Don’t do that! You are missing the content of the class. If your professor rambles, mark down where you started getting confused and use that as a tool to organize your notes after class. You are going to learn the class better anyway if you do the organization yourself.
Tip 8
Finally, engage in active note-writing. This means listening and then capturing the important thoughts being discussed, though not a verbatim transcript. For example, perhaps the professor uses a hypothetical. Rather than capturing every single word, listen to the hypothetical, answer it in your mind, and then capture some ideas from the hypo. So your notes might go something like this: “hypo dealing with adverse possession and whether car parked on neighbor’s property once a week qualifies, NO!” There you go! You have the essence of the hypothetical and your answer. By the way, a verbatim transcript of class, which will keep you awake, will result in less learning, not more learning. You may wan to learn check out my video on handwriting vs typing notes during class.
