Promoting Student Attention: How to Understand, Assess, and Create Conditions for Attention

A research-based guide to help teachers support students with attention challenges.

Why can't my students pay attention? It's a deceptively simple question that's increasingly on teachers' minds.

It's not about "fixing" students facing distractions—digital or otherwise. Rather, it's about looking at inattention in new ways and adopting proven, attention-promoting strategies that are learner-centered, respectful, and effective. In Promoting Student Attention, psychologist and educator Robin Wisniewski

• Discusses what attention is and offers a framework for thinking about student attention.
• Explains how to assess inattention in the classroom and find root causes.
• Introduces five principles for promoting attention, along with strategies to use right away.
• Addresses ADHD—what it is and isn't—and presents targeted approaches to help students with specific inattention or impulsivity issues.
• Shares the experiences of real teachers who have created conditions for attention in their classrooms.

Students can't learn if they can't focus. Use this book to better support students who struggle with attention issues and to create an improved learning environment for all the students you teach.

Dr. Robin Wisniewski is a nationally certified school psychologist, licensed clinical psychologist, and past president of CO ASCD. Currently, she leads federally funded grants and state-level contracts as director of education systems improvement at RTI International.

Wisniewski's BA, BBA, MEd, EdS, and PhD are from Kent State University with a focus in curriculum and instruction, elementary through postsecondary literacy, and school psychology. During her 30 years in education, she taught 132 course sections at four universities; conducted school, district, regional, and state-level systems improvement in 20 states and internationally; and directed administrative programs in reading and literacy, counseling, faculty development, and for students with disabilities.