At Danbury High School and schools in general,it can be hard for teachers to get students to pay attention when instructions are given. For most teachers, this causes frustration, and prompts them to say something to students.
“It’s very frustrating when I notice students aren’t listening to the instructions and just overall pressure for the teachers because we have a lot to do,” said Shanay Oseafiana, an English teacher at DHS.
Teachers use a lot of their time and energy to plan lessons, figure out what students need and who they work best with, and including new helpful techniques that works better for students.
“It takes teachers a very long time and a lot of energy to plan everything that we’re gonna do, it feels like an act of a candidate weapon coming at us,” said Oseafiana.
Sometimes teachers can let behaviour go from the students, unless it keeps happening over and over again. Eventually,teachers will get tired of what the students are doing and tell them what it is and how things should be in their classroom.
“Usually if something needs to be addressed or if a situation is going on I will talk to the student outside the classroom,” said Oseafiana.
During class time students can either be talking, playing on their devices, having their head down and sleeping, or just not listening to what the teacher is saying. Sometimes students do this because they don’t like the class and the teacher, or they may simply think the subject is boring.
“Sometimes it could be that students aren’t interested in the lesson and that could be kind of hard,” said Oseafiana.
Oseafiana and Christopher Smith, a Geometry teacher at DHS, both agree that there aren’t as many distractions as last year now that Danbury High School has a new phone rule for students.
“I think with the technology it’s a lot better, last year it was a real big distraction most of the time,” said Smith.
When Smith is giving out instructions and notices students aren’t paying attention to what he is saying, he doesn’t feel disrespected: he feels what he is saying to them isn’t important.
“I don’t know if I would take it as disrespect but it kind of feels like what I’m telling the students isn’t that important to them,” said Smith.
When it comes to students being distracted,Smith thinks it has nothing to do with the content, it’s more about teaching them how to be engaged, participate, and learn basic life skills.
“It actually has nothing to do with the content, it’s more about teaching the students how to be more engaged and actively participate in class,” said Smith.
Usually when students aren’t listening, teachers have to repeat themselves multiple times with instructions. However, Smith and Oseafiana have a different approach: they have a limit of repeating instructions three times maximum.
“I have a rule where I do not repeat myself more than three times, and I learned that from a teacher because sometimes people do need you to repeat several times,” said Oseafiana.
If the behavior from students starts getting out of hand, both teachers don’t think it necessary to talk to the class as a whole about it if it’s just a few people, and they will just talk to them outside of the classroom.
“I would try to look at the class as a whole group, but it is also made up of groups of kids and individuals so I try not to hold the whole class accountable. If it’s just a couple of kids I would talk to them more privately,” said Smith.
Sometimes teachers will encounter students that won’t do anything in class, but Smith and Oseafiana will have them do something if they notice they aren’t doing what was told.
“Sometimes there are some students that don’t do anything but if it happens or see it I try to walk over and see what they can do just to be encouraging and get them to try,” said Smith.
Oseafiana didn’t like certain things her teachers would do when she was a student, so she avoids doing the same to her students.
“I also don’t want to embarrass anybody, so the things I didn’t like as a student I try not to do,” said Oseafiana.
Smith thinks the same reasons students pay attention to anything they should be able to do the same in school.
“If they have a job and not listening to what their supervisor is telling them to do, they’re probably gonna have issues with their job,” said Smith.
Danbury High School is a big school and it’s good for students to be organized and focused. There are many opportunities available at DHS, so students should make the most of their time at the school.
“Being focused because there is a lot of freedom in this school, where it is more intentional about behavior, organization, and just knowing where every student is,” said Oseafiana.
