Is My Child Is Engaged During Virtual Instruction?

5 easy steps to keep your child focused while learning on zoom.

In this new virtual world parents are being asked to wear even more hats and multi tasking has taken on a new meaning. Parents often ask, "how do I make sure my child is focused when I need to be working?" These quick strategies can keep your child on task and help them understand expectations.

Prepare: Kids don't always know what being prepared looks like so it’s important to run through this a few times. When I was a classroom teacher and even as a tutor the first thing I ask students is to say out loud what they have in front of them and confirm that they are ready to go!

Quick check ins: Do quick check ins during learning (both synchronous and non synchronous). The time of course varies with the length of the class and the age of the child. Check ins can mean a pat on the back for encouragement or have them share one thing they learned during instruction.

Use Timers: I love timers because it forces children to take ownership and kids work best in spurts. For example give them 20 minutes to finish what they can for math and then come and do a quick check in, "all good, how much do you have left? Lets see if we can get through five more problems." Or provide a break in between.

Get moving!: Kids are squirmy pretty much at all ages. Have them do some jumping jacks or run a lap. Make it something quick that doesn't require your undivided attention.

Help!: When working on their own kids get stuck, and we can’t always stop what we are doing. Tell them to complete what they can on their own, or work on another assignment, until you circle back and provide focused attention. Kids need training on how to be task oriented.