We live in an age of distraction, especially with all of the notifications we receive on our personal devices such as phones and watches! These distractions are taking place at home, in school, and at the workplace preventing us from giving our full attention to people, tasks and even our surroundings. While some schools have gone to a no cell phone policy, many have not. This Phone Notifications: Distraction vs Focus lesson explores this problem using a variety of simulations and then aims to share strategies to minimize them.

Set

• Intro Activity: Have students work through the new EduProtocols Wicked Hydra with Images: Begin by placing your students into small groups. And then provide that many large posters with the  images you selected from the slide deck below glued to the center for students to spark questions and curiosity about the topic (do not tell students ahead of time what this lesson or topic is).  Give one poster to each group and then give each student a marker to write their questions around it. Wicked Hydra is like a mind map sprouting many heads/stems. The first round goal is to get students to critically think about a topic and generate thought provoking questions about an image, a quote a person or character, etc. Now, rotate posters to another group. Students then add on more questions that are generated from the initial questions, thus forming “branches or hydra heads”. The idea is for the questioning process to get deeper like blooms taxonomy.
• Once all of the posters have circulated, give students an index card and ask them to circulate through all of the posters/questions and have them select one solid, meaningful question they feel they can answer.
• Students then return to their seats, research the question, and write a response in their own words. These cards are collected as an exit slip as they walk out the door.
• Ask students if any of these images resonate with them? Why? How? Is what these images are portraying realistic? If so, why? If not, why not?

Materials

• iPads & Laptops
• Projector & Screen
• Construction Paper & Glue & Scissors
• Markers & Colored Pencils
• White Boards & Markers (optional)
• Timer
• The EduProtocol Field Guide ELA Edition (affiliate link)–optional

Activities

• The Notification Challenge Part I: Give each student a white board. Set a timer for 5 minutes. In these 5 minutes, students are to record every notification they receive in the timed period; documenting source–social media, email, text, etc. Ask students to share the number of notifications they received as well as their thoughts and feelings about that amount. Discuss that if this is the number of notifications received in 5 minutes, how many approximate notifications would that be in our 43 minute day and then multiply that by the number of classes you have in a school day. Thoughts, reactions, etc.?
• The Notification Challenge Part II: Set a timer for 5 minutes. In these 5 minutes, students are not allowed to check their phones or watches, even if they receive notifications. Ask students to share their thoughts and feelings about not checking their notifications. Encourage them to describe any anxiety or anticipation they felt. Discuss as a group how it felt to resist checking notifications for just 5 minutes.
• The Notification Challenge Part III (The Focus Under Fire Challenge): The purpose of the activity is to understand the impact of interruptions on focus, especially in the context of phone/watch notifications during school or work. Divide the class into pairs or small groups. Give each group a task that requires focus–in this case REBUS Puzzles (see below–copy them onto index cards). Instruct them to work on the task together and emphasize that they should aim for accuracy and efficiency. Set the timer for 15 minutes. During this time, interrupt each group every 15-45 seconds with unrelated tasks or unrelated questions (see attachments). The interruptions can be similar to real-life distractions and may involve presenting a phone or watch to a group member, asking them questions, showing a message, or playing a brief audio clip. After each interruption, record the time it took for the group to regain focus and continue their initial task.
• After the challenge, gather the students and engage in a discussion. Use the following discussion questions:
  • How did the interruptions make you feel while working on the initial task?
  • Did the interruptions impact your group’s productivity and accuracy in completing the task? How did it impact them?
  • Can you draw connections between these simulated interruptions and phone/watch notifications during school or work? How are they similar?
  • What strategies did you use or could you use to regain focus after each interruption?
  • How did the duration between interruptions affect your ability to focus?
  • NOTE: These questions could also be completed individually, right after the challenge, as written reflection prompts before discussing as a group.
• Explore the effects of all of these notifications on the brain and body. Explain to students that excessive notifications can lead to stress, anxiety, and decreased productivity. Divide the class into small groups and give each group a large sheet of paper and markers. In their groups, have students create a mind map or diagram that illustrates the positive and negative effects of notifications on the brain and body. Each group presents their mind map to the class.
• What can we do to minimize these effects and FOCUS?  Research strategies to quiet the distractions by completing the ACRONYM FOCUS assignment. Each student will create a strategy for staying focused using each letter in the word “FOCUS.” After writing their strategies, students will create suggestions and illustrations that correspond to each letter in the word “FOCUS”, using the provided template (see attachments). Students will then cut out their templates, write their names on the back and submit for a grade. The suggestion/illustration templates will be used to create a visual door, wall or bulletin board display to be used a reminder for minimizing distractions.
• Optional: If students are looking for bonus points or are curious to see if the strategies actually work, have them choose one to complete for at least a week and then record the results. Students would then write a reflection paper as to how it went, what they were feeling, whether they were successful or not, would they recommend? Pros/Cons? Students could then share with the class.

Attachments

• Pictures for Wicked Hydra Activity (PDF)
• Notification Challenges Directions
• REBUS Puzzles I
• REBUS Puzzles II
• REBUS Puzzles III
• Distraction Questions
• FOCUS Assignment & Templates (PDF)