How to get the attention of an adult class?

[PJdB]

Let's say you're teaching a class of adults in a spacious function room, - you give them an exercise to do so everyone is talking and doing whatever you've asked...

Does anyone have any clever ideas/techniques they could suggest using to get the classes attention back?

[thieuster]

An interesting one - and my day job for three days/week: teaching teacher how to run a class. And every now and then, I assist training companies with development of sales trainings etc.

First, make sure you have an agenda/time schedule for the hours/day. On top of that: mention the agenda of the session and tell people what YOU expect and what THEY can expect. And... stick to it. Really, do it. Be very precise with time management. Make sure you divide various sections of the agenda in reasonable parts and achievable periods: '...it is possible to do this in 15 mins'.

Use a time timer (a backwards clock). Show the time running towards 0 mins. Finish is it off with something funny: exploding dynamite, an alarm clock, a funny YT vid / gif. It works. Be clear. Change the action: after 15 mins working, get them in motion: put the results on a large paper and hang them on a line using cloths pegs (or how these are called). The difference in 'modus operandi' pulls attention and people will pay attention. Make sure you have a break every 45 mins. (by colleagues referred as the 'Menno Pause' - instead of menopause)

Finally: run the first slide again: the one with the session's goals. Discuss the results (what was the goal and did we reach this goal), including the opinion of the participants and discuss the process (how did we do?). It works. I did a lot of training for Royal Dutch Customs, Fire brigade officers and civil servants of the income tax department, including their forensic department - tough bunch to get their attention and trust...

A few weeks back, I helped a company to set up a sales training. We booked a hotel + conference room in a remote area of The Netherlands (yes we have remote spots). The sales training was set to start at 08:30 Monday morning. Guess what: everybody entering the room after 8:30 was commented as being too late. And no, we didn't accept an apology. We sent them out, telling them: 'Lesson one! Be on time when you visit a new client/customer. You are too late; I will not do business with you!' And contacted their boss about the situation (all bosses knew that this would be our opus moderandi). We had a quiet bunch of those that stayed that day...

Menno

[PJdB]

Thank-you. Some interesting ideas there :)

Mainly though, I am after ideas on how to quickly call their attention, - something a bit more sophisticated than screaming at the top of my voice :) It might be that I want to interrupt them on an ad-hoc basis and show them something for about a minute, then let them get back to what they were doing...

[thieuster]

First, those small and quick interruptions are not the best way of getting info across. You'll never get the full attention of all. Because it's a quick 'update' and they are focussed on what they're doing.

What helps is an announcement BEFORE they set off: 'after 5 minutes I will ask you...' or 'there will be two or three additional info moments'. Make sure you use as many sensory organs as possible! Ears and eyes (blackboard, whiteboard etc).
Better: when you're familiar with the stuff, you can predict the questions that will rise. That's the moment you introduce a separate whiteboard, flip-over with your new message. Keep it visible as long as they are working on that assignment. When you pull it away, you're telling 'I've shown it, but it's not important enough...' etc.

When people in the room come up with questions, make sure you recognise the differences: is it a question because your initial explain was unclear or not good enough... or is it a question that comes up along the way when people learn new things! The latter needs to be endorsed with very positive comments and response from you!

After the -let's say- 20mins assignment, wrap it up, draw conclusions and make sure that you mention (or show) what you've said during those short messages, including the fact that members of the group came with a question that was only possible because they were studying and were learning new things.

Getting back to what I wrote: those quick interruptions are not the best way to get info across.

Menno

[Mr Curta]

Menno has some very professional suggestions. I'm afraid that this would be my inclination:

[Dave O'Sullivan]

This would work:

https://youtu.be/MrhG_NB-0C4

(Better if your a salty sea fisherman type)

[thieuster]

That can be funny! Strange thing is: when using this IRL, they get offended: 'what do you think we are? Cattle?' When you do the same with a .gif or YT scène, everybody loves it.

I know that it is written for teachers in front of a school class, but I really recommend Teach Like A Champion by Doug Lemov. Enough tips and tricks for everybody trying to get info across.

[Velorum]

You could try watching a few episodes of 'It 'Aint Half Hot Mum' and emulating the approach of Battery Sergeant Major Williams perhaps?

[ernestrome]

Are they doing the task you set or have they moved on to general talking?

I suggest breaking them up into smaller groups or pairs, these are easier to manage and bring back to the main task.

[o u t a t i m e]

A colleague of mine uses a sort of small gong to do just that. It makes a distinctive, vibrant but rather pleasant noise that gets a room immediately quiet. It's attention grabbing but subtle and relaxing at the same time. Hard to describe. I've never used it myself, but I've sure seen it work brilliantly.

It looks a bit like this one:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Home-Kitc...ngs/B009P3MU5G

[sestrel]

One thing in your advantage, if your students have signed up and possibly paid money for the class, they are there out of choice, and to learn.

[Vampire]

Menno has some very professional suggestions. I'm afraid that this would be my inclination:

Pfft = https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M5_crowd_control_munition

[markrlondon]

Let's say you're teaching a class of adults in a spacious function room, - you give them an exercise to do so everyone is talking and doing whatever you've asked...

Does anyone have any clever ideas/techniques they could suggest using to get the classes attention back?

OI!

[dkatwa]

@1 minute..gets attention pretty quickly

https://youtu.be/gmLgi5mdTVo

[Xantiagib]

whenever I get a rowdy lot I single out the cockiest one and give him the whiteboard marker and tell him to take the class and I sit down in his seat.

[snowman]

Maybe a little extreme...

M

[PJdB]

Thanks for everyone's suggestions!

[JonRA]

If doing work in groups, include tasks that involve inter-group competition from time to time