Getting (and Keeping) Early Learners’ Attention

How do you grasp and maintain the attention of a room full of wide-eyed students with varying interests and abilities? Do you use visuals and games or interactive activities? Do you use art and sports and music or sounds? The answer is yes, to all!

When trying to keep the attention of your learners, it’s important to stimulate their senses and pique their diverse interests. Educational theorist and researcher Robert Gagné devised his nine events of instructional design, which include grabbing learners’ attention with a lesson hook. This is done first to set the tone for the remainder of the lesson.

Over the years, I’ve found some lesson hooks that have worked time and again and that can be adapted to fit the needs of various grade levels and subject areas, as well as different groups of students. It’s been helpful to have a repertoire of ideas to use and tweak to fit my teaching needs. Below are some favorites.

Visual Hooks

Video clips can hold students’ attention. This could be a clip from a popular animated movie that connects to the content that you are teaching or a short educational video that reteaches or reinforces the topic being taught. For example, in a lesson about emotions, you might show this video clip from the Disney movie Inside Out.

Picture walks through a picture book that a lesson is about can be used as a hook. For example, if you are reading the book Where the Wild Things Are, by Maurice Sendak, to your class, start by slowly flipping through the pages and showing the group the pictures and asking them questions about what they see Max and the Wild Things doing. Prompt the students to make predictions and describe what they see. You could also show only some of the pictures in the book to leave some mystery and suspense.

Clip art images, photographs, or images of famous works of art can serve as a lesson hook. You can pick any images or photos that fit the needs of your lesson. For example, in a lesson about animal classification, you could show photographs of animals at the local zoo prior to the lesson. The images or photographs can lead to discussions as a group, sharing observations, or can be followed up with a think-pair-share activity.

Interactive Hooks

Mystery Bag was a favorite activity that always had my students on the edge of their seat. For this hook, take a brown paper lunch bag and write an oversized question mark on it with a marker. Fill the bag with a small object related to the topic of your lesson. Then, have students guess what is in the bag by asking probing questions about what is in the bag.

Students might ask things like “Is it a living or nonliving thing?” or “Is it a food item?” When students feel they have enough information, they can guess what’s inside the bag. Once the item has been guessed or after a certain amount of time, you can reveal the bag’s contents and reinforce the connection to the students.

A variation of this activity could be having clues about the topic written on index cards that students take turns pulling out of the mystery bag. Then, the class would work together to determine what the clues are pointing to.

Which One Doesn’t Belong is a great game that can be played to incite thoughtful conversation. I preferred this game as a hook for geometry lessons or when talking about nonliving and living things. All that is needed are images that students can view and share which don’t belong with the others. Students should defend their answers by providing their rationale for their choices. The site Talking Math With Your Kids has some great suggestions.

Audio Hooks

Songs can engage students in a lesson. I have used Schoolhouse Rock songs in the past, as well as relevant Jack Hartmann music videos and other educational songs on YouTube. These songs should be catchy and lead into the rest of your lesson.

Jokes, riddles, or rhymes can be shared aloud with students to spark interest. For example, when teaching about the star in an astronomy lesson, consider using the nursery rhyme “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” In a lesson about counting to 10, the nursery rhyme “One, Two, Buckle My Shoe” would fit. Joke books for teachers are great places to find relevant jokes to share as well.

Environmental

Environmental print can spark conversation at the start of a lesson. For example, in a lesson about adding or subtracting decimals and money, show images of store or restaurant logos. Environmental print, like signage, could be shown for lessons about map skills and geography.

Props and puppets can be used at the start of a lesson to introduce students to a character, concept, or item. For example, using stuffed animals of book characters like Curious George can be a way to grab the attention of a young reader. Other props could be math manipulatives, measuring tools, textiles, or models. Puppets, similar to stuffed animals, can be used to get children’s attention.

Messages on the board that students see when entering the classroom can be a lesson hook. For example, if students are returning from lunch to discuss ancient civilizations, you could write a sentence on the board for them to find related to the social structure or inventions of the Aztec people. This can get students thinking before you start teaching.

These are just some of my favorite lesson hooks that I have used through the years or adapted from things other teachers have shared in one way or another. I welcome you to use my versions of the hooks or make them your own. Another resource for lesson hooks is Dave Burgess’s book Teach Like a Pirate. 

Your hooks should spark interest among your learners and have them making connections to prior learning before you introduce new content. Your hook can be big or small. The goal is to find ways to engage your class with the lesson and make them want to know more about what you have to say that day.