According to the evidence, the answers are, "Not Very Long" and "No, They Aren't".

Let's look at this photo of Circle Time in an early childhood classroom.  The Teacher is demonstrating or instructing, One Child is responding or interacting, Four Children are paying attention, or passively learning, and Two Children (that we can see) are inattentive or are not learning.  And we can't be sure how many more are on the rug and have possibly left the lesson mentally, but at least two out of seven aren't learning.  That's almost 30% of the group!

What's wrong with this picture?  Well, we see this virtually every time we form a group and provide learning in this manner.  Show-and-Tell goes this way, Circle Time, Morning Meeting, and any Large Group Instruction or Small Group Instruction that is Teacher-Centered or focused on one individual.

Why aren't we changing this?  Can you see the learning happening?  Not for everyone!  And Everyone Has the Right to Learn, During Every Lesson, Every Day!  So, we need to work on this issue and engage more students until we have all of them!  That's what's wrong.  Take notice of what you aren't doing for the child who is distracted, rather than noticing which child has checked out.  Don't decide that these children don't have a long enough attention span to learn this information; it's not the case.

Working toward a solution, let's start with the math.  The research tells us to take the child's age and add two minutes to that number to determine the total number of minutes that you can expect that individual to remain attentive to one individual speaking or demonstrating.  That means that a 3-year old will give you five minutes of her time, and a 6-year old will give you eight minutes of his time. However, there is another factor to put into the equation.  For a child who has distraction issues, which can vary across a wide range (sensory concerns, possible ADHD, a tooth ache or a cold, hungry or feeling too warm, didn't get enough sleep or even simply missing mom today), the new equation becomes one of subtraction.  Take the child's age, minus two minutes!  Now you have a 3-year old who may willingly give you one minute of full attention, or a 5-year old who can offer you three minutes to get your message across.  This is the formula we are working with in these circumstances.  We need to know it well and set expectations accordingly.  But wait...

Sam is an Active Learner in the blocks center.  Sam is Actively Engaged!  She is applying her own thoughts and ideas, and possibly even using strategies presented to her in a previous 5-minute, teacher-centered demonstration.  Sam is experimenting, designing, solving problems, and using many other brain functions as she plays and learns with the blocks.  The blocks center is a developmentally appropriate learning tool for 4-year old Sam.  Sitting on the rug watching and listening for more than just a few short minutes, is not.

I recently made this connection in my own kindergarten classroom.  I realized that the children who checked out on the rug did so, not because of a lack of developmental readiness, but because of a lack of engagement. Engaging students is my responsibility, not theirs.  We no longer have any passive learners on the rug.  Every individual is very busy working on a task at the same time as the student who is our message reader works on the teacher's message.  The activity on the rug is integrated with the message reader's job, and is a developmentally appropriate activity with room for more or less depth, depending upon the child.    

The Results...
​Engagement:  100% !!!  A Rug Full of Actively Engaged Learners!  We Can See the Learning Happening, For Everyone.  And we don't see any passive learners or disengaged students.  Time for attention to task on the rug has extended dramatically for us, expanding the breadth and depth of the learning!

Keep in mind, also, that there are many factors that play into the limited attention span of a child. Children with sleep issues are often misdiagnosed with ADHD, as are children whose self-regulation skills have not developed at the same pace as peers.  The overstimulation of excess screen time can also lead to inattentive behavior.  Before making judgments about ADHD or development, revisit your strategies for engaging a group of individuals who may be as unique in their attention spans as they are in individual strengths and talents.  Employ strategies that enable success for everyone!

This is a great example of the concept communicated via a recent Buzz Word in Education: "Intentionality".  Although the word itself has been around longer than you can imagine, it has, in the last decade, become a term to reckon with in the classroom.  More on the concept, after we see just how fun it can be in early childhood!

The children were "Intentionally" taught some basic cookie decorating skills to ensure they could: produce beautiful cookie gifts; keep the mess to a minimum; plan and execute a project; and exercise some fine motor coordination techniques.   A lesson taught with Intentionality, which, in turn, taught the children to approach the project with Intentionality.  They were required to think ahead about colors and design, and we used demonstration and hand-over-hand practice to understand the skills...the technique and the outcome of using the techniques.  There were No Mounds of Icing, there were No Big Spills, there were No Sprinkle-Doused Cookies!  There were a lot of little fingers working hard for the correct positioning, there were many thoughtful pauses prior to taking the next step, and there were happy, proud faces enjoying the holiday music and their own Edible Christmas Masterpieces!

Be enlightened!  Click HERE for the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy's definition and explanation of "Intentionality".    And make it FUN!! :)

Psychological Membership is foundational to the success of students in the school environment.  In order to develop the feeling of belonging that every child needs to succeed, teachers need to be intentional in their efforts to build a classroom community.  Every individual must be - and feel - respected and valued within the community.  Teachers can build the classroom community as is typical with morning meetings and greetings and getting-to-know-you activities, but also, teachers must be insightfully focused on individual strengths and needs, in order to ensure that every child feels like a valued member of the community.  Some simple strategies include:

1. Having Class Experts based on strengths, but with young children, we must have expert areas that everyone can fit into, so everyone can be an expert at something.

• Shoe Tying Experts
• Buttoning Experts
• Zipping Experts
• Insect Experts
• Animal Experts
• Block-Building Experts
• Letter-Writing Experts
• Letter Sound Experts

2. Positive teacher responses to students' wrong answers:

• Oh Jesse!  I love the way you are thinking!  The lower case "p" and the lower case "q" both have a circle on the line and a line that goes down into the basement.  You are really getting to know how to write those letters and to identify which letters look similar.  This is great thinking!  The letter we are looking at is actually a lower case "q" not a "p", (go over the way it is written),  but I am so proud of you, Jesse, for knowing so much about these letters already! So many preschool children confuse the "p" and the "q", so we will all continue to work on getting to know "p" and "q".
• Jimmy, you are actually pointing to your elbows, not your wrists, but I want to thank you for doing that! (Give Jimmy a BIG smile.)  In preschool and even in kindergarten there are some body parts that children continue to forget or confuse, and guess what...the wrist is one of those body parts!  Jimmy, please point here on your body (point to your own wrist), and show the class where they can find their wrists, too.  Everyone find your wrist, please.  Now Jimmy, can you show everyone where their elbows are, please?  Great!  Now the wrists? Let's do it fast!  Jimmy, do you want to lead?  Okay, Wrists-Elbows-Wrists-Elbows-Wrists-Elbows!  Awesome!  Thanks for helping us with that Jimmy.  I hope all of my preschool friends will remember wrists and elbows very soon.

3. Respond to Behavior Issues WITHOUT Embarrassing Children

• Every Error in Behavior Choice is a Learning Experience for the Child.
• Trash the Clip Chart and the PBIS Flip Chart!  How Humiliating is that?  As indicated in my original post on motivation, would your  name clipped to this chart in the teacher's lounge motivate you?

• Public Humiliation DOES NOT WORK, and it is often the cause of the problem worsening.  
• Many children are Much More Sensitive than we realize about the peer perception and public reprimand.  No matter how kindly you ask a child to "flip their card" or "clip down", they are still experiencing negative feelings inside, and it is embarrassing...even to those who the teacher may have developed judgmental beliefs about their comfort level with undesirable behaviors at school.  Experience and research prove it again and again, so consider revisiting your strategies.

4. Allow Children to Share Their Excitement and Experiences
Make it known in your classroom that this child participates in this activity and that child enjoys doing that, so that the pride of interest and progress are shared with peers.  "Joey, how was that soccer game this weekend?"  "Oh, Jane, you play soccer, too?  Did you have a game this weekend?"  Spare some time in your meeting, at the snack or lunch table or the last 5 minutes before going home to check in with children on their personal interests and activities.  Be sure that everyone has their fair number of opportunities to share throughout the year.  Other ideas...

• Show and Tell
• A News Board 
• Person of the Day/Week Posters or Sharing Time
• Pet Day
• Assignments and Activities that give Free Choice of Topics to children and are shared with classmates, even displayed after sharing (easy options: journaling, building, painting, etc.)

Teach the children the framework within which they can "own" the classroom.  My kindergarten children run our entire morning and afternoon meetings by the beginning of November.  They know their jobs and they know the routine.  I sit back and watch, enjoying the new ways they learn by working with each other and not depending on me to guide every detail, answer every question or solve every problem.  Independence, critical thinking, coooperation and collaboration, excitement!  LEARNING!!!  My morning students asked me this week for the keys to the building and offered for me to sleep in while they run the class!  I'm considering it. LOL - JK

Along the same empowering lines of thinking, let them "own" the work.  Teach the concept, not the details.  Demonstrate and explain when it is absolutely necessary to stay within the lines, but let them "color outside the lines" or "think out of the box" on their own, putting their own spin on the work, based on their own prior knowledge or curiosity.  It's never wrong if they are learning something...even when it's not what we expected them to be learning.  The thinking is what really matters!  Provoke the inquisitive nature and the desire to create that children are blessed with!  They naturally come equipped to learn...let them go for it.  Don't get hung up on "doing it right" and stop giving them the answers!  Let them read their writing to you, let them explain their process to you...allow them to share what is going on in their minds as they explore, and allow them to change it to fit how they perceive it should be - you may learn something new!
​                                                                  It's their process and their outcome...Let Them Feel It!

What does all of this mean?  Well, we have been using extrinsic motivators in the classroom (and at work and at home) for many, many years...ever since behavior theories in education were based on animal behaviors in the lab - without the more current knowledge of human behavior and neurological functions.   This is the motivation that we are used to and have been comfortable with..."dangle the carrot;" "offer a reward;" "give a bonus;" "incent them"...

This is also the behavior that creates the response, "What will you give me if I get an A on my report card?"

It starts at a very young age, when, like a puppy in the house-training stage, we incentivize our children with a reward for all of those kind person/good citizen behaviors we expect them to strive for.  "Sit puppy!  Good girl, have a dog biscuit!"  Similar to:  "Your teacher told me that you are so polite in school and that your behavior clip never moves down.  Let's go out for pizza and celebrate!"

Intrinsic Motivation is the simple one!  What is it?  

• Curiosity
• Interest
• Desire
• Passion
• Achievement
• Fulfillment
• Pride

Intrinsic Motivation is the motivator that comes from within.  It's the "feel good about myself" motivator.  Remember the song, "It's the Climb"?  Intrinsic motivation involves enjoying the process, the experience, and not waiting for an outcome in order to be happy about what we are doing.  This is performing acts of kindness, this is doing a job or a school assignment because you are interested in it and excited to be participating in it; this is finding something that captures you about a content area you aren't generally interested in and embracing the work for the enjoyment of pursuing that  interest.

Providing external motivators stops the internal motivation.  The sticker given to a child for a kind act teaches the child to use the positive behavior as a means to get a reward.  The good feeling the child experiences comes from someone else recognizing the act and providing proof of such with a prize.  The child is not aware of feeling good inside for being a good friend or a good citizen... or for learning! 

Doing the work for the purpose of getting the A takes all of the excitement out of the learning it takes to get to the A and creates a mindset of pushing through the work to get to the desired outcome.  It's about the A, not about the learning  that could be happening.  I wonder how many different ways students may find to get to the A if they are  not embracing the learning process?  ...food for thought.

​The positive emotions that we experience, which build self-esteem and confidence, are not recognized with extrinsic motivators.  A pat on the back and a comment such as, "Wow!  You must feel so good about yourself having done something so nice for a friend!  I'll bet you are really proud of yourself," is the best choice for encouraging positive behaviors and building a solid foundation of confidence.    This encourages the child to recognize the intrinsic motivator; the response directs them to recognize the feeling within and eventually eliminates the need to find the reward on the outside.  Self-Regulation in the Works.

And if you are reluctant to give up the reward system, couple the sticker or prize with a comment such as the Wow statement above.  Provide the child with guidance to find and recognize the internal feelings while recognizing the child with a reward.  This is not optimal, but full resistance to the concept is more harmful.