1. Flipped Instruction Description

34. Directing Attention
Definition
Directing attention involves diverting students away from negative non-learning behaviors and towards positive behaviors by presenting them with engaging learning materials or ideas.
Benefits

• 
  Prevents negative behaviors without confrontation.
  
• 
  Focuses on creating engaging lessons.
  
• 
  Can be done multiple times in one lesson whenever a teacher sees a student is distracted.
  

Challenges

• 
  Tends to be more effective with younger children than older children.
  

Example

1. 
   Use visual aids, worksheets and manipulatives to help direct and maintain students’ attention on something physical. With adults, I use flipchart paper (also known as butcher’s paper) as the prop to direct attention.
   

34. Visual Aids
Definition
Visual aids are any objects used in the classroom to attract students’ eyes and therefore immerse them more into a lesson. Visual aids can have both cognitive benefits (see: cognitive tools) and engagement benefits.
Benefits

• 
  Engagement: students are more likely to pay attention if they have something to look at.
  
• 
  Cognition: some students may benefit from visualizing a concept to help them order ideas in their minds.
  
• 
  Visual learning: some learners prefer learning visually than aurally (see: learning styles).
  

Challenges

• 
  A visual aid needs an educational purpose. Consider why you are using the visual aid before deciding to use it.
  

Example

1. 
   Posters
   
2. 
   Graphic Organizers
   
3. 
   Mind maps
   
4. 
   Educational toys (see: Manipulatives)
   

35. Flexible Seating
Definition
Allowing students to sit where they choose, rather than having assigned seating, has had a resurgence in popularity in the past decade. A flexible seating classroom often has a range of differently organized workstations, allowing students to select a spot to sit that’s most comfortable for them and which best suits the style of learning that will be occuring in that lesson.
Benefits

• 
  Can reduce sedentary periods of time by allowing students to move around more during a lesson.
  
• 
  Enables students to sit at a table that best suits their learning (computer table, group table, individual table, on a bean bag, etc.)
  

Challenges

• 
  There is often not enough space at workstations, meaning students end up not actually sitting where they choose.
  
• 
  Often students like to have a spot they can call their own. It helps give students a sense of place and belonging.
  

Example

1. 
   This approach is very common in the Agile Learning Spaces and Flexible Classrooms movement.