Attention Grabber

Develop an attention grabber phrase to use in your classroom or several. An attention grabber is an effective classroom management strategy because it pulls everyone back together quickly. While this method is thought of as an elementary strategy, it is just as effective for secondary students. Are the students working collaboratively, and do you need to give them direct instruction? Use an attention grabber.  Do you need to pull everyone together to go over a bellringer? Use an attention grabber. Are you ready to transition to a different activity? That's right, use an attention grabber. You can even have students help create these attention grabbers at the beginning of the year. In my classroom, I used waterfall. Whenever I said, "waterfall," students made the shhhh sound and made the motions of a waterfall. This worked every time. Some classrooms use "1-2-3, all eyes on me," and students reply with, "1,2, all eyes on you." There are many variations of attention grabbers. Remember, an attention grabber is not just yelling. Raising your voice does not work, and by the time you've added up all of the minutes spent trying to get everyone back on task, you've used a lot of valuable time by the end of the year. Remember to use attention grabbers in conjunction with thevstand still, square up for a truly effective classroom environment.