Why Individual Attention is Important in the Classroom

Every child is different. They have various capacities to learn and avail of opportunities to maximise their potential. In classroom settings of primary and middle schools, it is of utmost importance that individual attention is paid to all students. Educators need to place special emphasis on a collaborative plan of learning, which can further be customised as per the different needs of the children.

What is Individual Attention?

Individual attention in the classroom refers to the one-on-one attention a teacher gives to each student so that they can understand their challenges, interests, passion, and what are their strength. In this method, the teacher finds and works on the different abilities of students, listening to their feedback, and providing them the required support that helps them grow academically and personally in their respective lives. 

Adverse to this approach of teaching, the one-size-fits-all teaching method provides the same instruction to all students irrespective of their learning style, abilities, and challenges. This way the teacher ain’t able to fulfill the diverse needs of students. Therefore, the individual attention method comes out to be more effective and create an engaging learning environment.

Reasons why individual attention is important in the classroom

Following are the reasons why individual attention is important to help children grow and achieve their fullest potential:

1. Enhancing Focus

Individual attention helps in enhancing focus among children. Recently, it has been found that the attention span of children has drastically reduced over the years. However, with the help of individual attention from educators, children have been able to sustain attention for longer periods. This has had a positive impact on learning. Once concentrated attention is paid to the task at hand, it leaves the child with little room for distractions.

2. Spotting Talent

Secondly, individual attention is also instrumental in spotting talent among a large throng of students in a class. Often, when a class is too large, it becomes difficult for teachers to recognise the skills and capabilities of each student. Individual attention enables educators to spot talent among the kids and give them their due credit. Suitable encouragement and attention from teachers can go a long way in allowing the children to shine. They may want to take up extra classes or enrol for various competitions based on activities that interest them.

3. Subject Interest

Individual attention is also great for helping kids sustain interest in the subject matter. In a usual classroom setting, constant lectures can be boring because they may not be tailor-made for an individual child. However, by employing an individual medium of instruction, the child can surely develop an interest in what is being taught, and absorb the learning properly.

4. To Keep Student-Paced Learning

Individual attention does well in keeping learning student-paced. There are all types of students in a class. Some learn fast, whereas others go a bit slow. Some need more practical knowledge of a concept, whereas others need to brush up on their foundational knowledge. Attention to each child in this manner enables educators to chart out a suitable educational plan from them, which maximises the learning potential.

5. Healthy Classroom Environment

A significant aspect of giving individual attention to students is that it helps foster a healthy classroom environment. If an educator goes the extra mile and is attentive to the needs of every child in the classroom, it can make the students feel seen and heard. Their problems can be taken into account, and teachers can follow a collaborative model to resolve the issues. For example, accommodating a specially-abled child through appropriate individual attention can enable them to learn properly.

6. Classroom Activities

Classroom activities can be planned better with individual attention to the students. Some kids might like a certain type of activity, but others might have a different view. The teacher acknowledge the likes and dislikes of every student, and accordingly schedule playtime, breaks, lessons, and activities so that all are satisfied. Also, just one type of activity gets monotonous. Taking into account the perspectives of different children will enable educators to think of novel ideas for educational activities that are enjoyable for all.

7. Plan And Organise Classroom Setting

Individual attention can also help the teachers to plan and organise the classroom setting in a way that makes the learning of the subject matter convenient for all. Focusing on each child and prioritising their individual needs, the teacher can work on suitable seating plans, seating partners, and lesson slots alternating with breaks to make every student feel secure and acknowledged.

8. Essential For Differently-Abled Children

Lastly, individual attention is extremely essential for differently-abled children. Special attention has to be given to their health and overall progress under the ambit of the classroom. Problems can go unaddressed if teachers don’t recognise them in time due to lack of attention. Most importantly, teachers shouldn’t discriminate between them and other kids, and ensure that they are included in all classroom activities. If required, regular attention must also be paid to their classwork and performance in tests to pinpoint whether they have encountered any hurdles in their quest for learning.

9. Minimizes Distraction and Enhances Focus

The individual attention method reduces distractions as it keeps the student engaged in their learning journey. When teachers look out for every basic challenge a student faces, it makes the student concentrate on what they are learning. Let’s understand it more clearly with an example- if a student is facing some kind of problem constantly in any particular subject, he/she will quickly get distracted if they fail to resolve it or finds no one to help them out. At this moment, if a teacher comes and gives them a solution, they will keep engaged there.

10. Sparks Curiosity and Develops Interest

When a student receives personalized attention from a teacher, it encourages them to learn everything precisely and with great interest. When a teacher takes time to understand where a student is facing challenges, what their interest or passions are, and how they can be improved then it somewhere sparks the interest of learning in the student. Also, if a teacher is listening to a student, it sets them free from hesitation so that they can ask their any problems or anything they are curious about, and discuss their ideas with the teacher.

11. Helps Students with Learning Problems

This method of teaching is very effective and important for all those students who have learning problems because here teacher works mainly on their specific needs. The teacher comes up with different plans and methods like one-on-one tutoring, adaptive learning technologies, and more to make the learning process easy and enjoyable for those students. The teacher focuses on their basic challenges and gives solutions for each, this way no student is left behind regardless of how their learning abilities and success in their respective field.

Conclusion

Each teacher must recognise that children have different motives, goals, and capabilities to study and learn. Taking their nature and experiences into account, educators can chart out individually prescribed instruction (IPI) as it contributes significantly to any child’s basic understanding of concepts and their application in real life. We must celebrate the fact that each child is unique and treat them accordingly.

Read further to understand the importance of personalized learning