Staying on TaskLearning Goal: To teach students appropriate behavioral expectations for the skill of “Staying

on Task”

Skill of the Week Learning Objectives

• Learning the steps to “Staying on Task”

• Practicing the skill

• Generalizing the use of the skill to different places and different situations

Introduce the Skill(Day 1)

• Brainstorm Activity:

• On Post-its: Write down things that happen in the classroom that distract you and interfere with you trying to complete your work.

• On a separate set of Post-its: Write down a strategy to cope with the distraction

• Turn and talk

Sentence sort activity(Day 2)

• As a group, take the words and try to form a sentence that relates to staying on task.

• Once you have sorted the sentences, try to put the steps in the right order.

• Hint: There are 5 steps and each sentence is punctuated correctly.

Steps to staying on task

• Step 1: Look at your task or assignment.

• Step 2: Think about the steps needed to complete the task.

• Step 3: Focus all of your attention on the task.

• Step 4: Stop working only when instructed.

• Step 5: Ignore distractions and interruptions from others.

• Discuss how these steps relate to yesterday’s activity, glue steps in your X-block NB

Give a reason/Practice(Day 3)

• Brainstorm:

• List 3-5 reasons why you think it would be important to stay on task using these steps.

Sentence SortHow to make

• Copy and cut up each sentence part/ mix up and have students put together

• Example: Look + at +your +task +or +assignment.

My Examples

• 1) You don’t interrupt others who are trying to work

• 2) The teacher might get to you more quickly to help you if he or she sees you are trying to continue to work

• 3) You are more likely to complete your assignments and not have homework

Quick Write (Choose 1)

• Write about a time when you stayed on task while other students were distracting you.

• What was the outcome?

• Write about a time that you did not stay on task but should have.

• What was the outcome?

What are my options?(Day 4)

• Use the SAME strategy to stay on task.

• Skip the particular question or problem and go back to it later

• Ask Three Before Me: Ask three other students for help if the teacher is not available. Ask teacher if help is still needed.

• Make a plan to use DEAR (drop everything and read) when it is an option. If you are stuck and know one is available, this may be an option

• Encourage yourself to have “Buddies” in the class. Or pair up with students based on strengths and weaknesses.

Class Discussion (Role Play)Day 5

• Pick a situation out of the bucket and act it out by modeling the appropriate steps to stay on task..

• When you are finished with the situation, give your partner and compliment.

Situations

• The teacher is helping another student with his or her work and you don’t understand how to work on the next math problem.

• The students are taking a test and some finish before time is up.

• A student comes to the door and calls out to someone in the class to come into the hallway and talk.

Situations

• The principal knocks at the door and asks to speak to the teacher immediately. The students are reading a novel aloud in class.

• As the teacher is lecturing, one student begins to talk to another and tries to get him involved in a conversation.