Michael Mongeau
Disability category
Strategy
Goal/Objective
When to use this strategy
Step by step instruction- How to use this
in a social studies classroom. You will
partner with a classmate to teach them
your strategy so be explicit and provide a
sample for your partner.
Assessment- How could this strategy be
used to evaluate student learning?
Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD)/Attention Deficit
Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD)
Minimizing distractions
The student will be able to listen to a lecture on the
Revolutionary War period, without major distractions by
external stimuli.
When a student with ADHD/ADD is struggling with an
assignment, because they cannot focus on the task at
hand, due to external distractions in the classroom
environment.
The following steps include a number of different
methods that a teacher could use to minimize the
number of distractions in the classroom.
1). The instructor will close the blinds on the windows.
Windows frequently serve as conduits for distraction for
students with ADHD/ADD.
2). The instructor will ensure that all talking is relevant
to the task at hand. A teacher should walk around the
room and use proximity to break up any idle chatter.
The audio stimuli of talking can also serve as a
distraction.
However, a teacher should be sure to not
enforce silence, as students will be students,
rather, ensure that talking is on task, rather than
banning talking.
3). Similar to talking, the teacher should ensure that cell
phone use is on task. Cell phones both serve as a
teaching tool and a teachers worst nightmare regarding
distractions. Rather than ban their use (and have
students use them anyway), the instructor should build
their lesson around using phones effectively.
4). A teacher should walk a fine line between decorating
their classroom to give it character, and to ensure that
these decorations are not distractions.
Minimizing distractions cannot be used to evaluate
student learning, however, by minimizing distractions, it
provides the best possible environment for students to
demonstrate their knowledge on topics. Without
minimizing distractions, an assessment of a student is an
imperfect representation of their knowledge
 Michael Mongeau

Citation Nissman, B.S. (2000). Teacher Tested Classroom

Management Strategies. Upper Saddle River, NJ:
Merrill an imprint of Prentice Hall