Comments on: Things I learned this week – #3

By: Doug Belshaw

Doug Belshaw — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:53:00 +0000

Thanks Ewan, I’ll check it out. :-)

By: Ewan McIntosh

Ewan McIntosh — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 21:49:00 +0000

Next door on delicious to the link to Reed’s Law was a refuting post: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-1035_22-141783.html Worth reading them together to make your own mind up

By: Doug Belshaw

Doug Belshaw — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 06:49:00 +0000

Thanks Dai, I’ll keep them coming then! :-D

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 10:58:00 +0000

Simply fantastic blogpost every week! This is a great idea Doug. It is THE blogpost I keep my eyes (both of them) open for. People who don’t read this should subscribe. Fits well into a busy teaching life. Thank you for taking the time to aggregate all the info you find with short comments and a bit of Northern wit. Bravo!

By: James Clay

James Clay — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 00:28:00 +0000

That makes more sense.

By: Doug Belshaw

Doug Belshaw — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 17:04:00 +0000

Perhaps I was too brief. The full advice I received on my teacher
training was that you should, as a rule, ‘speak to children for no
longer than their numerical age plus two minutes’.

I interpreted this as shutting up as much as possible and letting them
get on with their learning. It’s stood me in good stead! ;-)

By: James Clay

James Clay — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 13:38:00 +0000

Ref: Having said that, I have heard it said that students have the attention span of their age plus 2 minutes… (

This is just so not true, anyone who has worked in a classroom with children or has children will know that it is not the child it is the activity. For example my seven year old (nine minute attention span) can sit through 30 minutes of Micheal Portillo pontificating about trains, whilst me (42 min attention span) watches about three minutes and then I am bored and need to do something else.

When I was teaching I saw some students get so immersed in a 60 minute lecture they didn’t realise a hour had passed, and get bored with a 15 minute activity after five minutes. A lot depends on the individual and a lot depends on the activity.

Thanks for posting the link.

James