Teaching is often romanticized as a noble profession, but one underrated truth remains unspoken: a teacher’s mental instability. Frustration, stress, helplessness, anxiety, and the constant pressure of being a people pleaser slowly become part of everyday life. Interestingly, these unspoken struggles are not always caused by the workload itself, but by the inability to clearly identify the real problem.
This may sound harsh at first. However, when we pause and reflect, this realization not only helps teachers find peace in their profession but also enables them to better support children especially those with hyperactivity and attention difficulties. If you believe you have already found the conclusion just by reading the title, this article still has something important to offer you.
Among the many challenges teachers face, “forgetting and not paying attention to instructions” consistently tops the list. It may not sound amusing, but it is a universal experience shared by teachers across classrooms. Have you ever given yourself just two seconds to pause and genuinely ask: Why do my students never seem to listen? Why are they always restless in my class? As the saying goes, “You don’t find a solution until you find the problem.” Attempting to solve an issue without understanding it is like diving into the ocean to search for a single drop of water that fell from your bottle.
Have you ever wondered why you remember whether you locked your house only after reaching school, and not while standing at your door? The reason is simple. Your brain listened clearly to one priority reaching school by 8:00 a.m. Locking the door, though important, temporarily became secondary.
Listening helped your brain prioritize, and prioritizing helped you remember.
The same mechanism applies to children in classrooms. When students do not listen, they fail to prioritize the information given to them. As a result, memorization does not occur. This article does not promise to change lives overnight, but it will certainly help you change your perspective toward a child.
Before exploring solutions, let us understand the core concepts. Prioritizing refers to the brain’s ability to organize information based on its importance. Memorizing occurs when the brain retains that information because it understands its value. In a classroom setting, a child memorizes instructions only when they are prioritized—and prioritization happens only when the child truly listens. Confusing? Not when we look at a simple example.
Before leaving the class, homework instructions are given.
Child 1 - Submits the homework because she listened, prioritized the task, and remembered it.
Child 2 - Listened but did not submit the work because she felt it was unimportant, assuming there was no class the next day.
Child 3 - Remains unaware of the homework because he was busy talking and playing.
While a teacher’s irritation in such situations is understandable, recurring problems demand reflection rather than reaction. Traditional approaches such as punishment, diary remarks, or emotional outbursts rarely help children move toward improvement. Instead, understanding why listening failed becomes crucial.
Imagine a child’s brain as a rat trap, catching every thought that enters. With millions of thoughts being processed daily, the brain becomes exhausted, leaving little energy or patience to focus on monotonous instructions. Keeping this perspective in mind, let us explore practical classroom strategies.
Classroom Silence
If a classroom remains chaotic in your presence, it is important to accept it as feedback rather than failure. Classroom management is a skill that can be developed. If direct control feels difficult, strategic manipulation may help. Simple methods such as scoring games, team-based silence rewards, or appointing responsible leaders can work wonders. Repetition of instructions while calmly maintaining eye contact with inattentive students can also create a sense of healthy accountability that encourages self-correction.
Assign Work to Prevent Forgetfulness
Hyperactive children often finish tasks quickly and begin disturbing others. Instead of labeling them negatively, view their energy as a resource. These children often possess the energy of three to five students combined. Engaging them through responsibility-based tasks such as checking diaries or reading homework instructions aloud helps them remain focused while improving their listening and memory retention.
Set Clear Boundaries While Speaking
Children are naturally curious and tend to interrupt conversations. Before giving instructions, introduce attention-grabbing cues such as “Statue, except your ears” or “Say cheese, everybody freeze.” These cues signal importance, helping children prioritize information and listen actively. Healthy boundaries between teachers and students are essential allow expression but prevent overfamiliarity.
In conclusion, this article does not ask teachers to change who they are, but invites them to view situations from a child’s perspective. Even on days when time runs short, understanding the root cause of classroom challenges matters. In a corporate office, one command works for multiple systems, but in a classroom, one instruction meets thirty-five different personalities. Difficult? Yes. But at the end of the day, they are yours and unlike machines, they cannot be shut down or disowned.