This document provides guidance for teaching students how to stay on task. It outlines a 5 day lesson plan with activities to introduce, practice, and reinforce the skill. The goal is for students to learn and apply a 5 step process for staying focused on assignments: 1) look at the task, 2) think about the steps to complete it, 3) focus attention on it, 4) stop only with instruction, and 5) ignore distractions. Each day covers brainstorming distractions and strategies, sorting sentences into steps, discussing reasons for the skill, role playing examples, and evaluating options to stay on task.

1. Staying on Task
Learning Goal: To teach students appropriate behavioral
expectations for the skill of “Staying on Task”

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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.

5. Steps to staying on task
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•
•
•
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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

6. 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.

7. Sentence Sort
How to make
• Copy and cut up each sentence part/ mix up and have students put
together
• Example:
Look + at +your +task +or +assignment.

8. 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

9. 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?

10. 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.