ACTION

RESEARCH
PROPOSAL
on
How to Lessen
Student's Lag Time
in Class

Submitted by:

Jan Martin M. Justo

IV-Bookkeeping

Introduction
In school, students of all ages experience problems while studying or
even when participating in class discussions which affect their learning and
concentration to their studies. These problems actually give disturbance to
their studies and become a hindrance for them to acquire knowledge from
their teachers. It also affects the ability of the teachers to control the way
these students do in class. In addition, the time which should be spent for
studying and for participating in discussions is wasted since they would be
used to sleep in class and not listen to the lessons being delivered by the
teacher.

Student's Lag time refers to failing to keep up in class or in school. It is

also a time interval where students are not able to participate actively in
discussions. This is a problem which commonly exists in every class though
it does not often exist regularly. These students must know how to lessen

these kinds of problems because it gradually affects their performance in

school and also their behavior towards the class. The time which must be
allotted for learning from the class is changed to a period where the student
wastes his/her time just to have enough rest or sleep in class. There may be
a lot of reasons why students sleep in class and whatever that reason is, it
still affects every moment of their life especially when it concerns with their
education. Everyone should be aware of this problem because the lag time
being experienced by students in school is also being experienced by a lot of
people at work, at home, in the government, in the office, and everywhere
even in abroad.

Background for Research and Description of Related Works

A Stand-Up Approach to Students Sleeping in Class by: David

Ginsburg

Has it ever occurred to you that how you respond to students sleeping
in class could be an indicator of your overall capacity to reach and teach
them? No more letting kids sleep. But no wasting words try to wake them
either. It was time for action rather than rhetoric, and the action I found most
effective at rousing slumbering students: dropping a textbook on their desks.

It was also, of course, a great way of antagonizing and alienating them.

What's more, it ignored the root of the problem, since I eventually learned
from students that sleeping in class was not in fact a sign of them being
unmotivated, but rather usually a sign of them being bored or genuinely
tired. Still, no matter what the reason for students being drowsy, I couldn't
condone sleeping in class. The challenge, then, is to keep kids from sleeping
in class without being insensitive toward them. And the solution for me was a
simple rule: You may sleep in class as long as you're standing up.
What this "rule" conveyed to kids was that I understood how difficult it might
be for them to stay awake, but that they had no choice. So if they couldn't
stay awake, they needed to stand up. Not to sleep, of course, but to perk
up--by standing in the back of the room, getting a drink of water, etc. Getting
back to the link between how we respond to sleepy students and our overall
capacity to reach and teach them, I'm not saying learning in my classroom
improved because of a crazy "stand if you want to sleep" rule. But I am
saying it wouldn't have improved without this rule or, more accurately, the
change in classroom culture it embodied.

U.S. students lag in science, tests say by: Joseph Picard

In his State of the Union address last night, President Obama devoted several
lines to the slumping stature of U.S. education, by our own standards and

globally. The President went on to how good our educational system can and
must again become. He did not dwell on how bad things now are. The
Nation's Report Card released the 2009 Science National Assessment of
Educational Progress report. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan was not
happy with the numbers. "The results released today show that our nation's
students aren't learning at a rate that will maintain America's role as an
international leader in the sciences," Duncan said. "When only 1 or 2 percent
of children score at the advanced levels on NAEP, the next generation will
not be ready to be world-class inventors, doctors, and engineers." The NAEP
are standardized tests administered to students in Grades 4, 8, and 12 and it
has four rankings, referring to the student's skill level: Below Basic, Basic,
Proficient and Advanced. There are small ratios in Advanced students, as
Duncan pointed out, and there are concurrent declines over the school years
in the Proficient and Basic levels. Globally, the US ranks 15 th on the
Programme for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which is a set of
standardized tests of 15 year-olds around the world. The U.S. scores in the
three main categories (reading involved several tests) were either average or
below average. Duncan reiterated the administration's commitment to
improving student achievement "in science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics. Our nation's long-term economic prosperity depends on
providing a world-class education to all students, especially in mathematics
and science," he said.

Why Do Students Sleep in Class? By: Ash Tan

Here are 4 reasons from the point of view of a student as to why

certain students always sleep in their classes.
First reason: Teachers do not interact with the students in the class. This is
the most classic reason out of all the other possible reasons. Some teachers
unknowingly show more attention to the blackboard instead of their target
audience, the students who are actually in the class.
Second reason: Students find the subject too boring to actually stay awake.
Some of the most boring subjects are often taught by the most boring
teacher possible. Subjects like history should not be read to students. This
act is comparable to reading a bed time story to students waiting in line into
dreamland. Teachers should try to turn these bed time stories into interesting
stories to get the students' attention.
Third reason: Some teachers possess the most beautiful singing voices which
could even turn bed time stories to lullabies. These teachers speak in a
monotonous voice and the words coming out of their mouths are more like
chants for a sleep spell.
Fourth reason: When action is not taken against a sleeping student, other
students would surely tag along the ride to dreamland. Since the teacher is

ignorant of this problem, it then becomes a mutual understanding between

the teacher and students that sleeping is permitted in class, often seen as
win-win situation between both parties.
A teacher who calls his student a rotten apple is just a terrible farmer.

ADHD Children and Attention in the Classroom by: Sandra

Rief

Keeping a student who has attention-deficit problems (ADD or ADHD)

focused and on-task in the classroom is a challenge to teachers, and it
requires

experimenting

with

variety

of

approaches.

Overhead

projectors are among the best tools for focusing a childs attention,
because they allow the teacher to frame important information by blocking
irrelevant parts of the transparency to face students; to avoid instructional
lag time while writing on the board and erasing; and to prepare
transparencies in advance, saving instructional time. Use Document
cameras which are instructional tools that let you project 3-D objects and
pages directly (without a transparency).
Here are additional ideas for capturing students attention:
1. Use storytelling, real-life examples, and anecdotes. Children love to
hear stories -- particularly ones that happened to the teacher when he
or she was a child.

2. Add a bit of mystery by bringing in one or more objects relevant to

the upcoming lesson in a box, bag, or even a pillowcase. This is a
wonderful way to generate lively discussions or writing activities.
3. Signal to students through the use of musical instruments it is an
effective way to get their attention.

4. Use clear verbal signals.

5. Flash the overhead lights or raise your hand to signal that it is time
to be silent and pay attention. To get students to focus on a specific
object or word, turn off the lights and illuminate it with a flashlight or
laser pointer.
6. Call students up front to the board, on occasion, and give individual
instruction.
7. Encourage students to write on transparencies used with overhead
projectors. Their work can then be shared and discussed with the
class.
8. Draw a colored frame around material you want students to pay
close attention to.

9. Change your voice -- talk louder, in a higher or lower pitch, or

whisper -- to draw attention to important information.
10.

Illustrate vocabulary words and science concepts with

small drawings or stick figures.

11.

Clap in a particular pattern, and have students clap in the

same pattern back to you.

12.

Move around the classroom when presenting material, to

maintain your visibility.

Synthesis: In these 4 articles, they are all related somehow in the way they
are currently facing the problem in the classroom especially on students who
are sleeping in class or who are experiencing lag time. Different views and
opinions are depicted but they all want to focus more on proving reasons and
solutions on how to lessen the chances of students sleeping in class. These
views come from doctors, students, teachers, government official, and even

from the teachers of children who have ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity
Disorder). All of them wanted to resolve the problems of getting lag time in
class which does not only are applicable for the students but to everyone as
well. Studies abroad had shown that there is an extreme effect of lag time on
students and must therefore be given prior attention.

Situational Analysis
This problem does not always occur in every class. Oftentimes, it
occurs on a few students and in different classes especially if the discussion
or lesson seems to be boring. Whenever the lesson turns out to be difficult to
understand or when there are only a few things to do, some students were
already in their desks with their eyes closed and heads down low. Also a
factor which makes them lose their focus in class is that they usually lack
sleep from last night. Most students try to regain sleep by consuming time in
class for them to sleep. Others who are not feeling well would sleep in class
and would miss a lot of things because of their sickness. There are many
reasons why students often sleep in class. Some might not be feeling well;
others might have problems at home which make them to have lack of time
to sleep. Having the lack of parental supervision and night time jobs also
makes them to have no time set in going to bed.
This happens in every class but it actually happens depending on how often
the student sleeps in the class. Every student must know how to manage

their time so that at home, they would already accomplish all the things that
they need to do and also they would have plenty of time to sleep and to rest.
But even if they are doing the right thing in managing their time, there are
still some students who make it a habit no matter how interestingly
interactive the class is they fall asleep.

Time Frame
This process if applicable, would definitely be done continuously until
the students who are experiencing lag time in class have lessen and have
started participating in the activities in class. This would depend on the
students to determine the time coverage for it to be implemented since it
varies from different students. Whenever there will be students sleeping in
class, this would be performed which makes it an occasional process.
However, if proven effective this would certainly be a continuous process for
the students to know the importance of not wasting their time especially if
they experience lag time in school.

Procedure
If its one of your more regularly involved students, perhaps give them
an option of an extra credit research assignment they can bring to your next
class period covering the subject matter they missed while they were
sleeping. You might simply choose to wake the student and ask them if they
are feeling alright. To pull this off you need to approach it with true concern
for the student's health and well being. Most of the time, student's are so
embarrassed and so appreciative of your genuine concern that they don't let
it happen again. Encourage students to actively participate, take notes
(explain that this is helpful to their learning as it stimulates memory in the
brain) and in particularly long classes break up the session with activities or
paired conversations about a topic to ensure that students stay engaged.
Students don't learn much from listening, so remember that the more they
"experience" the learning process the more you are really teaching.
(Classroom Management by Lisa Rodriguez, Ph.D.)

Here are other ways to deal with students sleeping in class:

Wake the student. Make it hard for the student to sleep. Seat the
student at the front of the class or near your desk. Keep the student
active. Call on the student unexpectedly.
Your goal is to heighten her alertness, not humiliate her, and so ask a question you
are confident she can answer. If the student continues to fall asleep over a period of
time, contact her parents. Give her activities to do during those times of day when

she is most prone to falling asleep. In fact, incorporating physical activity into your
classroom is a good practice to follow with all your students.

(Classroom Problem Solver: Sleeping in Class by Dr. Kenneth Shore)

Potential Importance
In this procedure, all students would definitely benefit by reducing their
chances of getting lag time in class discussions. These students would now
have the urge to study harder in school and also to obtain higher knowledge
by learning through their teachers. The teachers would also be benefiting
here since their ways to give education to their students would increase and
it would surely help them provide the best knowledge to give for their
students. The parents also would benefit here because they would see that
their children would have the urge and energy to study in class and learn
more in school.

The ways on how to lessen students lag time which are stated here
are safe and is actually effective on the part of the student, teacher, and the
parents because it all gives emphasis on the importance of education in
every children here on earth and as the saying goes, Education does not
mean teaching people to know what they do not know; it means teaching
them to behave as they do not behave.

Expected Results
If this would be implemented, the possible outcome of this is that the
performance of every student in class would improve and their interest to
gain knowledge will be enhanced. Aside from making the performance of the
student improve, this would certainly result to a discovery of new ways on
how to develop and solve problems and issues concerning the students and
the school as usual. On the side of the teachers, they would gain new
techniques and ways in teaching and properly stabilize the quality of
education being given by the school. There are different ways on how this
would result on the students. They may become active in the class and
would learn a lot in every lesson. Being able to be awake in class helps you
become more attentive and efficient in school. They may change their views
in the subject and in the teacher from boring to incredible. As you can see,
this is highly beneficial to everyone and chances are this would be a
successful process in making the productive citizens of tomorrow through
reducing what we call lag time in every institution there is especially when
it comes to school where the future citizens of the country is shaped and

molded. If you know how to handle these concerns, you would also know how
to deal with the students who are experiencing these problems.

References
Breaking with Tradition by Dennis Brooks
A Stand-Up Approach to Students Sleeping in Class by David Ginsburg 19
Sept. 2010
http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/105428/20110126/students-educationscience.htm
U.S. students lag in science, tests say by Joseph Picard
http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/shore/shore005.shtml
Classroom Problem Solver Sleeping In Class by Dr. Kenneth Shore
http://www.4faculty.org/includes/108r2.jsp
Classroom Management by Lisa Rodriguez, Ph.D.
http://askville.amazon.com/Teachers-student-sleeps-class/AnswerViewer.do?
requestId=16180445
http://ezinearticles.com/?Why-Do-Students-Sleep-in-Class?&id=2918814
Why Do Students Sleep in Class? By Ash Tan

http://www.joannejacobs.com/2011/08/study-u-s-students-lag-in-mathreading/
Study: U.S. students lag in math, reading by Joanne Jacobs 19 Aug. 2011
http://globalpublicsquare.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/01/u-s-students-lag-behind/
http://www.additudemag.com/adhd/article/5645.html