How to Focus Better in School: Top Habits for Success 

January 28, 2025 byElizabeth Preston

6 min to read

Image of a young male student who working on an online class for Connecions Academy.

Maintaining focus during a long school day and doing homework can be difficult for anyone, but with technological distractions becoming more of a challenge for students of all ages, it is more important than ever to develop good focus skills while in school.

The ability to focus is an essential skill for students to develop in order to grow into well-organized, motivated adults with good time management skills and the ability to think critically, solve problems, and engage with complex information. As a Learning Coach, you, along with your student’s teachers and mentors, can help your student figure out how to focus better in school so they are set up for success later on in life when they enter college or the workforce.

Focus Activities for Students

If your student lacks motivation, procrastinates, or has difficulty focusing while in school, they may be experiencing reduced motivation because they don’t understand the task, the material may feel boring to them, or they may be getting paralyzed by overwhelm. Talk with your student to understand where they are coming from and how you can work out a solution together to help them. 

When they start to feel their attention drifting, try these activities to ease your child back into a more focused frame of mind.

Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique encourages students to focus on one task at a time by alternating between periods of working and taking short breaks. While the number of working periods and breaks in a cycle can vary, the Pomodoro Technique typically asks the student to set a timer for 25 minutes and work on a task—and only that task—during that time. When the timer goes off, they take a five-minute break to rest and do whatever they want. Once the break is over, they set the timer for another 25 minutes and get back to work. When the timer goes off again, they can take another short break. 

Working for pre-determined periods of time makes tasks seem less daunting, can relieve mental fatigue, and give the student something to look forward to at the end of a working period. The Pomodoro Technique can also help students learn how to effectively manage their time, giving them the option to use each 25-minute interval on different parts of the task if they so choose.

Breaking Tasks Down to be More Manageable

A large assignment with multiple parts can be intimidating, especially as work gets more complex in middle and high school. Breaking down an assignment into smaller tasks that can be crossed off easily can help make a daunting project feel much more manageable than trying to tackle the whole thing at once.

Talk with your child about which parts of an assignment can be broken down into smaller chunks. Write down these smaller tasks in a bullet journal or make a chart that can be colored in as they make progress towards the goal. For example, if your student is trying to write an end-of-year paper for a class, they might break down that task with these smaller ones that can be completed incrementally:

Come up with a thesis/theme for the paper
Research appropriate sources
Decide on supporting points/arguments to include
Write the introduction and closing paragraphs
Complete the first draft
Re-read and make edits
Complete the final version
Submit the paper

Take Breaks and Get Moving

When the body is in a state of stress or we’re feeling tired, a person may have difficulty concentrating. Some stress is normal and can be beneficial, but too much stress can be distracting and can stop kids from staying focused in school.

Taking breaks for focus might at first seem counterintuitive, but if your child finds themself stuck in a particular task, they can give their minds a break by putting it aside for a while and then coming back to it to start fresh.

Getting physically active, stretching, or engaging in stress management techniques are also great for helping to reset the brain and clear up mental fatigue. They can also help energize your student and improve their mood if they are feeling burned out by getting their blood flowing.

Gamify the Assignment

Gamification is the practice of applying elements that are found in games like earning points, climbing levels, or earning rewards to other activities like completing chores or finishing schoolwork. By gamifying their day-to-day tasks and introducing a reward system, Learning Coaches can incentivize students to focus on their work as well as make it more interesting. 

Gamifying schoolwork is highly customizable, allowing the student to set their own goals and feel more motivated to “win” by being productive. Make a game out of how long your child can complete a streak of tasks within a specific amount of time or how long they can work on their homework without getting distracted. Gamification can be especially useful for competitive students. Just make sure they’re not sacrificing quality for speed or quantity of accomplishments.

Prioritize Their To-Do List

Sometimes when we see a long list of things we have to do we can feel overwhelmed and freeze up. It can be hard to know which task to start with, so taking time to prioritize can be a helpful technique to stay focused.

To manage a heavy workload, start by listing which tasks are due first, and then identify which ones out of that list can be completed the fastest. Knocking out the simplest, easiest to finish tasks first can clear mental space and leave more time for more complicated ones and reassure your child that they’re making progress.

Put Away Technology

Technology can be beneficial for learning, but digital boundaries are a must to keep students focused on their work and to create an environment that is conducive to learning. If your student is getting distracted by their phone, tablet, or other electronics during class, encourage them to put their phone out of sight, either in a drawer or in another room. Rather than forbid them from using their device, try talking to them about reframing it as something they use with intention rather than reaching for it out of habit. 

Refocus with Mindfulness

Practicing mindfulness, or reconnecting to the present moment is another way to help your child learn how to focus better in school as well as manage stress. Simple meditation, journaling, or five senses exercises can help them feel rooted in the present moment and keep their thoughts from flying away with them. Learning Coaches can encourage their student to self-reflect when facing a roadblock or stressful experienced, rather than falling into frustration or other derailing emotions.