ATTENTION. That’s a commanding word. I use it everyday. I ask my student, “May I please have your attention?” or when I’m frustrated because I’ve asked that question 42 times it changes to, “Are you paying attention?” 

That’s a funny phrase, when you think about it. Paying attention…instead of giving attention. I like to think the phrase “pay attention” came about because ATTENTION is valuable. We live in a fast-paced, hyper speed world…sometimes it’s hard to pay ATTENTION, even for teachers. I have to work on focusing when I’m doing a task that requires my whole ATTENTION. Writing is one of those tasks. I can’t listen to music or watch TV or surf the web when I’m writing. I need to focus my ATTENTION on the topic…otherwise I get frustrated and can’t write anything. Sometimes my ATTENTION is split. I multi-task (that means do more than one thing at a time) a lot! Have you ever done something and later wondered how it got done? I do that a lot! That’s when I know I need to slow down and pay ATTENTION to my life…before I miss everything.