My student, Tasha (Pseudonym), has a really hard time focusing during teacher instruction. Many times I have caught her playing with her hands or a pencil, drawing while the teacher is talking or writing things that have nothing to with what she should be doing. During the science lesson they were going over their science homework. At first she did not have it out then she had to go to her backpack and find the paper. She missed the teacher going over the first problem because she was getting ready. Tasha then began to look around the classroom instead of looking at her paper. The teacher moved to the back of the paper and Tasha was playing around with her paper she did not notice. It was not until he was done with the first question on the back that she turned her paper over. Today during language arts, it looked like she was following along while the teacher was reading but I could tell her eyes were not one the book. During the reading she put her hand up to say something to the teacher but he was ready to move on so she put her hand down. At 9:19am the teacher told them to put their books away and get ready to move on to the next activity. She was so busy playing with the sticky notes at her deck she did not hear him. It took her until 9:21am to put her book away and get ready to move on. For this reason, I wonder what instructional strategies I can use to help my students maintain focus during instruction?