Fun with Character: Focus

Have you ever been in a crowded room and heard your name mentioned in a conversation across the room? How did you hear that among all the noise? This exercise will help to explain that phenomenon. Your brain has a filter that filters out many of the stimuli that are around us. If the brain didn’t do that, we would be bombarded with so much input that we couldn’t function. Our name is allowed in by that filter, so while you may not hear much of other conversations surrounding you, your name will get through. We can train that filter by what we pay attention to. Find a story from your past where you purchased something (a silver car, perhaps) and then saw it everywhere (I didn’t know there were so many silver cars!). If we have a sour attitude, we will see more negative things. If we have a sunny attitude, we will see more of the positive things.

Begin this exercise by asking the students to find all the square things in the classroom. Then pick a color that is prevalent in the room and ask them to name the items of that color. Pick another shape and color, and repeat the request for each. Pick a shape or color and ask them to focus on it for the rest of the day.

When finished, process the reading with these or similar questions:

• Was the Focus Game fun?

• Did you notice the shapes and colors before the game?

• Do you think you will see more of the color/shape the rest of the day?

• When we focus on something, we tend to see more of it. Do you think if you focus on positive things, you will see even more of them?

  If the students are old enough to understand the discussion on the brain filter you can look for more information on the reticular activating system or brain gating.