Parent's Guide to Education During Covid-19. Get the guide

A Blog post

Can Planting Tress Help Students Stay On Task?
  • Calendar Apr 06, 2018
  • User Jared Wells
  • Category In Uncategorized
  • Comments 0 Comments
I’m always on the look-out for apps to help my students (and me!) stay on task. One that I’ve found fun recently is called “Forest” The basic idea with the app is that you set the amount of time you want to do uninterrupted work. You start the timer, and on the screen a seed is planted. As time goes on the seed grows into a bush or tree (depending on the length of the work period. But here is the catch: if you ever leave the app, for any reason, the tree dies and you have to start over. What a great metaphor for your attention growing over time as you focus on a task, only to have it destroyed with even a short distraction! Over time, as you grow more trees you can plant them in your forest. You can also (and I think THIS is a great feature!) create a room and work with friends...and if ANY of the friends leaves the app everyone’s tree will wither. What a great way to motivate each other to stay on task. I love apps that use gamification for good rather than evil, and Forest does it in spades. Also, they have a REAL tree planting program that you can use the in-game currency you earn to pay for a tree being planted, which I think is a cool feature too (you can also use the in-game currency to buy different varieties of trees to plant in your virtual Forest). I've had a lot of fun seeing my forest grow over the last few weeks, and it definitely creates a LOT of hesitation in picking up my phone to check emails when I need to be concentrating on something else. I’m also thinking this might be a great way for families to stay off their phones during family time. So check it out, Forest, for IOS and Android Want to make sure your child starts second semester off on the right foot? Give us a call to schedule an in-person or phone consultation!  
Comments
Categories
Archives
Recent Posts

Contact Us

Got a question? We'd love to hear from you.
Send us a message and we'll respond as soon as possible.

    Top Arrow