There are more effective ways of re-capturing your students’ attention than banning smartphones. As most educators know, engagement was a challenge prior to the arrival of Snapchat and TikTok. A.J. Juliani, a higher ed education instructor and author, hopes to help school leaders and their teams solve the problem at FETC 2025.
“My main focus is, how do we engage students during this whole big era of distraction—distracted not just by phones but by all the different things that are happening,” says Juliani, a featured speaker on the School Leader Track.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for them to be on their phones all day in school,” he continues. “But I don’t think [banning phones] is magically going to make worksheets engaging all of a sudden.”
Here’s what educators can do: Ground instruction in experiences that are human-driven, socially-focused, meeting-centered and language-based. Three of four of those conditions should do the engagement trick, he advises.
Building leaders can create these conditions by prioritizing engagement and instruction among the many other issues clawing for their attention.
“I think we get stuck putting out a lot of fires as school leaders, and we have all these ideas of wanting to be proactive and instructional- focused,” says Juliani, author of the best-seller, Adaptable. “What does that look like on a day-to-day basis?”
Celebration of collaboration
Juliani says the best things he’s done as an educator are those that he has planned with other educators. FETC is an unparalleled opportunity to share ideas with like-minded educators seeking solutions to common challenges.
“The big excitement is around this kind of communal experience of how we can do things better for kids,” he concludes. “When you’re around folks having those conversations, it gets you in such a good place that oftentimes we don’t get to be in. It’s about solutions and collaborating about what’s next.”
A.J. Juliani’s FETC 2025 sessions
Here are some of the key topics Juliani will cover at FETC 2025:
- Intentional Innovation: How to Guide Risk-Taking, Build Creative Capacity, and Lead Change
- Leading Learning in the AI Age: A Guide to Empowering Learners Through Exponential Change
