Ethan
Reese-Whiting
T O P I C :
Is Quiet Talking Possible?
Ethan Poses the Question. . . .
September 14, 2007
As a teacher that likes to see students engaged enough to discuss the material during activities, I plan to allow "quiet" talking, rather than no talking. However, some students are very quick to get off-task in their conversations and get louder. Other students are generally more diligent about staying on-task with their talking. The tendency is to react a bit more quickly with the students that typically cause problems in order to "nip it in the bud" with repeated, frequent disturbances while being a little more forgiving with the students that don't tend to cause problems. Even in seventh grade, students can be astute enough to pick up on these discrepancies and exploit the technicality that this seems unfair to them. So, how might one allow classroom discussion while keeping the "repeat offenders" in check without presenting the appearance of being blatantly unfair?
Megan Murry answers. . . .
September 25, 2007
I completely agree with your views on quiet discussions while students are working on class materials. I also understand where you are coming from with repsect to "repeat offenders." It is easy to single these students out, or perhaps just focus so much on them that we don't even realize there are others who are not on task as well.
Of course, if you are circulating and hear a student (repeat offender or not) who is off task, I believe it is wise to ask them individually to get on task. However, I would suggest that you try, for the most part, to address these problems to the class as a whole. Let them know that quiet, on-task discussion is allowed and even encouraged, but that it is a priveledge, NOT a right. It is a priveledge in that it can be revoked. When the classroom begins to get too loud and discussions are swaying from the content, let the class know that it has been warned. Next time, the priviledge to talk will be taken away from not only chatty individuals, but also the entire class.
Chances are if you know which students are prone to off-task discussion, so do their classmates. I have found that in situations like this, classmates will actually begin to tell their peers to be quiet or get on task so that they will not have to take the fall for a few individuals' mistakes.
Anthony Halter answers. . . .
October 22, 2007
My mentor teacher and I have been very successful with group activity. There are two keys that we have found that must exist. There must be a limited amount of supplies, so that the students must rely on each other and share. The second is that the time frame must be short. If you give them ten questions to answer during an activity, you can walk by and make an anouncement while you are standing next to them that there are x amount of minutes left and they should be on question 7 by now. You have have walked by and seen that they are on #5 and you can stress that they are under a time crunch instead of constantly addressing the behavior. Another way to keep them on task is to state that 9 and 10 take a long time to answer. If you divide the class into groups where there is at least one good student in the group, they will monitor the group to some degree becasue they do not want some goof off messing with their grade.
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