T O P I C :

Too Much Commentary

John describes the issue: There is a student in my seventh grade Language Arts class who exhibits some unusual behavior. He ranges from totally disinterested (trying to read through instruction or ignoring us even to the point of laying his head down on the desk) to uncontrollably contributive. He's not just the average interrupter; when he has a comment to make he will go on for minutes and minutes without concern for clear cues that the class needs to move on. Some of our teachers have commented that this child displays many of the classic signs of Asperger's (or high functioning Autism) and should be getting some intervention to help with issues of socialization. Because the parents do not want him tested, let alone diagnosed, we will most likely just have to do the best we can by him without help.

Here's the problem: If he's interested in what's happening, he's pretty smart and wants to contribute. However, since it is difficult to wrestle the class back from him, I don't always want to call on him and interrupt a lesson for what may well turn into a huge diversion. Sometimes his comments are hardly related and can derail the train of thought. Other teachers have tried and suggested giving him one or two opportunities a day to contribute, each represented by a "talking stick" or other object. I was hoping to not have to single him out, even though most of the students seem aware of the awkward nature of his comments.

I do not want to alienate someone who is already struggling to interact, but I cannot justify getting too often off-task by humoring his diatribes. Recently, I have been calling on him once or twice a class, but preceeding his comments with a qualifier like "briefly, tell me...." or "give me just one reason...." This seems to be helping, but I wonder if anyone has had any similar interactions or experience that may help.

Posted October 9, 2008

R E S P O N S E :

Gentle Reminders

Tonya Seaton writes: John, I ,too, have a student who is constantly raising his hand and asking questions or interjecting something that is totally off topic. However, it doesn’t sound as bad as your situation — he doesn’t go on and on. I have dealt with it in my classroom by following up his comments and questions by responding, "We need to stay on topic," or "Please keep your comments to yourself unless they are related to what we are studying in class today," and so on.

Posted October 26, 2008

R E S P O N S E :

Write and Read

Katherine Collier writes: I ran into a similar situation during my first rotation. While doing discussions about our classroom novel, only a couple students were responding during the discussions and other students were not given the opportunity to participate.

A solution that worked was to have the students prepare for discussion ahead of time by filling out a worksheet and/or having discussion questions on the board. When they came in, each student was given a note card cut in half. On the note cards, they would pick two topics for discussion and write a response. When the discussion came to their chosen topic, they would read their responses, and I would collect the card. If some students were uncomfortable with reading their response aloud, I would read it for them. It would also work to assign specific responses to rows or groups of students in order to elicit certain responses.

This system helped engage all the students as well as limit the number and length of the responses from the frequent talkers. It was easy to say to the kids who spoke frequently that other students needed the opportunity to earn participation points. Also, this made me circulate throughout the classroom during our discussions and helped with maintaining the order of the discussion.

Posted December 6, 2008

E-mail your suggestions and comments to fbowles@uark.edu