How about this one: You're doing an addition problem on the board and you want the class to watch and participate, telling you what to carry to the next place value. You've added two digits and now you ask, "What should I carry?"
You have just committed a colossal mistake, unless you wish to encourage the class to randomly shout out answers to you. What would happen if you said this instead: "Raise your hand if you can tell me what to carry?"
What would happen is that there would be quiet
instead of noise and you'd be able to pause long enough for everyone to think,
and at the same time you could see who needed help and who probably didn't. You
could then rationally decide to proceed or to explain further, or perhaps have
one or two faster students help slower ones.
SPECIFIC EXAMPLES
The following examples further illustrate how
the teacher's choice of words provoke different responses in the children, and
how only slight modifications can bring on pandemonium or law and order, with
scarcely any change in the energy the teacher puts into it.
Example 1. There is general ruckus in the hall as
the kids are going to library. Other classes are going on and probably being
disturbed. To quell the tempest, teacher says, "Shhh!" This general command is
simple to make and takes little energy, and it results in an overall diminution
of noise. Yet within a short time, often in the next minute, the noise begins
again and the teacher is forced to repeat the command.
Can you find the problem here?
It is that that this command is too general and
doesn't single out the handful of culprits.
A solution that works far better is for the
teacher to say, "Who do I hear?" with the understanding that the noisemakers
will go the end of the line. At the same time it is obvious that the teacher is
actively looking to find the culprits. Alternatively, the teacher could say, "I
hear..." then pause to see if anyone is continuing to talk.
This approach brings superior results because it
addresses individuals and not the crowd. It also leaves the teacher with two
kinds of discretionary power: She can announce hearing someone or not,
depending on her intuitive grasp of the circumstances and the degree of quiet
she's looking for. You can actually send a culprit back or just eyeball him or
her for a few seconds.
This latter method requires attention to the
details of the situation in that the teacher must focus on particular
individuals and not a wriggling mass of humanity. The short time it takes is
well worth it. Although the method gets everyone's attention, it can scarcely
be considered punitive in any serious sense of the word.
Bear in mind these two concepts: selective words and conscious attention. They should have an influence on all that you
say in the classroom.
Example 2. A third to half the class is milling
about after recess or some other activity. Teacher wants to begin. Teacher
says, "Go to your seat so we can get started."
But one minute later, if nothing more is said, a
fourth of the class is still wandering about (for reasons probably including not
hearing the command, intense interest in whatever they're doing, fear of what
they might be doing next, forgetting the command, pleasure in deliberate disobedience,
testing the teacher, and who knows what else).
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