Monday, March 28, 2011
Someone. Give me some advice!
Okay, this is a completely random question! A lot of times when I'm working with students one on one they tend to get off topic really easily and ask off-the-wall questions, or want to tell stories about their weekends. I'm never really sure if I should allow them to finish what they are saying, or just kindof ignore it and say "let's focus on this right now." I think it would be easier to make a decision if I were the teacher, but I dunno. I just always wonder how I should react in these situations when the teacher has me set aside with students to get a specific task done. Hopefully this makes some sense! :)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
I'm a one-one aida too and I think it's important for students to open up and talk to the teacher. We learn in pre-school that as a teacher we need to let the children talk and this is a great example but maybe not in the opener grades. You may tell the students when we get our works done than we can talk about the your weekend.
ReplyDeleteAs a teacher, I can honestly say, this will happen over and over again. One of the things that you have to remember, students like to socialize, and if it is a student that socializes a lot, then they will try to get you off topic everytime. What I try to do is keep them on task as much as possible, but in order to refocus some of the kids I've worked with is that I have to answer their question or let them tell me one thing, then they focus back to work. I have to make it clear when I sit down with the kids that it is now work time and if we get down with the work then we will have social break, but if they social break during work time then they loose the social break and we have to continue to the next activity. It works most of the time, but somedays kids just have a lot to say and we give them little time to say it because we need to stay on task.
ReplyDeleteI was always wondering the same question, because sometimes I hear that some children do not have the chance to share their thoughts at home and they want to share their thoughts in the classroom. So I feel bad ignoring them. But great help Allen! I think that is a great idea to tell them they can communicate during social break!
ReplyDeleteI am really glad you asked this question! Especially since we are learning about language development and speech, I was starting to see the importance of having kids communicate and talk about things they actually want to talk about. However school and being educated is the most important goal. Along the way students will acquire skills to communicate effectively we hope. I use to help a teacher of a fifth grade class and at the end if we had time I would always ask them what they did for the weekend or what plans they had, that way they were able to talk about fun things after the content was presented.
ReplyDeleteExpectations of task up front. Knowledge that you know they have some great thinking going on during the task. You want them to remember them and once the task is completed then you can talk about, discuss, or answer any questions. If they try to get you off task during the task just remind them "remember what you want to tell me lets complete the task first because I really want to hear what you have to say but this first." This is typically how I handle it. Like Allen said this will happen over and over. Kids are social butterflies.
ReplyDeleteI would think if you took away some of the distractions, have a more simple room you are talking in so the child cannot look at something and loose focus as quickly. My teachers always said there was no such thing as a stupid question but there are some that are not time appropriate.
ReplyDeleteI always wondered the same thing. In my practicum there is a child that will talk almost every time he has a chance, and it is usually off topic, and during the middle of the lesson. Most of the time he will raise his hand to answer a question but then go into another story or say a comment that is way off subject. The teaher I am working with is big on letting the children communicating their thoughts and ideas, but i can tell at times she gets frustrated with this and doesn't know hw to get him back on topic. I just wonder how you can approach this without making the kids feel like they are being ignored or that you do not care what they are saying.
ReplyDelete