Hello all,
I know the list just had a good discussion on this issue, but thought I'd share an experience that happened in my class this morning. This is an Intro Psychology course with about 310 students, and I've only been teaching for just over 2 years now. But, I've also had small classes, as low as 50, and in the case of one high school section, only 12. The noise factor and classroom management obviously becomes more of a problem the larger the class. Now, for this particular class, only into our sixth meeting now, I've noticed the problem getting worse, that is, general classroom noise. My requests to reduce the noise level in class seem to be having less and less of an effect. Part of the problem I know is me, as I'm fairly soft-spoken and do not present a very threatening presence. I've also noticed that classroom chatter seems to increase during periods of class discussion, when lecturing stops, and students are answering questions, and discussing a particular issue that I've presented to them. Several times today I had to ask the class to quiet down so that I could hear the student talking. Finally, after doing this about 6 or 7 times, one student at the back of the classroom stood up and asked to speak, although not to me. He politely reminded the class that he had paid a lot of money to take this course, and said that he could not hear a thing that was being said in class, which resulted in applause and cheers from a large number of students. After that, the room was silent. But, again, I'm certain the problem will continue. Now, I'd hate to eliminate the open classroom style and discussion and debate by presenting students with so many notes to take that they won't have time to talk to one another? Or, perhaps I could employ this same student to make casual reminders like today when the need arises?! Again, I know there were some excellent suggestions already made prior to this on this list, but if anyone else has any other suggestions or advice on handling noise in large classrooms and classroom management, I'd love to hear them! Regards, Mike Lee Department of Psychology University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB, Canada --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
