Hi On Wed, 18 Sep 2002, Michael Lee wrote: > 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.
As I stated earlier, stop talking when class noise is distracting, and don't start again until noise stops. Don't request anything ... just stand there philosophically. > 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. If this happens again, just signal the student who is contributing to the class to stop talking (e.g., present your palm to them and perhaps say something like "let's just wait until everyone can hear what you have to say."). Then, wait until the class is quiet and signal the student to resume. There are several dangers with anything resembling a reprimand. First they often work in counter-intuitive ways. It is hard to generalize from grade school children to 1st year university students (ok, perhaps not so hard in some cases!), but the literature there shows that a loud reprimand increases undesirable behaviour (e.g., being out of seat) beyond baseline levels, whereas a quiet, personal reprimand decreases the behaviour. Second, students may come to depend on the reprimand as a cue that their behaviour is inappropriate and think that anything short of drawing a comment from you is ok. Perhaps same with the "silent treatment," but I see them as somehow different. It is always possible that some student(s) would actually try to sabotage the class (e.g., keep talking endlessly while you wait for silence), but I think this is unlikely. If it did occur, I would be tempted to request of the Administration that the student(s) be removed from the class. Best wishes Jim ============================================================================ James M. Clark (204) 786-9757 Department of Psychology (204) 774-4134 Fax University of Winnipeg 4L05D Winnipeg, Manitoba R3B 2E9 [EMAIL PROTECTED] CANADA http://www.uwinnipeg.ca/~clark ============================================================================ --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send a blank email to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
