Excessive chit chat
I was wondering if anyone had any tips on how to deal with students talking during my lectures without creating bad vibes?
Sonya,
I would separate them, if there is a group that sets together and talks. If that does not help since you have done all of the things that normally work already I would move to putting them on probation. Give them a period of time to stop disrupting the learning of others and if they don't I would remove them from the class. This sounds harsh for talking but they are interfering with the learning of others and no one has that right. Also, they chose to enroll in the class so they need to respect the polices of the class and since it is voluntary they can be removed.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I am a new instructor, and I am teaching the same group of students for a second class. I have a group who continously talk during lecture and are very disturbing to the other students. I have become silent and stared at them while they are talking. I have talked to them individualy after class. I have also taken 5 points off thier final grade (which was in syllabus) for professinalism. Other students have contiounusly told them to be quiet and have made formal complaints about the disruptive chit chat. We are in week two of the new moduel and today the students started talking today. Does anyone have any more sugestions?
Hi Scott,
Thanks for sharing this behavior strategy with us. It is effective and as you say can facilitate a good discussion or bring the attention back to the topic. Either way you have remained in control of the class and kept the class moving forward.
Gary
One of the stragies that I've found to be effective is two fold. First, stop your lecture and look directly at the students that are talking. Once they notice the silence, ask them if there is something relevant to the lecture material being presented that they would like to share with rest of the class. Sometimes this can lead to a relevant side discussion that everyone can benefit from or in most cases they understand that they are not expected to be talking about things unrelated to the current classroom dicussion. Either way, this method seems to re-orient everyone to the primary goal of learning the material being presented. If necessary, remind them that we have classroom breaks each hour when they are more than welcome to engage in personal discussions.
Scott
I have used both the silent treatment and peer policing when that doesn't work. I tend to move around in the classroom as someone else mentioned and I find that works as well. Of course, larger classes usually pose more of a problem than smaller classes.
I am so glad that there are so many responses to this question because I need serious help with this problem. I have tried several of the suggestions, but once I tried your suggestion of silence. . . the students responded and I haven't had the problem since. Thanks!
Hi Barbara,
Thanks for sharing these strategies for handling "talkers" in the classroom. The simple way of moving these adults to a place where they can't be as chatty with their peers. You have done it in a way that enables them to save face and not disrupt the flow of the class. This is so important as you know because adults don't like to be called out even when their behavior is not acceptable.
Gary
Chit-chat and distractive behavior is something that needs to be addressed early on in the class or course. I inform my students of the negative impact this has on not only their, but also on their classmate's, ability to get "all that they can from the class", since they miss out on hearing all that is said or explained during the class time. If I am lecturing, I will stop in mid-sentence and wait for the "chatterers" to quit, but sometimes this is not effective. If that doesn't work, then I will go to the involved students and speak to them about the unacceptability of the behavior.
Recently I went to a seminar and learned an innovative way to separate the talkers-- with the use of seemingly unintentional placement of different kinds of candies or items and then indicating where the "owner" of each type of candy or item should sit (thereby, separating the talkers or disruptive students).
Look at the 2 students and stop the lesson - a brief pause in the action will usually start a peer reaction
I fine all the above approaches helpful and switch them up as needed. I also use one other approach. I remind the talkers that someday they will by in a "real" job situation. Would they have side bar conversations while their boss was presenting information? Then,I respectively ask to give me the same consideration.
I, too have taken this approach. I tell students from day one that if they are talking in class, I will assume that they have a question and I will engage them. I have had to revert to silence until excess talking stops, but I feel uncomfortable using this technique with adults.
Hi Niki,
Thanks for sharing these strategies with us. They are going to be of great help to other instructors that have the challenges of dealing with "talkers".
Gary
I absolutely agree. In the past, I have tried separating students, reminding them about class rules, and other techniques. The most effective for me has been to stop lecturing and look toward the Chit chatters until they stop. I have found other students quickly remind the chit chatters about being quiet. "Peer policing" has worked best in my experience. For those who continue to talk, I have separated them before class start by pulling the students aside and assigning them separate seats.
Hi Wendy,
Thanks for sharing this great strategy with us. I am sure it will be helpful to a number of instructors that have "talkers" in their classes.
Gary
I have a colleague that has a great way of handling classroom chit chat that I have tried to adopt when I can remember. She just says in her normal tone of voice, that the topic we were just discussing (or names the topic or term, etc.) will be an upcoming test question, and I'm not going to repeat myself if you missed it. Which usually gets about half of the class' attention, and the ones who were talking try to ask what I just said where usually all of the students who did hear it will not share the information since they were listening. Hope that is helpful.
I like the other ideas listed as well. Thank you.
When I have two or more students who are talking amoung themselves I try to politly but firmly engage in thier conversation. If their subject is related to the class I try to have them present their comments to the whole class, but this is not often the case. If they are not on subject then I firmly point out that the disruption is robbing the rest of the students of valuable time and concentration.
I do what some others have already mentioned. I have clear expectations in my syllabus which I discuss the first day. If they have excessive chit chat during class - I will stop talking all together- and wait. They do usually either look up and realize that they are the reason I stopped OR other students in the class start telling them to be quiet. If this is a constant thing where the student talks during class - I will discuss it with them in private after class. If it continues after that - then I take further action as outlined in my syllabus.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. I worked in outreach and case management for many years and enjoyed the constantly changing work environment. When I transitioned into teaching I started by teaching health education and HIV prevention on-site in such settings as community centers and county jails. From all of this I learned exactly what you describe in your racetrack analogy.
It was important for me to be able to deliver the importance of the information and engage the ‘students’ in dialogue so as to be client-centered. Thus, I needed to know how to communicate and build rapport with an inmate just as easily as with a working professional; more importantly, I had to KNOW which strategy was most appropriate and effective for the setting/student.
Hi Gabriela,
You make a very good point about the need for us instructors to keep "reading" the class situation and then react to it with a management strategy. You are so right on with the statement about something working for a while and then something else is needed. Teaching is much like driving a race car at 200 miles an hour on a track. The track is oval and the goal is to go fast and get their first but in order to win all kinds of adjustments have to be made to the car, your driving and how you work with your pit crew. This is what makes teaching so much fun and never boring.
Gary
