Students that want all the Attention!!
What if a student is still craving the classroom attention after you have used all of the techniques.
I really liked the idea of assigning a leadership role (the observer). The observer still contributes as much as ever but in a way that allows the rest of the class to participate fairly. It works out as a positive for everyone. The periodic recap done by the observer would be a helpful review for the whole class. And the observer still gets the sought after attention and recognition from the instructor.
Hi Gordon,
Students who want all the attention need to be kept as busy as possible. These people love leadership roles.
Patricia
i give them attention by asking them class related questions to see how much they are paying attention to. If they are understanding the material then I help them become mentors for those having trouble in class.
I do like the idea of not discouraging the student. I give time at the beginning of the course for each student and myself to tell a little about each of us. I try to be clear on what I expect about lecture, discussion, and hands-on learning.
Marjorie,
I think this your technique is good. As you said, you don't want to discourage a good student. Sometimes, what we are dealing is their personality, and their innate nature,it is a good thing if we can come up with technique that will not totally discourage the student. Good job Marjorie.
Susan
I've used the "code" where if I look at the attention seeker he/she will quiet down. But that doesn't always work -- some feel the need to perform. It's like they have an audience listening to them for "x" amount of minutes weekly. The other students become frustrated even when the attention seeker limits their conversation to the whole group.
I have been struggling with this one a bit. I have a student who is very animated. She loves to tell her story and if she ends up with eye contact from anyone, she will become even more animated. She tends to repeat herself over and over in an effort to make the story sound all the better. Although her stories are interesting, she drives me crazy. One other student has complained about her, and I can tell by some of the other student's faces that they are getting frustrated when she is talking. If I interupt her to call on someone else, she is good about not continuing her conversation. However, she does not learn from this, and it will happen again shortly thereafter.
I have not spoken to her about this, and that is my first mistake. However, I realize that this is part of her personality, so I do not believe she is going to stop this behavior. I was thinking that after speaking to her about the problem, if she does not take corrective action, she and I can speak again and we can come up with a code between myself and her so that she knows I need her to stop. This way she does not need to feel imbarrased by me interupting her or correcting her in class and we won't have to keep having the same conversations about her bahavior. Does anyone have any opinions about this?
There are times that you have to just take control, and let them know that it is your classroom. There are polite ways of doing that. Sometimes you do have to go for the throat and pull rank at the same time. I try to always start small(polite and call), and then if I need to take it to another level...I will.
Students that crave attention will always crave attention whether it is the first day or the last day. True, the first few days they can be very helpful but moving things along with entertainment. My suggestion: use the student to engage the class when you are starting to lose them. Ask the joker a related question about the days topic that you know he/she will get a charge out of.
I was usually this student so I know.
One of the things that usually works for me is that I challenge the student by assigning him more responsibility in the class, such as being an assistant during a demo, or in lecture I will ask him if he has had an experience that relates to the topic being covered and I have him go into detail about it, so he gets the attention he is seeking, without stifling his desire to learn.
Maybe you can move it so that the students speak in groups and each group can only speak so many times so that they really have to think about each time they use a suggestion. It may be more peer pressure but may work for the "student that wants all the attention".
Hi Marjorie,
Well, if it is working and he is not dominating things I will continue to do what you are doing. You do not want to discourage him; he is motivated.
Patricia
I have a student that always has "been there, done that" better or more or worse etc.... For every discussion or situation in class. I give him the opportunity to voice his comments on a limited amount of time then I move on by engaging someone else into the conversation by asking a question...He has been getting better and seems to be getting the message without me having to confront him directly about it. He is a good student and works hard so I don't want to discourage him.
