new teacher q & a

I am feeling so frustrated by my 7th-graders. I spend hours preparing interesting lessons, but my students don’t listen. All they do is talk. What can I do so they will pay attention and learn?

Nov 6, 2008 12:24 PM

A: Your question comes up for many new teachers and even for more experienced teachers. In fact, a recent publication of the National Staff Development Council identified this time of year, about six weeks after the start of school, as the “disillusionment phase,” when teachers often feel that the need for classroom management is drawing their attention away from curriculum and instruction.

There are no easy answers or quick fixes, but that doesn’t mean the situation is hopeless. Research shows that as teachers, we often need to change our perspective on a problem before we can find a solution that works for us and for our students. For example, what if we took our cues from our students’ inclinations rather than trying to oppose them? Your students seem to be: 1. especially social; 2. demand lessons that are highly engaging; and 3. not ready to give teachers and other adults automatic authority. These are tough, though not impossible, challenges.

Here are some strategies you may want to try:

• Channel your students’ urge to talk into tasks that pertain to your instruction. For example, you can have pairs of students discuss a question or work on solving a problem that will lead into the lesson. Or structure the classroom assignment for cooperative learning groups, with each member of the group taking a specific role — convenor, recorder, etc. These structures give students opportunities to talk within a learning framework, while the teacher’s role is to circulate and monitor those discussions. This would not be a quiet classroom, but it can be one where students are learning.
• Engage your students by making them active participants as much as possible. For example, if listening is hard for them, use the “paraphrase passport” technique, in which students have to repeat what someone said before they can add their own comments. This approach — which can be used to teach everything from literature and social studies to math and science — puts the focus on listening to one another and takes the spotlight off the teacher. It develops listening skills while building a sense of classroom community and mutual respect. And it engages a large number of students in a forum for the exchange of ideas.
• Today’s kids do not have automatic respect for authority figures so our challenge is to find ways to earn their respect. Research shows that most kids respond when they feel teachers care about them. You can communicate that caring by recognizing their individual talents (think of multiple intelligences), presenting lessons that address their various learning styles (kinesthetic as well as auditory and visual) and by differentiating their learning needs (and maybe letting those who have mastered some learning help you instruct students who have not).

These kinds of strategies have proven effective with students who do not respond well to more teacher-directed classroom settings. However, you will need to introduce these approaches gradually, teach your students how they work, and have your students practice them until they become familiar. And chances are you will have to re-teach them periodically to keep your students in practice.