The cemetery method... everyone in rows being quiet and compliant:
Edutopia posted a blog post titled: 30 techniques to quiet a noisy class...
The question is... what's wrong with a noisy class?
Let's consider the question of 'should we be trying to keep our students quiet?'
What do we know about how learning occurs? What do we know about student engagement?
What do you think about this comment in response to the blog post?
When I was a beginning teacher I would have loved to have had this list of techniques. But then I learned the real answer to avoiding the problem of students acting up, talking, etc. It is not a matter of controlling the students at all.
What about this article on 'why so many kids can't sit still in class?' Does this change anything?
What about this article written by a teacher who spent two days as a student to 'remember' what it's like to be a kid in school?
Think about what you want for your own child...
Think about how you want your next team meeting/faculty meeting conducted...
Think about how you retain and learn information best...
Think about real cognitive engagement vs. student compliance...
Edutopia posted a blog post titled: 30 techniques to quiet a noisy class...
The question is... what's wrong with a noisy class?
Let's consider the question of 'should we be trying to keep our students quiet?'
What do we know about how learning occurs? What do we know about student engagement?
What do you think about this comment in response to the blog post?
When I was a beginning teacher I would have loved to have had this list of techniques. But then I learned the real answer to avoiding the problem of students acting up, talking, etc. It is not a matter of controlling the students at all.
What about this article on 'why so many kids can't sit still in class?' Does this change anything?
What about this article written by a teacher who spent two days as a student to 'remember' what it's like to be a kid in school?
Think about what you want for your own child...
Think about how you want your next team meeting/faculty meeting conducted...
Think about how you retain and learn information best...
Think about real cognitive engagement vs. student compliance...
The concern is not the noise but what the noise represents. Is it the noisy "organized chaos" of a room full of energized, engaged students? Or the unfiltered, unstructured noise of disengaged students with underdeveloped impulse control? A high level of learning is possible in the former but not in the latter, and therein lies all the difference. So before we condemn all rooms with rows and celebrate all noisy rooms, let's make sure we dig a little deeper to see what is going on beneath the surface, because beneath the surface is where the action is or is not.
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas for quieting a class!
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