Dealing With A Student Who Likes To Make Numerous Comments During Class Lectures
How does an instructor deal with a student who has a comment for every topic that is discussed in the classroom setting without offending that student?
I personally try to make general statements like " there maybe a lot of information we have and if you have any comments or questions lets wait until we get through the lecture and then open for discussion" but there are those time we may have to pull that student aside after class and just have a one on one conversation with them about allowing others to provide information
I will have the student to write any comments down on a piece of paoer, and that would save time. Tehn I would say, we must move on.
I inform them, please feel free to take notes or write down questions as we go through the lecture and we can go into more depth at the end so everyone has a good understanding of the material covered.
I find there are some that just have to be talking if the instructor is talking, and the comments are usually that students perception of a relevancy to the class, yet are very distracting. I tried to briefly answer one or two questions, but eventually had to say in a nice way that we need to stay more focused on the topic at hand and if the student wished we could have a more pointed discussion outside of classtime that would hopefully answer his questions. Writing questions down is something I have not tried as yet, but I can see that slowing the problem signficiantly becuase the student that usually is asking so much is one that has a hard time paying attention to the class. One such student in my class recently had an issue with knowing what I had talked about because he was formulating the next question in his head instead of listening to the material in class. The success rate of such a student is often low because they spend so much time thinking of questions to ask that they think add to the class but in fact are distracting.
What I usually do is aknowledge the students comment(s), then direct the discussion back to our focus. I try not to expand on what the student comments, just aknowledge it and move forward. If it reaches a point of disruption and can not be contained in the moment then it becomes necessary to "take a break". At this point I will pull the student aside and again aknowledge the importance of their viewpoint but that perhaps it is better suited for a discussiion at a later time, outside of classtime.
I have a student who frequently repeats an instructional word I've just said. It's as if my words are bouncing off of him. It is very distracting. I have asked him about it on two occaisions. He says he doesn't know he is doing it. His "parrotting" is quite distracting. I have asked him to jot down a word when he feels like saying it out loud. It is sort of fascinating but the distraction toward the other students is unfair. Interestingly, and tellingly, he is struggling with the course related tasks. I am not sure yet how to best reach him and give everyone else some relief.
