May I suggest, graph it! I went to a workshop this summer that was all about graphing results of quizzes, promoting constant review and preview (L to J). One of the suggestions was any time you have a behavior that you don't want, keep track of it and graph it. So I have an eighth grade class that talks, CONSTANTLY, no matter what I've tried. Yesterday, I kept track of all interruptions, to me or to other students, and during work time. The grand total for one fifty-two minute period... 141! I also did my seventh graders (22), and sixth (44-but they were so excited about what we were studying they wanted to tell story after story). So I made a graph and posted it. I also told the eighth graders that their hw would be due at the end of the class, and would all be graded, until they could keep unnecessary talking under 20 times (we'll get better, but that is progress). Todays total? 17. Graphing and showing kids what they are really doing really works!
Wow. That is just crazy how the results changed drastically. I think it was the mixture of SEEING what they were doing wrong on top of having a "punishment" awaiting them if the behavior wasn't kept in check. I have a big class of talkers and I really like this idea. I had a long talk with mine (1st grade) today about interrupting me when I'm teaching, about blurting answers because they are HORRIBLE about that, and also about being respectful and not interrupting their classmates when they are answering my questions.
Try it! Make a graph of blurting answers. They will want to beat their results. And yes, they don't like the assignment due, but seeing just how many times they really talk unnecessarily was a real eye opener. Even the seventh graders, who are a very quiet bunch, talked about how they would have never thought they interrupted that much. After I posted this, I thought, wow people probably think I am horrible at management. I'm not. It's a strong suit for me. But when you really look at numbers, and count every single time, they add up. You'd be surprised. I dont demand a silent room, that's just not my style. But interrupting is not acceptable, and I think the kids realized just how bad they had become at it.
sorry, y dog is constantly nudging my hand trying to get me to pet him and somehow managed to submit that last post while I was still typing. ....:lol: Anyway ... That is impressive! I have a class that would benefit from doing this! So did you just tally the disruptions? What kind of graph did you use to display it?
Yup, just tally marks. I didn't tel them what I was doing either. One student noticed, so I showed him that I was making tally marks, and since he didn't see his name, went back to business as usual. I made a bar graph in excel with all the classes in their respective class colors. Try it tomorrow. Let me know how many you come up with. I bet you'll be shocked. I also didn't redirect them at all, or ask for quiet (I'm sure they thought I was nuts that day). I would just begin talking, then wait until everyone stopped talking, making marks, and would stop and start over if I was interrupted. I also marked every time a person would talk during work time.
See, with 1st grade, we have to do one graph a day. Usually it's a question like "Who has a pet?" and the kids will mark yes or no with dry erase markers, I clean it off every morning for a new question. I think that I could use that reusable graph to show them how much they interrupt and blurt.
I'm not trying to annoy you I promise!!! I'm just trying to get a real good feel for it so I can do it! So ..... If you are teaching and a student shouts out an answer or ahead of you, you just make a tally. Then if another student, after student 1, responds by saying "no it's not..." (Like they are having a conversation) thats another tally? any distraction goes .....
You got it. If one student talked, then paused more than two seconds, and talked again, I counted it twice. I was super strict about it, to prove the point. I had it posted outside the door when they got there today, and they were just so impressed with themselves, bragging and being loud in the hallway. When they left? Absolutely silent. We are having an issue with kids being upstairs before school. We're going to make a huge graph and post it in the hallway for all to see. I'll let you know how that works.
Sometimes people (of all ages) need to see that it isn't just that someone's being subjective but that there IS an objective issue.
Did you tally by individual student so each student knew how many times he or she interrupted or just class as a whole?
Nope, just the class as a total, but you certainly could use it with an individual if you wanted to-of course, not sharing that with the class. Oh, and I did NOT count if a student shushed another student. UPDATE: Today's totals! 8th Grade: 8 (yes, EIGHT) interruptions. That is down from 141, to 17, to 8. Ahh, progress. It is so pleasant to have them in now. 7th Grade: Z-E-R-O. They are quite the perfectionists, and I heard them in the hallway threatening each other to not mess up their perfect aspirations. :lol: 6th Grade: 5 interruptions. Keep in mind, I have a BD kid in here, who is KNOWN for interrupting. I shared this idea with my staff today at our weekly meeting, and many teachers were so impressed they want to try it. The students "thanked" me for sharing! :lol: One teacher is going to keep a stopwatch, and keep a running total of time wasted. Another wants to graph unkind words to others. Yet another is graphing tardies. A teacher friend from another school is an advanced foreign language teacher, and graphs uses of spoken English in her class (which they aren't supposed to do). I'm telling you all, it WORKS. And don't just graph bad things either...graph kind words, or time ON task.
kc~that's great!! I'm so glad it's working for you and that other teachers in your building are going to use it!
This is somehting I thought I would love to incorporate into a class if I ever had one. Use the walls to display/monitor graphs. Use pie charts, bar graphs, etc. And chart it. Pretty soon you have kids who can compare graphs, fractions, percents... you can literally graph anything.
I'm a very visual person, so I understand things better when I see examples of what is being talked about. Would someone mind uploading their graph and linking to it here so that we can see what it looks like? Thank you!
And the survey says ...... 108!!!!! This was about a 65 minute period. I origianally planned to do this with just my 3rd period, however my 4th period came in a little rambunctious so I went ahead and went with it. My 3rd period was a little better behaved today for whatever reason so I don't feel like I got a good count but I will use it! The nnumber above is actually my 4th period class. I walked out and left the sheet I used for tallying on my desk. I do know it is less than 4th period though ;..... Already made a bar graph for that class and plan to make the 3rd period graph in the AM when I get to school.
This is an awesome idea! I think I'll bring it up to my team the next time we meet although it seems like we overall have a PRETTY good bunch of kids. Of course it was only the first day today, so I am sure the deer in headlights look will be gone within a week and then their horns will come out LOL
I had a challenging 8th period one year and I used to keep track of their infractions and that is how many seconds they had to stay after the bell rang. They HATED it because it was the end of the day and they wanted to sprint out the door, so even if it was 5 seconds, you would think it was the most awful punishment ever. And they were just going to the bus, so it wasn't like I was making them late for class.
I did this today with my very chatty 8th grade Social Studies class and had 148 interruptions! I know there were more because they were talking over one another. This also gave me the opportunity to learn how to make a chart in Excel I can't wait to show them tomorrow!!!
Yes! I'm so glad you are all trying it. See, the number really surprises you! I'll be interested to hear how the kids react and if things change.
I think this is a terrific idea. It sounds as though it can be very effective. One thing I do want to throw out there: the numbers may be so astronomically high because of the fact that you are now focusing on the disruption instead of focusing on the flow of your lesson. You are busy tallying instead of keeping the lesson's momentum. That is not to say that this method would be ineffective. It just might explain why the tally numbers seem so very high.
I would totally agree with you. A lot of things that I had trained myself to ignore (this is my third year with this class), I tallied.
I have actually tallied in k! I didn't make a graph nor keep cumulative tally marks over more than one period or one day. I did it sporadically. Each and every time it worked to immediately reduce the interruptions. They didn't want another tally mark. Ironically I never ever mentioned any kind of consequence to go with the tally marks. It wasn't something I used very often but when I did, they easily understood what to do to avoid another tally mark.
I would love to do it too, but not sure how to make the graph or what it should look like. Do you have an example? How do you show the 114 interruptions on a bar graph?
This is a good idea - I think I might use it with my talkative class. We discussed their talking this week and calculated time lost. We guessed that on average I have to quieten them at least 10 times a day and that each time wastes one minute. Calculated over a school year this came to 33 hours of wasted time. It did shock them to see how much time is spent asking them to be quiet. We labelled all these occassions 'between' (eg, between being asked to get out their books and being ready, between subjects, between going out to line up) Now, to stop them talking I just say 'this is between' -and they stop talking. It is working so far, but the graph will probably help to drum it in.
I do have examples, but I'm not sure how to upload an Excel document here. I just typed the numbers into Excel and created a bar graph.
Oh...I'm going to steal this! I was about to post a question about how to stop talking when the whole class is doing it! I'm so going to start this tomorrow!
I am going to try this on Monday with my class. They talk ALL day! It takes me forever to get directions out, which in turn aggravates me to no end, and then I wind up yelling at them (and then hating myself for it afterwards). It is a vicious cycle that needs to stop! I would correct individual behavior with our behavior chart, but so many of them are chatting and whispering I can not keep track! I came on here to find some ideas. Thanks for this one.
Another thread got me thinking about this thread, and I was just curious if anyone was still graphing positive or negative behavior... For my classes, I have been able to stop graphing because it's just not necessary any more. The 8th graders are experiencing their first taste of "real" algebra, so they are too busy to be talking, my 7th graders are just quiet and serious (and there are only 8 of them total), and the 6th grade is just a fun bunch who does like to talk, but it is good talk. So I stopped. We did graph tardies, and several teachers around school graphed various behaviors. Many have also been able to stop...but all it takes is one bad day, and getting out the graph, and the behavior changes. I haven't graphed many positive things lately, but I want to. I'm thinking compliments... Anyone else trying graphing?
How did I miss this original post? That is so cool! I'm glad it works! I'm wondering if it continued to work with the others that said they were going to try this. INTERESTING!!!
I have a very talkative 8th grade class also and am going to try this on Monday. I'm a huge graph and data person and the kids really like being able to see progress. Just a few questions to make sure I have this straight in my head before I start this on Monday. 1) Do you place the tally marks on the board, or on a piece of paper when you're gathering the data? 2) If multiple kids are talking, do you make one tally for each kid? 3) Do you count times you have to ask a kid to stop doing something as one tally for you and one for the kid? 4) Do you tally a kid that isn't doing what is expected? For example, they are to be reading quietly and he/she is not reading. Thanks for the help. I'm doing this on Monday.
