I bring two newspaper notes to the class, related to the topic we´re studying and from the day of the class. Once one of this ‘active’ students starts to promote distractions, I hand him a note, ask him to read it and then he will need to summarize and explain the note to the class. Depending on the reading skills, it will take from 10 to 13 minutes for him to read it; enough time to move forward with the class and capture the attention of the majority. Then it takes two to three minutes for the student to explain the note, explanation that will be very useful for the purposes of starting a group discussion on the issue.

This happens all the time. I found that in my classes if I had smaller groups then more students will find themselves more involved. I do not know how big your groups are, but I try not to have groups that are larger than 4. Optimal is 2, but that is not practical.

You might just walk around and remind them politely to keep focused at the task at hand. Where I taught (Community College) they like teachers that use innovative approaches to teach such as group discussions and so forth so it is a good thing to do for the dean.

If you know your class well and know which students are trouble you can try to divide the class in groups where slacker students end up with slacker students. It might also benefit the groups if the students are assigned duties or tasks in each group. For example, one will be the spokesperson, one will be the secretary (write notes down) and another be looking through notes and text etc. Giving assigned duties might help students find roles within the groups instead of having them let the brightest and most gregarious or interested students do all the work while they just sit there and do nothing or chat with friends.

Hope this helps. Good Luck and don’t burn out!

Some do and some don’t. A lot depends on the individual students personality, interests, comfort level, and communication skills, age, maturity, a whole host of traits. But also a lot depends on the teacher leading the discussion, in that, you’ll get a lot better response if you lead the discussion down the path toward topics that are interesting and relevant to the students. And THEN let the students run with it.

You can guide that process as the teacher. One thing that I have found REALLY gets kids involved, is to get the students to discuss an issue AMONG THEMSELVES, AND NOT WITH THE TEACHER INTERVENING with their viewpoint, unless necessary. Kids are generally a lot more receptive and interested in each others opinions, than they are of the teachers. This requires a lot of practice and the experience of a skilled teacher, and also involves a lot of TRUST in the students, ie: that you turn over control to the students to the students. You’ll find you can LEAD the discussion even without stating any of your opinions. Kids learn best when they learn from each other, and it makes things much more interesting for the TEACHER as well as the students. Try it, you’ll see.

If they are talking with their friends then you need to ask politely for them to stop but don’t make too much of a big deal of it. Ask them to respect the classroom rules.

Not all students will contribute to the discussion, it doesn’t mean they are not learning, often the quiet students jotting down notes get the best results.

If you are concerned that they want to talk but feel overpowered by the group then say ‘can someone who has not yet answered respond to this question’ That always brings out the quieter ones, good luck.

Maybe you could call one one such student to respond to what the student said.

Or you could take to suggesting that this or that point is likely to show up on tests.

Those students DO seem clueless.

Zoning out isn’t something you can call anyone on, but you CAN insiste on silence from everyone who doesn’t have the floor.

Not mean; it’s necessary.