Attention

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Home : 2004 : July : 1

Attention
By RC

I don't talk or teach unless I have everyone's attention. I sit or stand without saying a word until everyone has stopped talking. At first I stand for a long time but they quickly become bored with this.A few years ago I
went into a Grade two class halfway through the year, a zoo. I had students sit in a circle for a morning meeting and could not get them to stop talking/ fooling around. We sat for 45 minutes, I just sat there while they fooled around. Eventually the talking stopped and their attention turned to me out of curiosity. I said "Good now we can begin. We have wasted a lot of time". At the end

of the day I announced that I had planned a game for the end of the day but we didn't have time because we had wasted so much time that morning. the next day they fooled around for about 10 min., then stopped. I said "Let's not waste our time and begin. Do I have everyone's attention?" That afternoon we had a little bit of game time. The days that followed began right away with students shhhing others so that we could begin right away. If we had problems throughout the day I would stop and have a seat or say "Let's not waste our time.