Oh yeah...

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Home : 2005 : March : 13

Oh yeah...
By Cgreen

I have one little boy who goes into a real sulk if he doesn't get called on basically every time he raises his hand. And he raises his hand for EVERYTHING.

This kid clearly gets emotional boost from being smart, and needs
the attention that gives him. I can be sympathetic to that, but as a former know-it-all bright kid, I have to say that the most important thing you can give him is a sense of social responsibility. He needs to learn that just because he's smart doesn't mean he gets the limelight all the time, or that the other kids are less important.
Convincing my middle-schoolers to raise hands and

not scream out answers is HARD. I have tried to explain that I need to call on everyone, even the people who don't raise hands, and that however many people are in the class, that means you should get called on once out of however many that is times.

The kids don't buy it. The thing that drives me craziest is that I'll ask someone to read in class, and they don't even pretend to listen, they sit with their hands up. After the kid finishes, I pretend I don't know what's going on, and cheerfully call on one of the hands up to answer my first comprehension question. Kid stares at me blankly, wasn't even listening. "No," he tells me, "I want to read next."

Oy!