How do you deal with talkative students?

[AccountingProf]

I'm a college professor. I deal with all kinds of students every single day. There are students who love to listen to what I'm saying. There are those who don't care and just stare at an empty space in the room. There are some who fall asleep whenever they hear my voice. There are some who love to eat while listening to me. And there are some who keep talking to their seatmates whenever I talk.

Usually, I ignore these kinds of students. But if they are already disrupting the class, I call their attention and sometimes ask them to recite and ask them a question about the current topic. There would also be sometimes when I would try to have a simple chat with them to get their attention.

I'd like to know what your strategies are when it comes to talkative students so that I could also apply it in some of my classes.

[overcast]

I think most of the talkative students are extroverts. And keeping them busy in some sort of activity is a good thing. You can form some sort of class session tasks and get them engaged into it. It works for English subject for other subjects you may have to be more creative for how to keep them engaged. The more engaged they are less likely to talk during the teaching class. It may differ from one subject to another. In such case you have to understand what to give them where they can make use of their talkative skills in a positive way.

[TheReason]

Since you're a college professor (you teach adults basically) you can simply ask them to leave the class. I was a teenage and kids teacher, and unless there was a bigger reason, I couldn't ask them to leave my class so instead, I would make the more talkative students switch seats or make them sit right beside me

[amitkokiladitya]

The plan of action will depend on the age of the kids e are dealing with. If the kids are between the age of 3-5 years then they are really small to understand anything. Patience is the best virtue in handling them.As the age increases they can be gradually taught to keep quiet and learn to listen. I think kids up to the age of 8 years can be handled and improved.

But as they step into teenage they simply won't understand the value of paying attention in the class. So the best resort for teachers is to turn them out of the class and continue teaching those who are interested in their studies.

[jyy]

Well, first of all, you need to have a good program going. Note, if the students think the class stinks, then it's going to be tough getting them to be quiet. In fact, the downfall of a lot of ESL classes is the fact that either the teacher, school, or both are bad.

[Lunga]

Well, I am not a teacher yet but I can tell you what my own teachers have done and told us how to handle it when we're met with this issue. Since you're teaching at the college/university level, I would honestly first ask politely what's the problem, if they want to share their thoughts with class and so on. If they would continue to disrupt the lessons I would simply ask them to leave. That's what our University teachers always did. They told the student to leave and to not return to the next classes unless they'll be quiet. I can tell you that it often worked

During our pedagogy classes, we were told that these students/pupils only want attention. The most common method of dealing with talkative students is to use the ''raise your hand'' method - when you want to talk, you raise your hand and the teacher gives you the word. Another good way is to give them some special assignment that they must complete (such as answers) by the end of the class. So, you force them to listen to what you're saying or they can't give correct answers. If they fail there's some sort of punishment - perhaps minus points in the future exam?

Overall, you are right and the teacher does have to deal with all sorts of students and pupils but always remember that there are at least few of them that enjoy your lessons and that you inspire.

[Heisenberg]

I think most of the talkative students are extroverts. And keeping them busy in some sort of activity is a good thing. You can form some sort of class session tasks and get them engaged into it. It works for English subject for other subjects you may have to be more creative for how to keep them engaged. The more engaged they are less likely to talk during the teaching class. It may differ from one subject to another. In such case you have to understand what to give them where they can make use of their talkative skills in a positive way.

Of course they are extroverts. When do you see an introvert student sings and blabs always in class? Don't you think that defeats the purpose?
You are right though. The more they are engaged on things that keeps them busy, it may lessen their talking skills. But that's not really the case after all. Most talkative students tend to keep on talking even if there is an activity. I guess one of the best ways to deal with them is to take them to the principal's office and threaten them to be expelled. :p

[AccountingProf]

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions! I didn't expect so many replies in such a short time frame.

The more they are engaged on things that keeps them busy, it may lessen their talking skills. But that's not really the case after all.

This is a nice technique and I may probably incorporate it immediately. It would go like this - whenever I notice somebody being very talkative in class and not paying attention, I would automatically give the class a seat work or a quiz or a case study for them to work on.

Most talkative students tend to keep on talking even if there is an activity. I guess one of the best ways to deal with them is to take them to the principal's office and threaten them to be expelled. :p

Hmm, I think I won't be doing this any time soon. Haha! It's a bit too extreme to threaten a student to get expelled just because he was talkative in class. But when I was still studying, I did have a classmate get thrown out of the classroom for being too talkative.

[overcast]

Most talkative students tend to keep on talking even if there is an activity.

They can manage better as a leaders if they are kept in activity. So as a teacher one can look at them as a potential talent instead of getting annoyed. The excitement and things they want to do with being talkative is something worth handling with student counselling. Such talent usually needs to be properly handled. I personally think that such students definitely can perform better in roles of management and CEO. So should be directed that way for their growth.

[Pink_Turtle]

I think most of the talkative students are extroverts. And keeping them busy in some sort of activity is a good thing. You can form some sort of class session tasks and get them engaged into it. It works for English subject for other subjects you may have to be more creative for how to keep them engaged. The more engaged they are less likely to talk during the teaching class. It may differ from one subject to another. In such case you have to understand what to give them where they can make use of their talkative skills in a positive way.

Exactly! I teach 6th grade and they are really talkative that age and the first thing I do when I identify a "chatty chat" student is to make him or her participate as much as possible and to "handle" his or her classmates participation. They feel they got a job to do and advocate to it. When they are kids you can also play the "parent" card as in "I'm going to send a note to your parents if you don't stop talking right now!" and that immediately makes them stay in silence :Dbut I guess it's harder with older students