Weekly Blog Post 7

I have been having issues with my students blurting this week during whole group instruction. Many of the students that tend to blurt often are my intelligent ones that know better but have trouble keeping quiet during instruction. I feel like these students are very bright and want to make sure that I know they know the answer to the questions that I am asking. Many times I am asking questions to my lower level students to keep them on task or to see if they understand my material. I know that my higher level learners comprehend my teaching and so I do not call on them as often. It has become increasingly more annoying to deal with blurters during my lessons lately. I also think that these students know the answers and have trouble holding in their answers while waiting for other students to come up with an answer. I know that many times they think they are helping their classmates by “giving” them an answer but I want my other students to become better independent thinkers. I have talked to this students many times and we have discussed them changing their lights because of their disruptions during class. I have decided to come up with a system to stop the blurting. I think I am going to make a contract with the students and their parents to stop the blurting during instruction. Any time one of these students blurt they must go color a pair of lips or something at their table. Once they have reached a certain numbers of blurts they will have to go change their lights. I know that some of my students are not capable to hold in their blurts because they do not fully understand being quiet. My higher level learners know what is expected of them and they are not complying. I will also plan on rewarding these students when they are able to complete this task and not blurt. When I reflect back on my lessons I feel like I sometimes forget that I am teaching Kindergarteners. I think I look at them on one level and expect that they can all think to their highest capabilities and I tend to give directions based off of my higher students’ levels. I find it difficult to be constantly planning for my different students academic levels. I think that the majority of my students are able to understand and follow my directions with little or no reinforcement, but then I have students who are completely unable to complete anything. I know that this is because these students are unable to complete many tasks at all. Some are still having difficulty putting their name on their papers while others are writing full sentences by themselves. The gap in intellectual capabilities is enormous. I need to find a way to keep them engaged and learning. I feel like they are not learning anything because they are constantly behind. Even when we give them one on one attention with an assignment I feel like we are basically doing the assignment for them because they put little effort into it.