What?
What did you say?
I didn't hear you.
What are we doing?
We never learned this.
I don't know.
IDK
They have a million ways of saying it, albeit rarely as polite as "Can you please repeat that?", but for students, each of these phrases means one thing. They neglected to pay close attention to something you deemed important, and now they need help in catching up to the others in the room. That's a terrible feeling...for them. Not knowing, being left behind, knowing your mind has once again failed you in the learning department, never feels good. Students don't like to not understand, not know, or not listen. But let's face it, the distractions are plentiful, and the attention is waning. In a culture of 20-second stories and flashes of information on a cellular device, is it possible that some of their brains are no longer programmed to "pay attention."? Is paying attention, really paying attention, going away with its school etiquette counterparts: standing to speak when called upon, recitation of facts, or elocution?
I don't have the answer to that question, but I do know this. When a student says, "I don't understand", "What are we doing?" or "IDK", take them at their word and help them. Because, when they are answered with quips such as, "We learned this!", "I said it three times!", or "If you weren't fooling around and talking to ...blah...blah...blah..." it's not helpful. What they hear is one thing, frustration. And at that moment, to save face, they might take you up on that frustration and raise you annoyance, or mockery, or outright disrespect. And at that very moment, no one wins.
I'm not saying it's not frustrating! It is! But as the adults in the room, we need to practice...outright practice...our responses so that the frustration, which is not an effective teaching tool, does not enter the classroom equation.
Some ideas:
1. Write important learning goals and directions on the board, on their paper, or on a screen, so all you have to do is point. Some students really cannot learn through verbal-only delivery.
2. Pause before giving directions. Have a bell or other sound that indicates something important is coming soon. Get their full attention in some way before delivering what it is that you need them to know. Our classrooms, especially the ones full of learning, are places of much verbiage and discourse. For some students, it can be extremely difficult to extrapolate the important information, and so their minds just shut it all out even as they take it all in.
3. Review past information. If students are going to be expected to recall something from last year, last week, or even last period, draw their attention to it before moving forward. You don't have to do this work! Some students who have the gift of memory and attention, will be able to do it for you. It's simultaneously practice for them as it refreshes the information for others.
4. Exude patience. Above all, even as you want to scream, even as you can prove with your lesson plans that you covered this material several times, please, please PLEASE, be patient! Frustration does not teach what you want students to learn. It only teaches them to NOT ask, NOT engage, and NOT care. Because if I am going to be yelled at or corrected for not knowing, then I may as well just sit here and let this learning stuff belong to the students who "get it". Your patience can go a long way in reaching a student in this situation. Your patience lets them know they ARE worth it, ARE important, ARE safe, and ARE capable of learning what you are teaching.
