What shoud I do with this TOO smart student?

Question

I'm teaching English to adults. Every time I ask a question it's she who answers first.I think this way the others won't have opportunity to think and then answer the Qes.On the other hand , if I stop her ,I'm afraid of offending her.Shoud I stop her from taking the initiative all the times??

Answer 1

You should be kind about it, and praise her for her effort & involvement. I don't think she would be offended if you just tell her after class exactly what you told us, you want to give other students a chance to think and answer as well.

Ask the students to raise their hands to answer a question, then choose someone other than her but don't totally ignore her.

Answer 2

Whatever you do, don't tell her to stop trying to answer questions. She'll feel really let down. I've been a teacher of English to adults for 6 years, and I can definately say that I know how you feel. It IS very frustrating having someone in your class who knows everything. The only way to resolve this situation is to involve the other students in the class. Ask questions directly at certain students. If this has been going on for a long time, then the rest of the class are probably not very happy with this student either. Sometimes you need to really encourage people to give answers. If nobody can answer your question then maybe the level of English you are teaching is too high for them, or you need to slow down a little. If all else fails, try putting students into groups. This encourages interaction, and of course, group answering.Good luck!
p.s: If this too smart student is answering questions out loud, or shouting out answers-simply insist upon hand-raising.

Answer 3

I'm fearful of an ESL teacher who uses the expression, "this TOO smart student". Another grammatically incorrect phrase in your question is, "all the times". Are you actually qualified to be teaching English? Do you understand the basics of English grammar? I feel very sorry for your students if this is the kind of English that you teach them. I hope you're not getting paid.

Any good TEFL or TESL course will cover classroom management techniques. One solution is to give each student ten Smarties at the beginning of the lesson, and have them eat the Smartie each time they answer a question or contribute to a discussion. After they've eaten all their Smarties, they have to let the other students answer the questions and participate. This creates a level playing field. Otherwise, you can just let the student speak first a few times and then, the twentieth time they volunteer, say something like, "Giovanni, you've already answered a lot of questions today. Let's give someone else a chance." On the student's progress report, you can write something like, "Giovanni is an excellent, fluent speaker who needs to develop his active listening skills by allowing more opportunities for his classmates to speak."

Answer 4

I agree with the answer that speaks to the issue of "wait time". By all means, any time you ask a question, provide wait time to the class before selecting the person to answer. Here are some other suggestions:
- Make sure the class knows that if you call on someone to answer a question that person has the option of answering or passing.
- Then, don't just call on the people who have their hands raised.
- Make a habit of selecting different students to answer so that the very smart student can clue into this.
- Call on 1, 2 or 3 other students to answer the question first and THEN, ask the women who is always quick to answer if she agrees with those answers or has anything to add to them. In that way, you provide her with a role more fitting to her level of learning. She is ready to observe and comment (evaluate) and is much higher up the Bloom's Taxonomy. She will appreciate the fact that you are respecting her knowledge.

Answer 5

I had a student in my 2nd gr. class this year who was super bright and simply always knew the answer first. His hand was always up first and considering his age was 7, he got very upset when I didn't call on him. He'd cry and pout if he wasn't the one called on each and every time.

I called on him when I could and one day simply pulled him aside and explained that I knew he was smart. I was proud that he knew the answer so fast. But that I had 20 other students and it isn't fair to them if I let him answer all the time. They need a chance too. Plus, if I let him give the answers, how will I know which other students know the answers too? I can't be a good teacher to them if I don't give them a chance to show me what they know.

He understood, but again, he's 7 so the crying didn't stop right away.

I trust your students are all adults and no crying. I hope anyway. :)
I'd pull her aside and explain the same thing I did to my student. You'll have try that. I'm sure she'll understand.

Good luck.

Answer 6

Why not utilize her abilities to help other students. When having the students do group work, pair her with a weaker student. You can also giver her more challenging assignments which will allow her to advance her skills even further. You could even have her teach a lesson about something that she has a particular strength in.

I would also, when lecturing and asking questions, have the students raise their hand to answer questions. That way when she raises her hand you can wait to call on someone else.

Good Luck!

Answer 7

After class one day stop her for a second. Explain to her that she is doing really well in the class and seems to enjoy answering the questions. Tell her that you know she knows the answers, but to wait longer to raise her hand so that other students have time to think about it.

Answer 8

Ignore jetgirly. She's TOO smart for her own good. It is a valid and important question. The "wait" time before raising hands is a good answer because it allows some of the more hesitant students the time to gather their thoughts before they answer. I'm glad you asked this question.

Answer 9

Maybe just announce that you'd like students to raise their hands to answer a question, then choose someone other than her. I don't see how she could be offended if you just tell her after class exactly what you told us, you want to give other students a chance to think and answer as well. Just be kind about it, and praise her for her effort & involvement.

Answer 10

I recently went to a wkshop where this ? was posed & the solutiion was to set rules in the classroom for the reason that individuals have different learning abilities & u want to be able to cater to these needs so for ie: give a 5 sec. waiting period where no one raises their hand. Studies have shown that the children in which u know doesn't not know the answer is only given .09 sec. to answer the ? posed before the teacher "rescues" them before allowing the person that does know the answer to chance to answer the ?