Telling unrelated stories
Elementary school students love to tell stories, especially stories about themselves. While having them relate what they are learning in the class to their own lives helps boost their learning, their stories are often time-consuming and do not benefit the entire class. They can easily take up important instruction time with a story about something the lesson reminded them of, or something completely unrelated. Even if the story is relevant to the lesson, if it is not beneficial to the entire class it can waste precious time that should be used to teach the material. Another problem with telling unrelated stories is getting the other students off task. Once one student has told a story, there will be others with similar stories who wish to share as well. This creates further distractions and may upset students who did not have an opportunity to speak.
- Journals: Have students keep journals where they can record their stories. If they want to tell a story to the class, have them write it in their journal first. Then create a time where all those who wish can share their journals. This will cut down on stories during instruction time as well as give the students an opportunity to share their writing.
- Ask yourself this...: Create a chart with questions such as, "Does this story benefit the entire class?" and "Is this story important to everyone's learning?". Go over this chart with the students and refer to it if you feel they are telling too many unrelated stories.
- Sign or Signal: If you have students who are prone to telling long, unrelated stories create a sign or signal that tells them they need to finish their story quickly. This will be a silent way to ask students to finish their story, so you do not have to interrupt them.