chatty class

[sljjhatcParticipant]

We have a fairly small YW group in our ward. There are only about 12-15 girls that regularly come. But we have a major problem with talking. They talk during the announcements, during the opening song, during the lessons. Even after being asked numerous times to please stop talking or please be quiet they continue to talk. Some of the girls have been asked to move to a different seat. The talking is very distracting and sometimes makes it impossible for the leader to be heard over the noise. We end up spending a lot of time waiting for them to be quiet or a lot of time asking them to be quiet. Any ideas how we can get our girls to listen (or at least quiet down) when others are talking or giving a lesson?

[Jenny SmithParticipant]

It’s great that your YW are friendly to each other — sometimes the opposite is true and it’s horrible. But speaking during class is not only disruptive, it’s disrespectful to leaders and the Lord. Class time should be used for helping girls feel the spirit and grow in the gospel, and talking prevents that from taking place.

You could ask one of the girls to teach one Sunday, or assign each girl a part of a lesson to present (that way they all work as a team, and each has a turn to try to teach). Be sure to point out in a previous and subsequent lesson how difficult it is to invite the Spirit or concentrate when others are speaking.

One Sunday, don’t have a regular lesson and explain the problem to your girls. Ask them to come up with some classroom rules that will help everyone be more reverent and respectful during YW. Write the rules down, have each person sign them, and then post them in your class room. (One of the rules should probably be that visiting is done in the hallway. Once girls enter the classroom, they should hush.) Involving the girls in finding a solution should help the situation greatly. Invite the girls to come up with a consequence for breaking the rules. I’m sure they’ll be very creative, but don’t let the consequences involve shaming the perpetrator.

Teaching, No Greater Call has a section called Helping Those Who Become Disruptive. You can find it online here

I’m sure that other leaders will have lots of ideas on this to share too, and I hope they do!

-j

[Jared SmithKeymaster]

I will always remember when my mom taught my classes and when it got too loud she would have us all get on our knees and someone would say a prayer. I was always so embarassed as a young child, but it worked.

Also, in Teaching, No Greater Call http://www.lds.org/pa/display/0,17884,6003-1,00.html
In the first paragraph of Part B it suggests to select a disruptive classmember and show them in five ways that you care about them and she if their misbehavior changes. Try this one other classmembers also.

Hopefully it gets better :D

[3beautifulkidsParticipant]

It is very tricky and hard on anyones nerves, even the most patient, to attempt to teach a meaningful lesson to a room full of chatty girls. Lets face it though us girls like to talk, girls are emotional, and a teenage girl is easily offended (depending on the time of month and any other family, school, church, or work pressures she may be facing that day). So telling them to listen tends to make them listen even more to just each other not you the teacher. You are going to have to get creative to get them to listen, and your going to have to be very patient about the results.

I like to use object lessons, girls seem to really enjoy these and will listen to them. After you got them hooked by an object lesson (oh, you have seen the massive archive of object lesson jenny has compiled on this site right?, so it wont be that hard to find something that will work) start asking some basic questions (but only a few, you don’t want to bore them and loose them, try to only ask the questions that get the pat answers– prayer, scripture study, go to church, ect. just once in a lesson), and then jump into some deeper questions that will get the girls TALKING (their favorite thing to do!)

Teaching no greater call has some great tips on leading a discussion, such as repeating or rephrasing the question (usually no one quite hears the whole question the first time you ask it so always repeat, and if you get no responses after a short pause, rephrase and rephrase and rephrase until you do. When any answer is given thank them and praise them (in a natural way) for their answers and rephrase back to them what they said…. if their answer was a little off use the rephrasing to add your own thoughts, or ask more questions, don’t tell them they got it all wrong. Be patient with yourself and your girls, and instead of trying to change them try to change how you teach them, adapt to them and their level.

And yes, I know it is cliché to say, but praying about just how to get through your girls will help.

Good luck to you and anyone struggling to get through to their class, I know you can do it! Make the “Teacher, No Greater Callâ€

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