Can you hear me now?

One of my classes is totally OUT OF CONTROL this week. They will not stop talking. Not even when I am trying to teach. Not even when I am reviewing for the test. (Heck, not even when I was giving the test.)

I told them they were talking because they were bored so I would make sure they weren't bored, and moved the test up two days. Most did ok. The group that really talked did poorly.

I also told them today when they were quiet (when they realized they were bombing the test) that there are different means of assessing. If they could be quiet while we were teaching. If they could participate in meaningful dialogue about the topic. Then there would be no test Friday. If they talked during the lectures for the next 2 days, there would be a test on Friday. Then I asked someone to tell me what I said.

Tomorrow we will learn whether they heard me.