On 10/20/09, DL wrote:
> Why is it that students will listen attentively if you give
> them a lecture on behavior, but will break every rule in
> the book during a regular class routine?
>
> Ugh...

What a good question. I think it's because when we're giving
them a lecture on behavior, we're talking about them. They
don't always like it much but in such a lecture, they're the
center of attention - which is where many adolescents like to
be. Later they leave the room and immediately start excitedly
talking about it "Did you see what Steve did when Miss Smith
said that stuff?" "She did that all because of what Mac was
doing with pencil in his ear. It's all Mac's fault."

And some of them are getting poised to argue.

And - it's comprehensible. They do understand what we're
saying when we're going on about their behavior. When I start
talking about the Hawley-Smoot Tariff or quadradtic
equations, they don't really understand it. I think much of
the time in school we're really talking 'gobblety-gook' to
them. Ever listen to a teacher explaining quadratic
equations? Ever listen to a presentation on most of the stuff
in Social Studies?
We're speaking English when we're teaching but it's not
language that most of them easily understand and they drift...

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