Teacher Discussion Forums

I'm looking for advice as to how to handle 'know- it- all' students. Basically, I have had a number of students who frequently read the business section of major newspapers and look up everyword they don't understand. Unfortunatley, quite a few of these students tend to cling to the most esoteric definition of words because they either sound more serious or business like (to their ears). I often find myself debating these students about definitions. And sometimes these conversations go on for too long. What is the best way to handle such students?

I guess you might think over what your purpose is in the argument/discussions that go on for a long time. Do you want to convince the student that he is wrong and you are right? Or are you trying to make him understand that what he says is not as good as he thinks it is and may cause him difficulty later? Does the student enjoy the argument/discussions?

I have had students in the past who have done similar things. I tell them I'm a resource, and I'm there to assist them to understand and be understood by native speakers and to understand common current usage. If they prefer to consult a dictionary and use archaic definitions or grammatical items that native speakers would mark as inappropriate, that's their choice. I'm the guide and they can choose to follow my advice or not. I'd state my case and let it go. If the student wants to persist in his inappropriate usage, it's not your fault. And if he just wants to have a nice argument, he can waste someone else's time.

I always try and involve everyone in the group(if it is during a group activity) or class in the discussion. You can role model for the student asking other students for information by directly asking someone else in the group or ask the entire class (if it is occurring during the class discussion). You are accomplishing two things when this happens. 1. Your showing this student how to get information from other sources than you. 2. You are involving students in learning opportunities.

You can ask the whole class the question, and if no one knows, they are now ALL listening intently to the answer of this question out of sheer curiosity or common problems with the topic.

If the question is so obscure that most people will not be benefited at all by it being posed, I would politely tell the student that you will discuss it with him/her after class or when you have a moment as the class is involved in an activity.

If the question is obscure to the point of pointlessness, I would tell the student this. He/she needs to realize when the avenue of learning they are taking is unnecessary or that their attention is best directed to common definitions and that it might cause problems for them to be focusing on irrelevant definitions. Also point out that if you do not have a particular context to discuss the definition it becomes difficult to remember the definition, that you will discuss definitions of words that are pertinent to the lesson and will not confuse the point of the lesson by discussing different definitions.

Its really up to you, if you want to talk about those things, go ahead. If you don't, then don't.

Oh duh. In my mind, I was just thinking the student was talking to you after class, and not in class. Joshua2004 certainly picked up on that part. Of course you have to have control of the class situation.

thanks for the constructive input. unfortunately, it's not easy to draw other students into the conversation. sometimes the head of the school places students in inappropriate classes (':roll:')(presumably to save money and to make money). in the last 2 courses i've taught, there has always been one person who was 1 or so levels above the other students. unfortunately these students ususally try to dominate the class. and sometimes another student becomes intimidated b/c he/she cannot understand in class conversations. so i try to circumvent these situations by restructuring the class and doing more games and role-playing exercises to minimize fall-out (so-to-speak).