What Do You Hear? Part 2

As promised, I want to return to the topic of the TT/ST Ratio: the Teacher Talk to Student Talk Ratio. You might want to browse last week's post, part 1, to catch up to where we are.

It is my premise that, withing the bounds of reason, more student talk is better than some or none. Here's why:

The students are engaged! If the students are quiet, they are often passive. Maybe they are listening, but maybe they are not. If they are making noise---answering or asking questions, talking with each other (in teacher directed activity), or even the chaotic murmur that characterizes craft activity---they are at least on task.

Sometimes, teacher talk in the form of lecture is necessary. (Don't kid yourself, you could be lecturing to preschoolers and preteens, as well as college students and adults, if the teacher is doing all the talking.) But lecture has a huge drawback from an educational standpoint. You don't know what the students are really picking up. They may be confused, but afraid or not permitted to ask questions. They may have mentally checked out and "gone home," even though 30 minutes of class time remain. They may be distracted by a classmate, a poster on the wall, or a bird in the bush outside the window. If they are silent, you don't know where they are in the learning process. Well, okay, you could give quizzes or require that they fill in blanks on a hand-out as you lecture, but really, I know we can do better. Lecture shows how much the teacher knows, but it shows nothing about what the student knows.

Catechesis is a great tool! Asking questions and drawing the students into giving answers or asking questions of their own is a much more effective way of hearing what the students are learning in class. The more great questions you ask the lower your TT/ST Ratio. That's a good thing.

Student reports are good. This can be a two-edged sword. The time students invest in preparing reports, unless they are given as homework, will show on your class sound audit as silence or, if you have asked for teamwork in the reports, discussion or chaos. So, keep the report assignments narrow in scope and easy to accomplish in just a few minutes. Then couple the student talk/reporting time with discussion/asking questions. You will still lower that TT/ST Ratio.

How do YOU know whether your students are engaged in your lesson?


What are other ways to reduce the Teacher Talk to Student Talk Ratio?


Thanks for teaching God's children His Word!