Know-It-All

[bloodyrosemccoy]

Had one kid today in my presentation who wanted to basically give the presentation himself. He kept his hand up the whole time, excitedly wanting to inform me of things I missed, or hadn't gotten to yet, or that were just interesting, and every time I asked a question he'd urgently wave his hand harder.

I feel terrible that I can't give kids who are that excited my full attention. They're so enthusiastic and into it, and I have to turn away from them to the others as well. Especially since I was often the one who excitedly had all the information and wanted to share it because it was COOL and INTERESTING.

I felt like I was doing a disservice to him, so I tried to acknowledge that I knew he was there. But I'm not sure if saying "I know you have the answer; I'll ask someone else" helps or just makes it worse. I actually told him afterward that I was impressed at what he knew, and I was sorry I couldn't give him more attention.

How would you guys handle this? I'm a bit lost here. I hope he enjoyed his day anyway, and that he wasn't too frustrated. Sorry, kid. The conundrum of education strikes again.

Comments

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

I've lead a few tours that had kids like that. I haven't found a good way to handle it 100% of the time, but I think your solution is probably a better one to go with and trust me, the non-excited hand-raisers definitely appreciate that they're being given a chance*. I usually said it was great that they knew it all already, but we needed to give other people a turn too. In my experience, those students will be just fine, they'll be raising their hand at the next question anyone asks, they're like bouncy balls :p. Also it does help if you get them one-on-one afterwards and share a moment of dorkage.

*From personal experience, but I'll spare the gripe-fest.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

*grin* Yeah, I just want them to know I appreciate their enthusiasm, but that I'm speaking to the whole group. It's a tough balance.

[badgermirlacca.livejournal.com]

Having been one of those kids too, I think it's REALLY important for them to learn that they must not try to dominate groups like this; they will only wind up antagonizing their peers and making their own lives miserable. (Granted, their lives are often already miserable by virtue of being pink monkeys. But they need to learn techniques to blend in when called for, and being "the one who always has the answer" rarely works.)

[starwatcher]

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I pretty much handle it the same way. "Oh, you've already given some good answers; I want someone else to have a chance." I figure it gives them my recognition -- I'm not ignoring them, or pretending not to see them -- while also demonstrating a fairness/sharing/taking turns model, which is valuable for the less-outgoing as well. I've had a few of the quieter kids speak up because I'm not letting Mr./Ms. answer-person dominate all the speaking opportunities, which is also good.
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[diatryma.livejournal.com]

Is there a role the kid could play, like using the laser pointer or just being up in the presentation booth for a special view? You could make it a bit more didactic by quietly asking, "Who hasn't answered anything yet?" so the kid has to pay attention to the class experience as well as their own.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Hmm ... generally the Sphere lessons are too short and frenetic to establish that kind of job. If I had more time, maybe, but as it is, setting that up would be a bit too difficult with our frenetic work. Which is too bad, because that's a great idea.

[baby-rissa-chan.livejournal.com]

I'm totally with the "acknowledge their interest but don't let them dominate the group" model. A lot of what other people are saying is more specific to how to handle a kid who wants to ANSWER all the questions so I'm just going to point out that as far as the kid wanting to ASK all the questions and contribute all sorts of cool stuff goes, that's a good time to acknowledge, "Hey, I can tell you're really excited and want to talk about these things. Why don't you come up afterwards and we can get into it some more then?" as another form of letting them know you're not ignoring them but also redirecting their energy to a more appropriate time.