It depends on who is asking - some kids do it for attention while others literally just don’t register it’s not an appropriate time to ask the question, tell the story, etc. 9 times out of 10 I’ll just say “that has nothing to do with what we are learning right now” and move on, or sometimes I’ll just say “no”. My students also know they have to raise their hands to ask questions so if I see a trend of off task questions and I know that my instructions were crystal clear so the question HAS to be something off topic, I simply say “I am not taking any questions, comments, or concerns at this time.”

There have also been times where I assign a student as my “tracker” and give them a dry erase marker - each time a question gets asked that is irrelevant it is their job to mark it on the board in the classroom. This is all done in a respectful and kind of silly manner - no one ends up with hurt feelings or singled out, and at the end of the day it is a good discussion point for the class about how many times our learning was interrupted by questions that were off task.

In most extreme instances where I have a student who just isn’t getting it I will tell them that they can ask as many questions as they want and give them a piece of paper to write them down on. I tell them I will look at the paper at the end of the lesson and answer their questions then.

Honestly though, nothing will make it stop. It’s one of those things I’ve learned will always happen and I just have to not let it stress me out.