Kids just won’t stop talking in class? Here are a few things I’ve tried in different contexts and some of them have helped in controlling the talking in my classroom.
1. Relax
2. Assess your lesson plan
3. Build in time for them to talk
4. Have a call-and-response to get their attention
5. Don’t continue to try and talk over them
6. Set clear expectations for noise level
7. Revise (or create) seating chart
Thanks so much! It helped soooooo much. I am so thankful for you.
Hey glad you found it helpful! Good luck in your classroom management 🙂
I am a new substitute teacher and I really really needed this video. Thank you! I have been doing the opposite of what you’ve been saying and obviously it’s not working well. I do need to learn to stay calm. I wish that school systems would give some sort of training for substitutes
So glad it was helpful Kelley!
Hi. I am old-fashioned…and not that experienced. I was teaching an after-school class. Is it a good idea to separate two students that won’t stop chatting? I did: two females, and one burst into tears. I just had to go through with it and she sat at another desk. I got a complaint from her parents. My line manager also disapproved of my action. The two students, several lesson later, over which time I allowed them to sit next to each other, fell out of friendship. One of them wouldn’t sit with the other girl (who cried). They were at school together during the day so maybe they had had a row then. It was nothing to do with me. Was my strategy of separating them a really bad idea? Anyway, next time I teach a class I will try to incorporate your methods. They make good sense.
Hey Jane. It’s totally fine to separate students who are talking too much. The way I would do it is I would have a conversation with the two students to let them know if the talking during lessons continues, you’ll be having them sit in different seats. Then if it continues, have a private conversation with them about their new seats; maybe even have it start the next day. You don’t want to just say out loud in front of the class ‘that’s it Jessica and Alice! I’ve already told you two to stop talking multiple times. Jessica, I want you over there and Alice, I want you over here.’ That calls them out in front of everyone and can be embarrassing.
Then if I do end up doing that, I email the parents (before the end of the school day if I can) to let them know about the conversation I had with their child (and letting them know about the warning as well).
I think it’s reasonable to give them another chance later on, but it’s not surprising that students then have some kind of drama that now they don’t WANT to sit next to each other.
Hope that helps!
Thank you for your advice. Yes, I did call them out and it did embarass them-my bad. One of them burst into tears. I did not think of contacting the parents either. I did arrange for them to sit together in subsequesnt lessons though.