been there By Carolyn

I had 28 fifth graders who acted as yours do. I also began to lose my voice. After talking in a hoarse voice, I let them know that I would not try to talk over them. What I also found that was interesting was that the

kids would listen better to me if I talked with a softer voice. I gave up the loud voice and used the soft one. I also find that if the kids are gabbing incessantly, and I need to talk with them, I will sit down in a chair, then lean over and stare at them. They eventually get the point. If they gab while I am teaching, I stop teaching and look at them. If I see a child who is writing

or drawing while I am trying to teach, I stop teaching and stare at the child. The guilty child looks up at me and stops.

I think you might try next year speaking all of the time in a softer voice. If the kids get used to your trying to talk over them before they will listen, then they will only do just that. My college professor of education told us about a teacher who actually stood up on a desk to get kids' attention, and they wouldn't listen to her unless she did that. He didn't think that was smart on her part, and I didn't, either. Moral of the story: it is important to condition kids to what you want them to do without going through drastic measures.

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