noise level/talking

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noise level/talking
By Carolyn

I am a full-time elementary teacher in Grade 5. The noise level you accept depends upon the activity, and even then I don't allow any level of noise. For one thing, in my experience, if you allow kids to talk, they get
off task very easily and are less likely to get finished. This seems to apply to each grade level I have taught in elementary school. Even first graders can work quietly. Certainly, fifth graders can.
When kids are taking a test, insist on total silence. Tell them that you will take their paper away from them if they aren't silent and write on the paper that the child was talking

during the test. Give it to the teacher.

Group activities can very easily get out of hand. So can unstructured ones. Put a smiley face on the board. Then start putting the names of the quiet kids who remain on task. You will be amazed at the difference, especially if they know that you will reward them afterwards.

One thing my subs always do for me is promise the kids extra recess if they behave. This is certainly an inexpensive option for you. A drawing for candy is another. I used to put the names of the kids who were working well into a jar, then have a drawing for some kind of reward that I knew would be treasured. I announced this at the beginning of the day, so that they would understand that this is what I was doing. They loved the drawing.

With my class now, I have a row contest (another option). The quietest row gets a point while they are working. The row with the most points gets a treat.

Positive reinforcement seems to work the best for dealing with this problem.