talking, talking, talking

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2001 : December : 12

talking, talking, talking
By Cathy-Dee

It is hard when you have a talkative class. I teach grade 1 and I seem to spend so much time just getting them to learn to work quietly. Even after 9 years of teaching I still have days, weeks, months that do not go well
because of all the talking and I agree it does wear you out.
This time of year is hard to try to get your class refocused. I would continue with what you have been doing and make it through the next week. Then you can REFOCUS when you come back in January. It's a great time to start over and make changes that will hopefully help quiet things down.
First set down some strict guidelines

especially for the first two weeks.

- No talking during work times - then walk around the room and keep everyone on task. You may not be able to offer as much one-on-one help for a week or two - but once your class gets into the habit of working quietly they will usually keep it up and then you can start to do more one-on-one work again.

- Once you have them at a quieter work time you can then be less restrictive.

- use music in the background to give them something to listen to. I also find it can be calming. I like to try a variety of soft music. And some days without as well.

- Remind them over and over. Have little signals, a bell, a word, count to 5, flash the lights, anything to remind them to quiet down.

- praise them when they are doing well, praise a group if they are doing well. Kids love to get praise - they'll work harder for it.

- instead of individual charts - plan a class prize - I like to use popcorn in a jar. I add a 1/4 cup of kernals to the jar when the class follows whatever rule I've asked them to follow for a specified time. So it might be if everyone gets their work done quietly by recess. Or it might be that when they come in from recess I will walk into the room with everyone sitting quietly at their desk. I pick a different thing to work on each week. Usually no more than 1-2 things per week to work on. It generally takes us 2 weeks to fill the jar, then the class gets the prize. It might be a movie, a field trip. extra gym class, centers, a treat to eat.

What's nice about this is that everyone helps one another follow the rules, it's not just one person who always gets the stickers on the chart.

I do use individual charts as well for other things - clean desks, specific behaviours, etc.,

- Over the holidays sit down for an afternoon and really look at your classroom arrangment. If you have groups - how are the kids seated - perhaps you can move your most "talkative" kids into groups where the quieter ones are. - Can you put your kids into groups of 2-3 instead of 4. Can you do rows. Can you spread out the groups more so they are not as close to one another. Put the nosiest kids closer to where you spend more of your time during the day. Seating arrangements can really help set the tone for the classroom.

- I find kids get bored easy with following rules, so I change how I get their attention (bell one day, special word the next, lights next, etc.,).

Be patient but firm, it will take time, but it will be worth it, not only for you but for their teacher next year as well. From what you've written it's most likely they have learned bad habits from last year and it's just carrying on for this year.

Good luck and keep us posted to how things are going.