Hello! I need some tips/advice on how to quiet a very loud and talkative class. I can't even teach this class properly and I often just go sit down at my desk. Contacting parents and moving students to different seats do not help...they just talk louder to whoever they're talking to. I need some good pointers. Please help!!!
I bought large wooden letters that spell out RESPECT and set them on the dry erase board (where you put the eraser). They have the potential to gain a letter every day. They have the potential to loose all the letters they have gained every day, and they have done that several times! Since I started this is September, they have earned my "respect" 2 to times. Their reward is going outside for the class period which they chose.
They lost two letters today because 1) they wouldn't stop farting and 2) they kept talking over me during the lesson. They sound just like your class. Parent contact does nothing. Office referrals do nothing. They feed off of each other.
Best of luck to you!!
What subject are you teaching? Is it just that one period? Maybe the respect thing is just too babyish to them. Maybe they are not feeling respected. I have two kids in high school and the teachers they respect the most are the ones they feel treat them with respect and truly listen to them and help them. Not sure how you do that though. But the letter thing seems like a very young behavior management plan. I teach 4th grade and that type of thing doesn’t even work with them. Routine, very explicit expectations, and a quick pace with a lot of turn and talk time works best for me. Good luck!
Yes...proximity does nothing. I've contacted parents, changed seating, given zeroes (because they do not complete or turn in work), written referrals, given rewards to those who do the right thing, tried to explain to them how passing this course and the EOC exam helps them to graduate and they will not graduate if they don't pass either one...nothing helps.
Okay. Thanks. Can you describe a specific situation(s) - time, activity, procedure etc. - when students talk the most, and what you are doing during this time (instructing, guided practice, helping a student etc.)? When you observe talking what is your first response? What do you do if your first response doesn't work?
I teach 7th/8th graders and I have one group like this.
I review expectations each day in the beginning of class. And I remind when expectations are not broken. I repeat myself often.
And I do a lot of waiting. I will not talk over them. So if I must stop, stop I must. The end result is generally more homework - I don’t love giving homework but if I can’t finish my lesson in class, they will have it.
I also incorporate opportunities for movement. Kagan is good for this, because it is highly structured. I find that it is hard for even your best students to sit in a desk and attend all day. Short chances for movement provide an energy outlet.
I am coming back to junior high from several years in lower elementary, so maybe my ideas could be considered babyish. However, even your 15 year olds are still kids, so it might still help to have a silly incentive like 15 minutes of chrome book time or a movie day.
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01-11-2019, 01:33 PM
