When it comes to classroom management there are an endless number of things that teachers struggle with. Even the most experienced and practiced of educators encounter moments when their system fails and mini chaos envelops their classroom. Noise can be one of the most prevalent challenges a teacher encounters throughout their days. Though you adore your classroom full of energetic and enthusiastic students, there comes a point when the excited chatter has to end in order for your day to be productive. It’s not that noisy students are necessarily a bad thing—as teachers we should encourage our students’ spark, passion, and excitement. However, a noisy classroom is not always the best environment for productive and focused learning. Try these three tips to help quiet your noisy students.
Accept Responsibility
It is our responsibility to manage our classrooms carefully. By accepting responsibility for your misbehaving classroom, you will be better able to remedy it. As the true authority in the classroom, the things that go right in the classroom and the things that go awry might be in part because of the way you are managing the every-changing environment. If your students are consistently talking out of turn and noisy in the classroom, it is likely time to reevaluate your policies and procedures on misbehavior and talking.
Establish Clear Procedures
Consistency and thoroughness are key when it comes to teaching. Students thrive in situations where they completely understand what is asked of them and what is expected of them. From the very get go, you need to establish procedures that students can follow so as to reduce unwanted noisiness in a classroom. Be consistent. Have a procedure for the general goings on of your classroom. How should students enter your classroom? How do they ask to use the restroom? How should they go about asking a question in class? When is it appropriate to leave your seat? While this may sound somewhat harsh or overly specific, establishing clear procedures for the things that they need to do throughout the day can actually be a huge relief to students. Students should fully understand when it is fair for them to talk in a classroom, what productive conversation sounds like, and when it is time to keep talking and noise down. Be straight forward with your student and work with them to establish rules and guidelines that everyone feels they can follow.
Raise Expectations
In general, people will give you what you expect of them. As a teacher, we should hold our students to the highest expectations. This is a concept that educators should consider carefully. What exactly do you expect from your students? In the case of a noisy classroom, what do you actually expect from your students when it comes to talking? When do you expect them to talk? When do you not? On a larger scale, what do you expect from them when it comes to behavior? We should expect that our students respect you and one another. In doing so, we should demand that they express this respect on all occasions.
* This guest post is contributed by Katheryn Rivas, who writes on the topics of online university. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: katherynrivas87@gmail.com.
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