Struggling with a lively, talkative class? Ever tried giving irrelevant consequences like taking away recess time, and found it to be a futile endeavor? Join us as we explore the deep-seated reasons behind a chatty class and unravel effective strategies for lasting change. We debunk common myths about quick-fix solutions and highlight how these often fall short in addressing the core issue. This episode dives into the top chatty class mistakes teachers make.
Struggling with a lively, talkative class? Ever tried giving irrelevant consequences like taking away recess time, and found it to be a futile endeavor? Join us as we explore the deep-seated reasons behind a chatty class and unravel effective strategies for lasting change. We debunk common myths about quick-fix solutions and highlight how these often fall short in addressing the core issue. This episode dives into the top chatty class mistakes teachers make.
So you've discovered that this year you have an extra chatty class and you're researching ways to get them to pay attention and to stop the side conversation, and you're jumping on social media TikTok, google, pinterest and all the things to figure out how to fix this. Well, today I'm going to share with you the top mistakes many teachers make when it comes to trying to fix or manage a chatty class. That way, you can save yourself some time and avoid strategies that won't be beneficial to you or your students. I personally struggled with this in years past. I had a chatty class and I constantly had to stop to redirect their attention and I had to constantly stop my instruction and I was tired of trying all the things and nothing worked. And that's when I stumbled upon a rule or strategy that really helped me navigate that chatty class, and we covered what you should be doing to help manage a chatty class. So I'll make sure to link that in the description down below so you can check that out later as well. So, that being said, let's dive into the top mistakes for a chatty class. Hey, teacher Bestie, my name is Helena and I'm the creator of the Present Teacher Podcast. I'm a first year teacher coach, and in this podcast you are going to learn everything from simple, actual classroom management, social learning and teacher wellness strategies. You know that impact you want to make in the classroom. We're going to make it happen here, all right.
Speaker 1:The first mistake I see a lot of teachers make when it comes to navigating a chatty class is that they use a quick fix strategy, or as I like to call a band-aid strategy. So you are scrolling through TikTok and you see this trending classroom management hack and it has tons of shares, tons of lights, people in the comments saying it worked for them, and you try it with your students, only to find it doesn't work. Or maybe it worked at first, but now it's really not working. And so you're just constantly recycling these band-aid fixes for your class. Common ones I've seen online are blur beans, classroom parties and doing a read aloud. So you might be wondering and asking yourself why aren't any of these working? Well, that's because these are band-aid fixes or band-aid strategies. Think of it like this when you get a cut, you put a band-aid on it and after a while, you take it off, expecting it to magically heal. Well, the same goes for your chatty class. You are constantly putting band-aids on the cut, expecting it to heal it. But the truth is you need to figure out why you got scripted in the first place so you can avoid it. That goes with your class. You need to figure out the root cause as to why your class is being chatty and, again, I'll put the link in the description below as to why that is, so you can dive deeper into this. So you might be wondering what should I do about this? Well, instead of trying a bunch of strategies that I use online, get to the root, to the cause. Try to figure out why your class is chatty in the first place and then move on from there. So the first reason that, or the first mistake that teachers make when it comes to navigating a chatting class, is that they try Band-Aid strategies.
Speaker 1:The second mistake teachers make as they use irrelevant consequences, for example, like taking away recess. You see, oftentimes teachers will give an irrelevant consequence to the behavior. An example of this, like I mentioned before, is taking away recess. Let's say, for example, you have students talking in class and the reason, the root cause you later discover is because they're sitting too long. That's the root cause. Now what you decide to do is you decide to take away recess. Now they don't have the opportunity. Your students, since you took away recess, don't have an opportunity to move around or take a break or talk to their friends, and later can you guess what happens? That's right. Your class is even more chatty because they are now forced to focus even longer and they didn't learn anything other than that they are quote unquote bad kids.
Speaker 1:The consequence doesn't match what the root of the cause was. So you might be wondering how do I fix this? How do I use this? Well, what you want to do is, if you have a chatting class, you want to get to the root cause and then give a natural consequence. So an example of this could be let's say, your students aren't following expectations of the carpet and they're super chatty. So you find that the root cause of this is they don't know what the expectations are in class. So the natural consequence is to then have your class practice the procedure of what it should look like and sound like at the carpet.
Speaker 1:Let's say another example students are having more side conversations during the lesson and you discovered the root cause is because you look at your watch and these students have been sitting for over an hour and they're eight. So you decide that the root cause is sitting too long. So you discovered what the root cause was. Now you're going to give them the natural consequence, which is to move more or do a brain break. If you are looking for more into what a natural consequence is and some natural consequences you can give in the classroom, I want to invite you, with your permission, to go check out the free master, your classroom management guide, and this has 10 different strategies to help you confidently manage your classroom. With that being said, here's some mindset shift around consequences that I want to invite you to make, and that is consequences don't always have to be negative. They don't always have to be about punishment.
Speaker 1:Let's say a child pushes another student on a swing because they wanted to turn on that swing. The teacher scolds them and makes them sit out. What did that child learn? It learned that they sit out because they're bad and they didn't learn the behavior. Now that let's talk about that same scenario, but instead let's use it with a natural consequence. Once again, the student pushes the other student off the swing because they wanted to turn. Well, this time you pull the student to the side and you have a conversation about how, next time they need to ask and use their words, to have that conversation of inviting them to play or having their turn on the swing, you might have given them the natural consequence of apologizing and saying how they're going to use their words and not their hands, and you might even practice and model it. Well, guess what's going to happen? That next time that they are wanting to go on the swing, after a couple of times of this, or maybe even the next time they're going to use their words instead of their hands, because they learn why they don't do that and they've had it modeled what the expectation is.
Speaker 1:The same goes for your behavior. If you're constantly pushing in a negative way, students aren't going to be learning from their mistakes. If anything, if you're constantly using a negative, what is going to happen is your students are going to be compliant because they're fear-based, because they're scared of making a mistake, and that will make them be scared of taking risks in the future, and that's not helping them become the independent thinkers they are capable of. So, with that being said, when you do this, make sure to get into the natural consequence and discover the root cause and then a natural consequence to prevent the behavior from happening again. So let's go over the chatty class mistakes a lot of teachers have made. So the first one being that they use bandaid strategies. The second one that they don't use natural consequences. The third thing is they feel like they're a terrible teacher or bad at classroom management.
Speaker 1:And here's something very, very important that took me years to figure out that I want to invite you to be open to hearing today, and that is your students behavior has no reflection on how good of a teacher you are. I'm going to say it again your students behavior has no reflection on how good of a teacher you are. It doesn't. You cannot control your students. You cannot put your mind into their mind and make them do things. So let me give you an example of this. Let's say your student comes to school on the first day of school and in their home environment it's okay to hit, or the families haven't really worked on that student with hitting when they want something or something's wrong. Is that your fault? No, you didn't create the environment where that kind of behavior was okay. You aren't your students. You cannot control your students.
Speaker 1:So let's go back to that scenario and talk about what makes you a good teacher. What makes you a good teacher is providing a safe environment for students to change their behavior. I'm going to say it again a good teacher is when you create a safe environment where students can learn and change their behavior. So let's say that student comes to school and they have a habit of hitting and you know family's been too busy to work on it with them. It's not your fault. So instead, now you create an environment where they can work on not hitting when they need something. That would make you a good teacher.
Speaker 1:Let me give you another example. Let's say I give you a piece of paper and crumpled it and gave it to you and told it it was your fault that I crumpled it. Well, that doesn't make you a bad teacher. You didn't crumple the piece of paper I did. Now let's say you pull me to the side and you take time to explain to me why we shouldn't crumple our paper and how you, how I can hand it to you nice and clean so you can grade it. Blah, blah, blah. You get it. You are now teaching me the expected behavior and it is not your fault, but you're helping me grow better. The same goes with your students. When your students know better, they do better.
Speaker 1:So how to fix this common mistake? The first thing is to remind yourself your students behavior has no reflection on who you are as a teacher. I want you to invite you to take a breath and remind yourself that you are safe. Gore student is when more student is, you know, partaking in disruptive behavior. Your student is going through something, and remind yourself that it is GORE job to be there for them. It's easier to fix behavior when you're able to separate your identity from that student's behavior. So whenever you find yourself when a student is being disruptive, just take a breath, shake it out, remind yourself that what they're doing has no reflection on me. I'm safe. Okay, it's my job to call my body so I can show up for that student and help them make good choices and navigate these big emotions and this behavior that they're navigating through. With that being said, I want to remind you to be kind to yourself.
Speaker 1:Navigating behavior is one of the hardest things when it comes to being a teacher and try to be a friend, try to give yourself the space to breathe and to be in the moment, to remind yourself that this has no reflection on you and everything to do with what your student is going through. So, with that being said, that wraps up the common three top mistakes I see teachers make when it comes to navigating a chatting class. So let's go over a quick overview of what we covered today. The first mistake teachers make while navigating and chatting class is that they use quick fix strategies or band-aid strategies. The second mistake teachers often make while navigating a chatting class is they use irrelevant consequences and they don't utilize those natural consequences to help their students learn from that mistake and do better in the future. The third mistake a lot of teachers make while navigating a chatting class is they feel like they are a terrible teacher because of the behavior they are facing, when, in reality, your students behavior has no reflection of you as a teacher. It is a common myth. I know that's something that we, as teachers, naturally put onto ourselves, but I want to remind you that that is not the case and that does not have to be the case for you.
Speaker 1:With that being said, I wanted to give you this quick little note, which is you are doing an amazing job. I know that this can feel extremely overwhelming, so, with that being said, I want to invite you to take a deep breath, honor your feelings and ask yourself do you need to fill your feelings or do you want to try a new strategy? I want you to take some time to remind yourself that you are making progress and that you are exactly where you need to be on your journey. If you feel called to, I want to invite you to dive into a free three day master your classroom management challenge, where I show you how to master your classroom. That way, you can confidently have it running smoothly and just three days. So this is something that you feel called. You want to take action. You want more involvement. You want me to walk you through this process? You can check out the link down below in the description. As always, remember, we are stronger together and I will see you in the next one.
Speaker 1:Teacher Vesty Bye. Thank you so much for joining me on today's episode. I hope that you were able to take away some value that will help you thrive inside and out of the classroom. It would mean the world to me if you could take five seconds right now and leave a review on this podcast, and if you found this podcast especially helpful, make sure to take a screenshot of this episode right now and tag me on your socials to let me know you're listening. As always, remember that we are stronger together, with all the love in the world. Melana, aka the present teacher. See you next time, teacher Vesty.