Feeling swamped by ceaseless chatter in your class? We've got your back! By the end of this enlightening episode, you'll master the art of managing a talkative class in five easy steps. We kick things off by highlighting the importance of recognizing the issue and its root cause. Then, we furnish you with practical strategies to tackle it using fitting natural consequences. Plus, we provide several examples to help visualize the application of these techniques.
Feeling swamped by ceaseless chatter in your class? We've got your back! By the end of this enlightening episode, you'll master the art of managing a talkative class in five easy steps. We kick things off by highlighting the importance of recognizing the issue and its root cause. Then, we furnish you with practical strategies to tackle it using fitting natural consequences. Plus, we provide several examples to help visualize the application of these techniques.
So you've binged, watched all you can about how to navigate a chatting class and you're on the lookout for a step-by-step process on how to get your students from chatting to each other to listening quietly, following directions and raising their hand to speak. Well, that's what we're going to be talking about in today. Today, I'm going to be talking about how you can use these five steps to manage a talkative class with ease. So let's dive in. 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, or we're going to make it happen here. So the first step to navigating a chatting class is to have awareness. In order to fix the problem, you need to be aware that there is a problem in the first place. This is where awareness comes in. Awareness is where you're consciously aware that there's a problem and you want to fix it, and this is most likely the stage of this process that you're in right now, and you can use this strategy with all different kinds of disruptive behavior. So, specifically, we're going to be talking about how to use it with the chatty class. So if you are wondering whether or not this is the problem that you're facing, let's talk about what a chatty class typically looks like. A chatty class if you have a chatty class, that typically means that they are interrupting a more lesson, they are having side conversations, they're getting out of their seat, they're easily distracted and they are blurting out and not winning their turn to join the conversation and typically they're just off task in general. So the first step is to notice that this is a problem and identify the problem. So if you are facing any of these, that means that you most likely have a chatty class. But don't worry, I'm going to talk about how you can fix this in a minute.
Speaker 1:The second step, once you are aware that this is a problem and you want to fix it, the second step is to identify the root cause of the problem. After you have an awareness that this is a chatty class and you want to fix it, you want to discover what is causing your class to be chatty in the first place. You see, a lot of teachers miss this step. They try a band-aid strategy where they just try random things they see online and then they're easily frustrated when that doesn't work out for them, or it may work for a while, but their class still ends up being chatty. That's because they aren't addressing the reason why their students are being chatty in the first place, and that's what we're going to cover here. So you need to discover why your students are being chatty in the first place, to prevent them and to fix the problem so you can prevent it from happening over and over again in the future.
Speaker 1:So let me give you an example. You are a parent of a kid who keeps riding their bike and scraping their knee. You put a band-aid on the scraped knee but before you know it, the next day your kid has another scrape. So you use another bandaid, aka a bandaid strategy, and you keep putting band aids on them and nothing seems to be working. They still end up with scrapes. Well, that's what looking for strategies online can be like. It's using random things online as a bandaid to cover up your incident. That's happening, but it's not getting to the root cause as to why your kid has a scraped knee.
Speaker 1:Now let's say that you or a kid comes in on the first day and they have a scraped knee. You go to ask them what they were doing. You discover that your student or your kid is riding their bike down a hill super fast without a helmet or pads on or any sort of protection. Well, you've just discovered the root cause as to why your kid has scraped knees. So you go and get them protected where so it doesn't happen again. The same goes when you go for a.
Speaker 1:Figure out the root cause of this behavior. Once you figure out the root cause as to why your class is being chatty, you can then give them the strategies and tools and fix it in a way that it doesn't happen again in the future, and that's what we're going to talk about here. So you might be wondering what could the root cause of my students being chatty be? Now, I covered this earlier and I will put it in the description down below, but I'm going to give you a quick overview of the different reasons why your students might be extra chatty. The first one is they're not engaged in what you're teaching. The second one is your students aren't talking enough, meaning they're not having enough structured conversations with each other. And the third one is your expectations aren't clear on what students are supposed to do. Essentially, ask yourself why are my students talking so much? From there you can fix the problem, which brings me to step number three.
Speaker 1:The third step to navigating a chatty class is to take action. Once you've discovered what the root cause of why your class is chatty, you can then start taking action to fix the problem. And the way you're going to do this is with a natural consequence. Natural consequences are consequences that are relevant or relate to the behavior. So remember that consequences are not good or bad. I want you to invite you to shift your mindset around this, that consequences don't always have to be negative. They are neither good or bad. The same with behavior. Behavior is not good or bad. It's simply a way to articulate a need, a want or a lack of something, and that's what behavior is. So I want to invite you to take a deep breath in and bring yourself to think of these in a neutral, subjective way, without judgment and just curiosity, and in a neutral way. So let's talk about some examples of what a natural consequence could be with a matching behavior.
Speaker 1:So let's say, your students don't know the expectations and they don't know it to a level where they can teach another student. Well, the natural consequence is that they need to practice and review that procedure. So your students are sitting at the carpet and they're talking with each other and they don't know what's expected of them. To the point, if a new student walked in, they can't teach it. That shows to you that you need to reteach that procedure thoroughly. Now, remember that a consequence is neither good or bad. It gives whatever identity you assign to it. So try to assign it as a neutral thing, a neutral entity. So let's say that.
Speaker 1:Another example your students aren't moving enough. Your students are sitting in their seats and they're starting to fidget a lot. They're playing with stuff in their desk and they're starting to chit chat a lot. Well, the natural neutral consequence that would be okay, I can. First, I have an awareness that this is going on. My students are fidgeting a lot and they're chatting a lot. I haven't looking at the time, I haven't stopped to have them move in quite some time. So that means that the natural consequence means I need to make sure that I do a brain break in the next couple of minutes to help my students refocus.
Speaker 1:The third example I have is let's say that your students are extra chatty and no matter, you've done the brain break, you've had them practice the procedure, but they're still chatty. Then you take us again to think to yourself okay, out of curiosity, again, neither positive nor negative, strictly from the space of being curious. I'm aware that this is a problem. Okay, and I think the root cause might be have I given my students the opportunity to talk today with each other? Again, you're asking yourself, in a neutral consequence, you're not being self-critiquing and bashing on yourself. You're going to think oh, okay, so that means I probably need to give my students an opportunity to have conversation with each other, so then you can. Then the natural consequence would be all right. Really fast, while I get this slideshow up on the present on the board, please tell your neighbor your favorite kind of ice cream, and then they would turn and talk.
Speaker 1:Remember, natural consequences are neither good nor bad, and the same with behavior. Behavior is neither good nor bad. It's just a neutral way of articulating a need or a lack of something in a way that students understand. They can't articulate their wants or needs yet because they're not fully emotionally developed, so use behavior to do that for them. And with that being said as a general side note. In general, I feel like I personally and many teachers can relate to this we don't give them enough time to have conversations. I personally would really dislike if my job expected me to never talk and I would really not appreciate if I created that same environment for my students. So they are just like adults, so it's important to give them that opportunity to have conversation and socialize with each other, because they're natural socialized beings or their natural socializing humans. So, with that being said, once you come up with the root cause, let's review really fast. You have an awareness that this is a problem. You figured out what the root causes and now you're going to take action, with a natural consequence.
Speaker 1:Now let's talk about step four. Step four to navigating a chatty class is to take action and hold space to reflect. So again, this is without judgment, without self criticism. Approach this with some curiosity. So let's say you try something. You got your students to talk to each other because they were super chatting and at the end of the day you just sit quietly and think to yourself I wonder why that is. Maybe my students were really quiet and on past the rest of the day, you can take some time to reflect and think. I wonder why that is. I wonder why my students feel the need to, you know, have more conversations. And maybe I'm going to add a curiosity I wonder what my schedule looks like and if I'm providing enough time throughout my day for them to talk to each other and then ask yourself did your students respond to it? Did they or did they not? And then take some time to reflect. Remember to separate yourself from results.
Speaker 1:One thing I like to say is teaching is one big experiment. It's a lot like cooking. You take recipes and what works for others online and you or you know your mentor teachers. You try things out and then, over time, you start refining your own recipe. It's just one big experiment. So make sure to separate yourself. If something didn't work, that's okay. That gets you one step closer to figuring out what does.
Speaker 1:So, as a quick review, the first step to navigating a chatty class is one awareness. You need to be aware there's a problem in the first place. Step two is to get to the root cause of why that's happening. Step three is to take action, with a natural consequence. Step four is to take some time to reflect and then, finally, we're down to the final step, which is step five, to adjust or reflect as needed.
Speaker 1:So, with this, after you've reflected on how that went, take some time to either adjust. Do I need to try something else? If it didn't work, should I continue this method? How can I tweak this to be better? Note that sometimes things may not work the first time, and that's okay. If you're trying a new technique or strategy, give yourself several times to experiment with it and see if it works with your class before you throw it out. Oftentimes, when something's new, our kids may act differently simply for the fact that it's new. So it's important to take some time to really try things out before you throw it out the window. But take some time and ask yourself should I keep this the way it is? Do I need to adjust it, or completely throw it out and try a different strategy? Those were the five steps to mastering a talkative class, so let's take some time really fast to overview and to recap what we talked about.
Speaker 1:The first step was awareness. You need to be aware of what the problem is, or that there is a problem in the first place. The second step is to identify the root cause. Why are my students being super chatty. Step number three is to take action. Now that you know the root cause, choose a natural consequence that will match that root cause. Step four is to reflect. After you've taken action, take some time to reflect, while not identifying the results to your identity or matching them. Make sure it's disassociated with the outcome. And then also make sure to step number five adjust and repeat, reflect, keep or throw away as needed.
Speaker 1:If you found this helpful, I would love if you can show me and this channel some love by liking and subscribing so we can hang out more and you can hear more tips about how you can master your classroom so that it can run smoothly without you doing a single thing. And if you find yourself in a position where you're ready to learn more, I want to invite you, with your permission, to download and go check out the free Master your classroom management guide. In this guide, I walk you through how to confidently manage your classroom with the top 10 strategy strategies you should have in place. We talk about everything from procedures, how to use them, how to manage more, about how to manage a talkative class, what to do when your students aren't listening to you, and so forth. And if you feel called to do take this a step further and you want to learn more from me and spend more time with me and you want my help via video to walk you through this process, I want to, with your permission, invite you to join the three day classroom management challenge. Inside this challenge, I walk you through how to master your classroom to be smoothly ran in just three days, and the best part is it's completely free. So if you feel like, yes, this is the right step for me, I would love if you could go, or I invite you to go check out the description where I will link the three classroom management challenge down below.
Speaker 1:As always, remember we are stronger together. Thank you so much for hanging out with me and I will see you in the next one. Teacher bestie, 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. Helena, aka the present teacher. See you next time. Teacher bestie.