Speak Softly Because You Can't Carry A Stick Anymore

[esltiger]

Problem: You walk into a classroom and there is a loud chatter going on. How do you quiet down the students without stressfully shouting your brains out?

Solution: With this idea I am taking a page from the old adage “Speak softly but carry a big stick,” except that I’m leaving out the stick part.
Stand directly in front of the class and begin speaking in a low soft tone of voice somewhat above a whisper.
First one student will notice you are saying something, then several others will see this happening. What occurs most often is that one of those students will tell the others to be quiet.
The nice thing about this idea is that it allows you to control the class and conversation with a minimum of expended energy.
This is especially effective in the upper grades and at seminars where there is a greater lever of maturity in the audience.

[teacher5]

Ringing the old fashioned teacher desk bell, or doing the rhythmic clapping of your hands where students listen and repeat still work quite well at the elementary level.

[ms.jodi]

a friend of mine combines both of these thoughts. she claps her hands softly and repeats if you can hear the sound of my voice, stop and put your hand in the air. in no time, all the kids are wondering why one, then another has their hands up and before you know it everyone is quiet and has their hand up!

[BuBerry3]

I think these are great ideas! I find though that sometimes I have to use my "techniques" several times because they get distracted and start talking again. I need something else to make sure when I need their attention, I keep it.

[AW2245]

Many times I stand in the front of the room and silently hold my hand up in the air and start the countdown from 5 with my fingers. The kids see me, and they do the same. Everyone catches on, and by the time we get to zero, I have everyone's attention :)

[coco2]

I am a K-4 science teacher and have a grade 2 class cannot stop talking. I have tried everything in the book! All of the above techniques and more. I finally tried the power teaching technique of Class/Yes. I have to do it 3 or 4 times before they all actually are looking and listening, and it is short-lived. I then need to rush in with what I need to say or do.

[Brit]

if you can hear me, clap once. If you can hear me, clap twice. if you can hear me, clap three times....until everyone catches on. I got that one from a grade 8 teacher who likes it because their hands are free by the time she has their attention.

touch your nose. touch your toes, toch your nose, touch your toes....do your feet smell?

start a rhythm pattern -- but one that they can't hear. Keep changing it. Like, tap your nose, tap your shoulders, etc. they'll pick up that you're doing something and follow. I always give the first few kids who get it winks and smiles as rewards.

coco -- are you rewarding them for attention? i.c. happyface up for responding the first time? Is "follow instructions the first time" part of your daily classroom code? Are you taking down happy faces when they loose focus before you're done (assuming it's a reasonable amount of time)? My biggest problem is my kids going to follow instructions before I finish giving them (tough to take, I know ;) ) I am learning to say "when I say "go". then, I throw in...ggggg...reen! ggggrape! so they have to listen. but i'm certain that would only work with certain kids. Best of luck with corraling your bunch.

"1,2,3, eyes on me, look at me so you can see" -- they join in by the second time you use this.

buy a train whistle or a bell. my kids drop everything when they hear that, because it sonds different than classroom noise. I have my little pavlovian dogs trained to do something different for each different sound (train whistle is "line up (make a train), bell is "tidy up").

[Karenrbw]

I was amazed to discover that, one winter when I was sick and had almost lost my voice, the kids were actually quiet so they could hear what I was saying. If you are loud to them, you are competing with them and they have a tendency to become louder.

[kingrichie]

Each of my students has a discipline report on their desk. If I call their name for making bad choices or not following directions, I mark the paper. They take it home on every Friday for parent signature.

[Dhe Poet]

kingrichie that sounds best when or if dicipline is a problem

[Aziz]

I rarely if ever have issues with getting attention. I don't do anything but if I focus on the moment very intensely it creates a sort of presence that attracts immediate attention. It doesn't need to be done in an intimidating way (I was thinking of Snape in Harry Potter when I wrote that and realized that is not at all how I do it!) I am lucky that most of the students in our school are motivated and well-behaved in general. We have few discipline issues in our school.

I'm naturally soft-spoken so students have to be quiet to be able to hear what I'm saying.

Maybe you can try just being very present and seeing if that sense of presence spreads. Become very present, and then key into your students' consciousness. This technique works if you want to walk into any room with a presence.

-Aziz