You have good classroom management.
Your students like and respect you. They follow your directions and are attentive while you’re speaking.
Yet, the second you look away, even for a brief moment, you lose them and the momentum of your lesson. You’re able to bring them back, but it’s still frustrating.
It wastes time. They can do better.
The truth is, whenever you pause your teaching to grab something from a cabinet, enter attendance, or look down at your document camera, students are prone turn their attention.
It’s human nature. You see, whenever our attention is broken unexpectedly, we seek stimulation elsewhere. Think of being in a movie theater when the projector breaks.
This is why students start turning and looking around so quickly. They make eye contact with friends. They motion to each other. They side-talk or stare out the window.
So what’s the solution?
The solution is to bring the issue out into the open. Unplanned pauses during lessons are going to happen. When they do, your students need to know exactly what is and isn’t okay.
This doesn’t necessarily mean that they have to sit and stare at you. But they do need to know that unless you say, “This is going to take a minute, go ahead and talk,” they must wait patiently.
As part of your explanation, model common examples so they can recognize when it happens. Then, of course, you must test them.
While teaching per usual, periodically fake having to look inside your desk, fiddle with the electrical plug, or find the right page.
If you do have good classroom management, the problem will disappear. Again, it seems obvious that students would know this. But they don’t.
You have to teach them.
To ensure the lesson is clear, you may want to be sneaky for a few days. Bluff, pretend, act as if you’re lost in thought or your attention is elsewhere and see if anyone side-talks.
This will strengthen their new habit, build academic discipline, and increase their ability to focus for longer and longer periods of time.
If a student does turn to talk to a neighbor during an unexpected break, then simply enforce a consequence.
PS – If teaching has become stressful for you, check out my new book Unstressed: How to Teach Without Worry, Fear, and Anxiety.
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It is so courageous and educative thank you
Great technique! Thanks for sharing.
This is exactly my problem. Can you suggest an appropriate consequence for this behavior to nip it in the bud at the start of the school year?
I clearly have not managed this well and I am paying for it.
I think the idea is to follow your typical ladder of consequences. So, you start with “this is your warning for talking during the lesson.” What comes next should be grade appropriate. For my high schoolers, they have a conversation with me after class. If it keeps happening, I assign something related to the behavior I want them to fix. And then if it keeps happening I call home, and let home know that the next step will be referral to administration.