It is inevitable that every now and then your classroom may get noisy. A crucial tip is to not shout even if they get loud, reacting to noise with noise rarely makes anything better. The earlier you set a standard the less your students will question it.
- Start as you mean to go on
It should be very clear that the students know that when they enter the classroom it is time to act in a calm and collected manner, which may be difficult especially if the lesson follows a break or lunchtime. Define your expectations and how you want the class to behave throughout the lesson.
Setting the tone for the class will give the students the structure they need to focus and learn, set aside a few minutes to remind the class how they should enter the classroom.
- Address students individually and not as a group
When trying to quiet down a noisy classroom, don’t address a whole group, instead focus on a few individual students who are being the noisiest. By identifying students personally and not as a collective you are much more likely to get results and get them to be quiet as there is more fear that they could get scolded. Once some of the main culprits are quiet the rest of the class should quickly follow.
- Say things once only
Try and say something to your class only once to encourage them to listen carefully at all times. By repeating what you say you are enabling them to be lazy listeners, as they will learn that they don’t need to listen as you will repeat it a second or third time.
- Give noisy students more responsibility
By giving some of the noisiest students that drive the disturbance in the classroom something to help with or activity to lead they will feel more responsible and much more likely to concentrate. This will help to cause a ripple effect throughout their fellow classmates causing them to also be quiet and listen.
- Encourage active listening
Instilling from a young age key listening skills will greatly help students throughout their academic life. The more they understand and engage in active listening, the more likely they are to pay attention and listen to the teacher in class.
- Listen More
To promote good listening skills in the classroom, it is important to set an example and model such behaviour. Listening more to your students instead of listening to reply to their question or comment, showing positive body language and actively engaging in what they are saying, shows you care what they say and that you are listening.
- Get to know your students
Getting to know your students on a more personal level can support good listening. Research has shown that students are much more likely to listen to a teacher who has taken time to get to know them than one that hasn’t.
Image Source: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ioe/sites/ioe/files/indian-teacher-british-council
Source: https://www.mentimeter.com/blog/interactive-classrooms/how-to-handle-noise-in-the-classroom
(This article/text/quote/image is shared in good spirit to strengthen the education system.)
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