1. Teacher Help Getting a class to be quiet without shouting

2. Your voice is a valuable commodity that should not be used recklessly. Many teachers have gone on to suffer with vocal core stress and you could end up losing your voice. Here’s what I do:

3. Getting a class to be quiet without shouting If the class is in general uproar and you feel yourself beginning to want to shout: Take a deeeeep breath and let it out. (They are kids, remember that) Raise your hand up and palm out and in your other hand hold a pen. Stand near the board. Say clearly: “For every 5 seconds I have to wait for YOU to be quiet, I will take back 1 minute of YOUR time at the end of the lesson” Admittedly this works best when he lesson has a break coming up. Start closing a finger. You can say “one!” loud enough to be heard. Close another, say “Two!” Repeat until all the fingers are gone and then add one strike on the board. If they have not clamed down, simply calmly repeat the whole process methodically Calmly. If anyone counts with you, ignore it. Repeat until you have 5 lines on the board. Usually they will be quiet by then as peers start to shout down the noisy ones for you. There! All done! IN rare occasions where they continue you can then target the offender and move to another room with a teacher that will have them. Preferably a different year. Or get on call to remove them. the class STILL HAS TO DO THE TIME. Tell them, if they can’t do the time, they shouldn't do the crime. Your reputation will go up as a teacher that stays calm and means what she says.

4. Getting a class to be quiet without shouting Occasionally you will come across a student that loves the attention and plays a fool to the class to disrupt your lesson. Like a fire needs oxygen to burn, take away their fuel. Remove them form the class and make them wait outside. Settle the remaining pupils to work then go outside as soon as you can to calmly confront the behaviour. Ask why the student feels it necessary to attract attention to himself. Confronting the issue head on usually takes them off guard. Explain the behaviour you expect to see. Don’t ask. Remind them of their age and how close they are to being a young adult. If they are particularly tall, explain how their year 6 behaviour looks out of place on a young adult. Explain that looks very strange indeed. Repeat the expectation and welcome them back into the class. Do not take any sanctions back.

5. Getting a class to be quiet without shouting I once had a student in a school that had a need for the attention of his peers to the point where I could not teach. I also had very little support so I decided that I would give this pupil exactly what he wanted. One lesson he kicked off to the adulation of the class and I knew I didn’t have a chance to teach anything, I invited the boy to come up to the front of the class. I explained to the class that as this pupil didn’t allow me to teach that I would give him the lesson to teach it instead. The class cheered. I got them settled and officially introduced the student to the class and promptly told them that he would take the remainder of the lesson that hour. I sat in his seat and the class applauded. I applauded also. I nudged his companion and said: This will be really good, he’s good you know” and sat back. Silence. Nothing. The boy was lost for words but tried to valiantly say something. Now teaching is an art and being at the front of an expectant crowd can send many performers into a spin so I said “Come on then! You can start now “And repeated how good this was going to be and I encouraged another applause from the class and waited until it died down again. The boy stopped and said: “Miss, you like to embarrass people don’t you?” “Oh no no no!” I smiled, “This is differentiated learning and peer teaching!” “You wanted an audience, I gave it to you, isn’t that what you wanted?” He promptly sat down. I didn’t get much noise from this character from then on. It doesn't take much to get pupils to realise being the teacher is a lot harder when you are centre stage. I don’t suggest you do this unless you are confident of your abilities but it illustrates that occasionally what pupils appear to want is not what they really want and that being in control of a class does not always mean being confrontational.

6. Getting a class to be quiet without shouting I hope you liked these. Visit the Teacher Help Website for more. www.teacherhelpuk.co.uk http://www.teacherhelpuk.co.uk