Step-By-Step Way to Stop Talkative Students 

"You know those classes where you have that one student" Yes, except there are four, help

It's amazing to me that students have become so coddled, so spoiled, so overly sensitive and parents don't care enough about their education, that we have to resort to ALL OF THIS to get them on task.

I agree this works for most but man I have a 7th grade class that has dug their heels in so deep the entire school has meetings just about them and their disruption. The only way to give instruction is to walk table to table. The first class I've had in 8 years where most aren't passing. They actually bully kids who are trying to listen. Things have changed a lot post pandemic, we need smaller class sizes.

I've just quit as a school teacher to do private tutoring. The stress of dealing with classes where kids simply would not pay attention ground me down to the point where it ruined my whole life. I couldn't sleep. I'd spend the week looking forward to the weekend and the weekend dreading going back on Monday. When I was in school it wasn't like this. I went to a very strict school where we didn't talk in class, because if we did there would be consequences. All of the teachers were strict and consistent, and routines were drilled into us. When the teacher came into the room we stood up and became silent. When the teacher was talking we listened. Over time it just became a habit that we followed without thinking really. And honestly speaking school was a better experience for everyone concerned because of that. I came out with an excellent education. Not only that, I listen to people and I don't interrupt. I've noticed that a lot of people don't have a clue about this basic courtesy.

When you're dealing with students who just don't care, no technique under the sun is going to work with them!

Elective teacher here. I 100% agree that talkative kids don’t always understand that their talking impacts the entire class. Their situational awareness is super low and developing along with that frontal lobe!

This doesn't work anymore. I'm on my 15th year and unless I raise my voice and become authoritative or send students out of the classroom, they WILL NOT STOP and instead continue to disrupt or mock me, become defiant, and overall out of control. I started seeing this trend about 2 years before the pandemic and it still continues. I teach middle school and only 1 out my 5 classes will even remotely consider responding to these suggestions. The other 4 will not. This is the new normal (excessive disrespect) and is driving many great teachers away.

My experience says that saying the "Give me just 20 more secs." is a real concession that is a sort of vanguard to losing more of that student gradually.

I’m a 26 year veteran, but it never hurts to have a refresher. We have a wild group of 8th graders this year. My principal already came in and talked to my homeroom because they’ve apparently been causing chaos up and down the hallway. I’m trying to use these techniques. I hope I don’t need anything more!

Thank you for mentioning the part about emailing the parent and Bcc all the stakeholders. This is written documentation that can be saved. A phone call without an email follow up can lead to miscommunication. Make sure that your tone in both cases are clear and compassionate.

Your content is so goldd. Power struggles are big in my school, i wish staff would watch your videos

I appreciate that you include the student in the email. I do that so they have full knowledge of what I told their parents. It helps.

Never about punishing; it’s about their success. In other words, turn every negative into a positive. I’m entering my teaching program in a few weeks for English… your content on classroom management is great man.

I teach adults. I'm going to try some of these though since several of my students act like children anyway.

'Your attention affects or retention"...facts and will repeat this for them.

This video could not have come at a more perfect time. Thank you so much for this!

Thank you. I love your videos. ❤ I tell students that we need a good dynamic at every table in order to have a successful class and that has worked so well because it doesn’t leave room for an argument and it depersonalizes the situation so kids don’t feel targeted. Keep posting videos like this!

His sense of humor thrown in once in a while helps keeps my focus on the video. It makes me see the value and having a some sense of humor while teaching.

I love this video. It's so true that students respond so much better to positivity

Loved this! Thank you

I'm new to this channel, but I have found many good tips that have helped me a lot. Thank you! I hope I can apply some of these techniques soon.

Thank you thank you thank you, so refreshing...

Great advice which I'm going to use.

Reynolds, I really enjoy your videos and it has helped me with many circumstances in my classroom. Having said that I feel like most teachers in your average classroom aren't dealing with just one or two talkative students and really have trouble creating just a basic level of teacher-student respect in your classroom and establishing norms. I honestly don't know if anyone has advice for these situations

i just became a teacher and feels like the biggest mistake ive ever made. i teach middle school.

Winning!

Oh this is so helpful!! I have a few classes that I will be using these techniques with. Thank you!!

My problem is not one student but 12 out of 34 (that's another problem, all 7 of my classes are filled to capacity). In each class, some worse than others, I have as many as 12 students who refuse to do work, and will talk and be disruptive the whole time. These are students that are getting Fs and Ds across the board in all classes and nothing is done about them by admin. Their whole goal of coming to my class is to see their friends. They literally don't want to hear me speak and have tuned me out. Calling parents had little effect on these kids as many of the parents don't know what to do with them either. I'm honestly at a loss in my career because this is far from my first year teaching. I thought it would get better by year 5.

Needed this today 😂

When I wait - they get it together real quick - maybe I do have a scary face lol

I am blessed to be in a classroom with a PA system with overhead speakers. If kids are talking while I am giving a lesson, I'll ask a question and then call on the main talkaholic student and ask for the answer. I don't repeat the question. I just say "Aaron WHATS THE ANSWER"? When I get the huh and lost, dumb look because the student wasn't paying attention and has no answer. I'll ask the class "can anyone "throw a clue at Aaron about what's going on". That usually gets a laugh from the talker and classmates That usually shuts down all conversations in the room. They hate being called on without warning and soon realize talking while I'm teaching is making them a target. Another thing that works great is to pull a chair up next to the student, sit down and continue the lesson. I take my microphone with me when I do it. The talkers now have the entire class looking at them as I continue teaching. next to them. They don't like that either. In a worst case scenario I'll call home, explain the situation to the parent asking if they could speak to their child...and say "he's right here". I'll then cover the mouthpiece with my hand, pick up my microphone and say "Aaron, your mother would like to speak with you" and hold the phone up. I then slide the sound-volume of the head set all the way up on the phone, the class will become absolutely silent because they want to hear/see what will happen. It usually goes down something like this " but momma that man be trippin" as he squirms, tries to make himself as small as possible, and holds the phone away from his ear due to all the screaming on the other end. That usually takes care of the problem. The kids take it well. My last victim, after handing the phone back to me shook his head in the affirmative, smiled at me and said, "well played Mr. S." and went back to his seat. The kids often appreciate a creative smackdown.

Hey dude well It's my first time coming across your channel and these tips a lot of them can apply to a class president not just a teacher lol

Hello and good morning 🌞 I enjoyed watching your video You are so amazing 😻 Love your channel

My standing expectantly in silence works every time. 25 yr veteran.

I'm a Deaf teacher, teaching hearing (elementary) kiddos (parents are encouraged to join and learn too, so the kids have someone to practice with) but ALL of the techniques these kids know are AUDIO (the school uses: teacher claps 2x, kids respond clapping back 3x, or little verbal phrases) ... looking for Deaf-friendly skillsets for teaching hearing kids. Using the sign for PAY ATTENTION (silently) catches on, and the kids start doing it too, so it spreads like wildfire.... but 20x in the course of an hour or so... slows EVERYTHING down. 🐌 Typically teaching Deaf kids involves a lot of foot stomping and flashing room lights to get everyone's attention, but those aren't options here - as I use a power chair now and can't touch the floor, and light switches are on another end of the room. I'm a volunteer, so this isn't 8 hours a day, 5 days a week... and while I was a teacher's aide in a Deaf classroom in the 90s, Deaf kids have a very different type of attention span - and the impending doom of eye fatigue if we pay attention to one thing for too long, as our eyes tend to be taking everything in at once and filtering what's important becomes exhausting. Rewiring hearing kids to hear with their eyes instead of their ears is easy - I shut off my voice, they lean in further to grasp my point ... but it doesn't last long. As a mom with ADHD who raised a hearing kid with ADHD I keep saying "I should know this!" ... but all my skills seem to have met their match this year. I used to have babies and toddlers and kindergarteners mixed in, and for whatever reason, that was a breeze compared to 2nd-6th graders. Could really use some insights into non-audio clues. Flashing lights (assuming none of the kids have seizure disorders, of course), and physical tools like a small ball or dice makes it harder to sign without empty hands. These are awesome kids, happy to be there, but easily become chatterboxes.... and encouraging them to only have side conversations if they use their hands/body language turns into a goofy spider-dancing fit if they don't know the sign for something and have to find another way to communicate their thought. It gives them a creative outlet, but harder to reign them back in and back on task. Input? Anyone?

I work at a school where most of the parents do not provide an email for the school. In fact, most of the parents of the difficult kids don't answer their phones and have no voicemail set up for me to leave a message. How do you handle this situation?

4:05 Yeah... I've tried it and some of my kids do count😂

I’ve followed you for a bit. I like your content . But Vygotsky’s Zone Of Proximal Development is about learning not physical space.

What if the student is talkative BUT it is more of them dominating the classroom discussion? Or that they have a response to EVERYTHING you say...I need guidance on this situation.

Can you recommend a book about Fred Rogers?

Shoutout to all my kevins in class- I also liked to stack.

Your topic is important and interesting But please speak slowly to help us as Arab teachers to benefit from your experience Thanks

This was brilliant. I tried this new strategy saying to a disruptive student "Cody, can I have your attention for just 3 more mins". I even got an apology from this kid and he starting focusing. I tried it on another student and she apologised too, however, it didn't quite work so well for her because she continued talking, even though I had just asked her to focus. In general, I found this doesn't challenge the student and you get a better response from them. Now I'm going to watch your video 'How to Stop Students From Interrupting Your Lessons', because I get these random questions and students want to interrupt me while I'm speaking and trying to explain something.

Anyone here as an adult to see if these suggestions would have worked on them?

The weird part is that my students would respond with “But I don’t want to win, I just want to sit where I’m sitting now!” 😞

These are good but man…it’s exhausting to think about putting it all together when you need to use these tips. When I am frustrated, my brain isn’t functioning like it would need to be. ADD and teaching is a rough combination.

great

if a teacher stops a student from taking, he is not a good listener for that matter good teacher. it should be tried with providing knowledge and captivating him with your engaging talk so that he stops talking and starts listening

Toxic student

Wow this is a disturbing title to a video. Maybe let them be inquisitive