Request and named follow-up

• Issue a polite request for quiet: “Thanks everyone”, perhaps accompanied by a clap if particularly noisy
• Identify a few usual noisy students and add: “Thanks James… Thanks Simon… Thanks Sarah…”
• The students addressed will stop talking and the class will hopefully follow suit to avoid being named

I first saw this done by a teacher with a great deal of respect and presence, which are beneficial to the technique working. The downsides are it takes a bit longer than the others but it’s very low key and controlled and if you can master it you will probably save your heart and voice a fair bit of damage!

Three calls

• “First call for quiet”, “Second call for quiet”, “Third and final call for quiet”

A fairly simple technique which works pretty well. Designed to be used with a strike system (as below). After a while, students will get used to paying attention from the first request.

Shout and wait

• “Quiet please!”
• Stand, wait and stare

This usually only works if you have either an exceptionally loud voice or a massive presence, if students don’t respond to the first request, you run the risk of begging for quiet.

Three Strikes

• <Student continues talking>
• “Okay Joe, you’re talking after I’ve requested you stop, that’s your first strike; three and it’s a detention”

Whilst not a method in itself, it’s pretty effective when used in conjunction with others. Detention can be replaced with a smaller sanction such as loss of privileges, extra minutes after the lesson etc. Students tend to work well when on their second strike, for obvious reasons!