Does it make sense to teach students to learn alanguage, use it appropriately, think deeply, andsolve problems in silence?

ManagingStudentTalking Classroom Scenario Said Mr. Dennis, Im in control in my classroom. Students speak whenspoken to. You wont walk past my classroom and hear any noise unless itscoming from me . My students know that I insist upon quiet. And he wasright. Upon entering his classroom, students were greeted with a scowl f r o m M r . D e n n i s . H e w a s t a l l i n s t a t u r e a n d s h o r t o n w o r d s . T h e s i l e n c e i n h i s classroom was d e a f e n i n g . M r . D e n n i s w a s t h e m o s t f e a r e d a n d d r e a d e d teacher in the school. Each day, he doled out the days lesson in his oh soquiet and threatening tone. And then the students got busy completingworksheets and writing paragraphs and reading his loudly red commentson their papers. Therewas no activeparticipation, no student talking, no collaboration, and no noise! It was just as Mr. Dennis liked it.T h e o f f i c e n e v e r h e a r d f r o m M r . D e n n i s , a s h e h a d n o d i s c i p l i n e p r o b l e m s . He literally scared his students silent. Oddly enough, at the end of thes c h o o l y e a r , h i s s t u d e n t s i n e v i t a b l y s c o r e d l o w , b o t h o n t h e i r r e p o r t c a r d s a n d onthedistrictscriterion-referencetest inEnglish. Mr.Dennis h a d t h e p e r f e c t justification every year: Students today just dont care. Neither do their par-ents. If they cant learn English in my classroom, they wont learn it any where. But Ill keep drilling it into them, whether they like it or not. Whats Effective After reading about Mr. Dennis, you may be tempted to skipahead to Whats Not Effective, because if you are an effectiveteacher, then you know that Mr. Dennis typifies what is not ef-fective. But be patient. Well get to him in a minute. First, con-sider this: If you were learning a language, could you do it in si 7 T eac h i ngC h al l enge2

lence?of course not. In an effective classroom, regardless of what subjecty o u t e a c h , u n l e s s , o f c o u r s e , y o u a r e t e a c h i n g s p i e s t o r e m a i n s i l e n t u n d e r t o r - ture, silence is not the norm. But lets be clear on the difference between inappropriate noise and constructive noise. Inappropriate noise occurs inthe classrooms of teachers lacking in classroom management skills. In theseclassrooms there is no order to the noise. Students are engaged in casual con-versations completely unrelated to the subject matter. The teachers in theseclassrooms are usually adding to that noise by begging, pleading with, andt h r e a t e n i n g t h e s t u d e n t s . T h i s t y p e o f n o i s e i s n o t e f f e c t i v e . O k a y ,sowhat is effective? In the classroom of an effective teacher, students actually do mostof the talking. They are constantly involved, either in discussions with theteacher or in structured discussions with one another. There is rarely a silentmoment inthe classroom ofan effectiveteacher,aside from students taking at e s t o r c o m p l e t i n g a t a s k i n d e p e n d e n t l y . C o o p e r a t i v e g r o u p i n g i s t h e n o r m i n these classrooms. These classrooms are exciting places. You see, it is virtu-ally impossible to have a silent environment that is exciting. In the excitingclassroom, of course, noise levels are controlled so as not to be distracting.Again, structure is the key.

Whats Not Effective Two things are not effective: (1) silent classrooms, and (2) class-rooms with unstructured noise. In the case of Mr. Dennis, hisc l a s s r o o m w a s t h e o h , t o o t y p i c a l s i l e n t c l a s s r o o m