Classroom Management

Strategies: How to
Control Your Noisy
Classroom
There are a variety of reasons for
students acting out and being
disruptive or noisy.
Controlling A Noisy Class Is
About Establishing Your
Authority
1. Mind-set
You may be an NQT still moulding your craft or a more
experienced teacher looking for ways to deal with that one
overly chatty class. Whatever you do, your personality as a
teacher will impact the kind of behaviour management
strategies you feel comfortable using and which will work
best for you. A bit of self-belief and confidence go a long
way- if you can’t convince yourself of your authority then
you won’t convince your pupils. It’s important not to get too
upset with challenging, disruptive students and not take it
personally. Most of all, when it comes to those noisy lessons,
it’s important not to continually shout over the noise or
attempt to talk over the chatter. Shouting to be heard can
lose their respect and your authority.
2. Rules and Consistency
So how do you quiet a class without yelling? Well, it’s important to
establish control from the very beginning, starting with controlled
entry in to the classroom. This sets the standard for the rest of the
lesson and, if consistently enforced, the rest of your lessons to
come. Consistent, clear starter tasks or activities at the beginning
of every lesson become a regular, expected behaviour and tempt
students away from chatting to fill the 10 mins at the beginning
before the lesson starts. But it’s all about achieving a balance.
Despite needing consistency in your lessons, it’s also good to pick
your battles and allow certain noise levels that work depending on
the task at hand. With younger ages, this can work by using a
traffic light system where students know that red means silent
working, orange means quiet chatting to the person next to you
and green means group talking.
3. Grab Attention
When the noise levels start to slide, you need to grab their
attention and yelling at them is not always the way to do
this. If you are always shouting, it loses power and becomes
the norm. With younger children, it can be easier to grab
attention with unexpected sounds like noise makers, bells,
etc. You can try clapping or raising your hands where the
students then have to copy you. Some teachers try counting
down from 5, with students knowing that they are expected
to be silent by the time you get to 1. Younger classes
respond well to call and respond strategies: the teacher says
“1 2 3 eyes on me” and the class respond “1 2 eyes on you”.
This can work with song lines too. This may be enough for
some classes, but noisier classes may need some incentives
or consequences to remain quiet.
4. Rewards and Consequences
This brings us to reward and consequence tactics. It’s
simple: reward them when they’re quiet and implement
consequences when they’re not. You can try putting the
letters ‘REWARD’ on the wall and each time they get too
noisy or don’t respond to your orders, you then take one
letter off. If all letters go by the end of the week then the
class don’t receive their weekly reward. It’s best to give your
class reward options, letting them vote on what the weekly
reward should be. Alternatively, you could take minutes off
their break/ lunch times for every minute you’re left waiting.
What you choose for a consequence may also depend on
your school’s behaviour policy.
5. Experiment
If you look around, you can find a number of new classroom tools
you might not have considered, including apps. There are a
number of noisy classroom apps on the market, for example, if
you’re open to trying something different. Don’t be afraid to try
different approaches. New teachers are often more open to new
methods while teachers who’ve been in the profession longer may
sometimes be closed off to trying new thing in class. This can be
detrimental as they may get stuck in their ways, doing the same
methods time and time again that don’t work. You might have one
system that works well for one class but not for another, in which
case it’s a good idea to adapt your system. Perhaps it’s different
depending on the different age groups you teach. Switch things
up, try a couple of approaches and learn what works for you.
6. Reach Out
Don’t forget that you’re not alone. If you’re struggling
with a particular class, speak to other colleagues who
also teach that class. Being able to vent to someone
who understands where you’re coming from is a great
stress-reliever. Furthermore, if they’ve taught that class,
they may be able to pass on some useful tips that
worked for them. Likewise, if you know a teacher who
may be struggling with classroom management,
supporting them could really help them out.