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Teaching is an art and a science… but it’s impossible to do if your students don’t know how to be quiet. If students are talking, then they won’t be able to hear directions or learn anything. Because of this, one of the most important pieces of classroom management is making sure that the students are quiet when they need to be. This is easy with some classes, but with chatty classes, it’s a struggle. So what do we do with chatty classes in elementary music?
The good news? There’s actually a lot of strategies you can implement.! The bad news? Not all of them will work.
Well, not all of them will work for every chatty class.
Chatty classes are not all the same. There’s some chatty classes who talk over you, some who try to be sneaky, some who are rude, and some who are just good friends with each other. And some classes who will create Google Slides presentations and share them with their friends so that they can type to each other and “talk” on the shared slide while the teacher is talking. (That is an actually story from a fourth grade class at my school– in their homeroom class. Not music.)
Today, I’ll share a few principles of dealing with chatty classes in music, and then some strategies. Try a strategy and see if it works. If not, try another one. You will probably need a few chatty classes classroom management strategies in your arsenal so that students will be able to be successful. Remember, every class is different, and different chatty classes need different things.
Need classroom management help? Check out this professional development video that goes into detail about the keys to classroom management and includes tons of actual, tactile ideas to implement tomorrow.
PS I often talk about classroom management on my email list. This is a free email I send out 2-3 times a week (depending on the time of year) with tips, tricks, lesson ideas, and activities.
Plus when you join the email list, you’ll get access to the free resource library! In here, you’ll get free lessons and activities, like Kookaburra 4 Corners, Grizzly Bear song, flower rhythm manipulatives, snowball fight composing, and more.
Chatty classes basics
First, let’s talk through a few things that need to happen to create a culture where students understand what they are supposed to act. A classroom culture that does not allow students to talk when the teacher is talking. These things have to be in place, or none of the strategies for chatty classes will work.
First thing’s first…
You need a classroom management strategy.
You NEED a classroom management strategy.
YOU NEED A CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT STRATEGY.
You cannot teach without a classroom management strategy. If you’re having a hard time with chatty classes in music, this is the first play to look.
Specifically, you need a whole group classroom management strategy and an individual strategy. That way when the whole class is talking, you have consequences, and when one students is talking, they have consequences.
There are lots of different classroom management strategies for elementary music class– a few of which I spell out in this blog post– but I’ll share my two so you have a quick idea.
Whole group classroom management strategy: teacher v. student points
Teacher v. Student points is super simple! Here’s how it works:
- When students follow classroom rules, they earn a point.
- When they earn a point, it goes on the board, and they say “oh yeah!”
- When students don’t follow a classroom rule, the teacher earns a point.
- When the teacher earns a point, it goes on the board, and the students say “aww” or “oh no!”
- At the end of class, subtract any teacher points from the student points, and whatever is left over goes towards a whole class reward.
For my students, we earn “class Gator bucks” which are incentives my school gives out and students can earn pizza parties or different things like that.
At my previous school, I would have students trade in their points for game time– 10 points meant 10 minutes of game time at the end of the week or month depending on the rotation.
As far as chattiness goes, if I have to stop because students are talking, or if we have to start over, I earn a point.
Learn more about it (and incentive ideas!) here.
Individual classroom management strategy: Card system
For individual students talking or blurting out, I use the card system.
The way I saw this system done, there were three cards: green, yellow, and red. They were just laminated pieces of colored paper. I do mine a little bit differently– but more on that in a bit.
- Green: Green means good! When students are good, they get a green card. A green card has some kind of reward tied to it– that could be a Dojo point, a piece of candy, a sticker, etc. The teacher that I observed did a special instrument at the end of the day and only the people who had earned a green card would get to play it. It also allowed students to learn about an instrument that they normally would not have, because you may only have one or two.
- Yellow: Yellow is a warning + time out. This means a student is not on task. While they have a yellow, they cannot play games or instruments. When they fix themselves, they are able to put the yellow away and join the class.
- Orange: Orange in a long time out away from the class.
- Red: Red card means the student had a orange and continued to not follow directions. Red card means some kind of punishment. In my classroom, it means phone call home and a lunch detention.
Annnnnnnd you can get cards for the card system FOR FREE in my free resource library! If you haven’t joined yet, click here to get the password!
Here’s a link to a video and blog post talking more about the card system.
Never talk when the kids are talking
Now that you have your classroom management system in place, the most important thing to remember is this: Never talk when the students are talking.
If you are talking over them, that signals that what you’re saying doesn’t matter, and they can talk while you’re talking. Plus, logistically, if you’re giving directions, they won’t know what to do. And it will kill your voice.
The students have to be quiet for you to talk.
I know you might be thinking that’s impossible, but I promise it’s not impossible. Is it hard? Yes.
But you know what else is hard? Talking over the students! Pick your hard.
The good thing about this is that even though it can be difficult (especially at first), it gets easier with time. If you teach the students the expectations, they will learn. They are fully capable. And once they know that you are serious, they will do it– or at least do better.
Stop talking
One big problem with chatty classes? Their teachers might talk too much! If you’re talking on and on and on, then yes– the students will get bored and stop listening. They might start talking. You have to keep it brief– they don’t need to know everything. Just enough to do the thing.
In undergrad, my professor drilled into us that kids have attention spans about equivalent to their ages– so a five year old might have about 5 minutes. A ten year old has about 10 minutes.
If you’ve been talking for 15, you’ve lost them. They are going to zone out, start messing with things, or start talking.
So… stop talking!
How do you do this?
- Ask questions instead of telling answers
- Ask for students to read from the board instead of you reading or explaining (older students)
- Have them try the activity without your help
- Intersperse talking with something else (talk, then sing, then talk, etc)
- Play a video instead
There’s a lot of little things that can help students get engaged. For example, when we’re reading rhythms, I might have a students read the rhythm first, then have everyone play it, instead of having me reading it.
If we’re talking about meter, I might ask the student what they think the line in the middle is (a bar line). Lead them to the answer instead of telling them.
If we’re learning about composers, I might have the students each read a portion.
Or, instead of explaining something super well, have them figure it out. The first time I told students to “figure it out” when we were learning Hot Cross Buns on the xylophone. We sang it. We talked about the highs and lows. We looked at the letters on the screen. And then they figured it out. It was magical. They don’t need you as much as you think.
When you make your lesson, think: How can I make the kids do things instead of me telling them about it?
You’ll be surprised with the answer.
Voice level posters or lights
Students need to know what level of talking is appropriate– and when! I used to have push lights on my board that I purchase off of Amazon. They have sticky backs (and they are SUPER sticky so they won’t fall off…. But they also don’t come off easily. FYI). I added different voice types– listening, singing, talking, and whispering.
When I talk, I hit the listening light. They should listen, not talk. When we’re doing group work, I hit the talking light. I didn’t do this all of the time, because it gets to be a lot, but especially when I am looking for something specific from the kids.
You can also have a poster, and just tell them, “voices on level ____”
Typically, people say:
- Level 0: No talking
- Level 1: Whisper
- Level 2: Normal talking
- Level 3: Projecting (loud voices)
- Level 4: Yelling
…but we’re not ever yelling in music, so I would leave that out. Sometimes people say level 4 is outside voices, but I prefer projecting, because that’s what we do in music.
Or you could make it italian terms to make it go with your curriculum!
- Level 0: Silenzio
- Level 1: Piano
- Level 2: Mezzo piano
- Level 3: Mezzo forte
- Level 4: forte
Review expectations
Sometimes, it’s as simple as being explicit with your instructions. They should know when to talk and when not to talk, but sometimes they really just don’t.
So I let them know what voice level I expect. If we really need help, then we practice sometimes too. So, “Good audience members are silent while we read a book/watch a video/someone is talking/etc”. You’ll be amazed how that simple thing helps.
Bonus tip? Tell them why! If they know there’s a reason and you’re not just trying to kill their vibe.
Tell them what’s important
And going off of that, let students know when something is important. I know it sounds crazy, but they often assume we just talk for the sake of talking. They don’t always realize what you’re saying is important. If I’m about to introduce a new concept in elementary music, I will literally say, “We are about to learn something really important. Because of this, I need everyone to be focused on me, sitting still, and listening.”
Also, it helps if you are going to play a game afterwards.
Strategies for Chatty Classes in Elementary Music Class
Now that we have the basics down, let’s talk about strategies for chatty classes in elementary music class.
Some of these strategies will work for you, and some won’t. Some will work for your classes, and some won’t. And some strategies will work for some classes and not others.
The idea is to find what works for you.
Some of these I use all of the time, some I only use with chatty classes, and some I only use when it’s really, really bad.
Call Backs for Chatty Classes
A call back is when you say something and the students respond with something– and then they are quiet.
Here’s a few options that I use in my class. (although there are tons!)
- Class class? Yes yes!
- Talk less. Smile more. (yes, this is my favorite!)
- Macaroni and cheese. Everybody freeze!
- Hocus pocus! Everybody focus!
- Quiet on set (or in the house) Quiet, quiet
And my favorite simple one is: If you hear my voice clap once. If you hear my voice clap twice. If you hear my voice touch your heard. If you hear my voice take a deep breath, etc.
Now the important thing about this is that you have to have them be quiet after the call back. So first, you have to teach the call back. Then you have to reinforce it.
If you say macaroni and cheese and they say everybody freeze, and they keep talking, that is not successful. They have to stop talking. In my class, they have to stop talking and look at me. If they do, they get a class point. If not, I might get a point.
It might seem hard, but you have to make them do it. If not, they just won’t.
At the beginning of the year, or when I introduce a new one, we practice it a few times before moving on.
No transitions
Transitions are the enemy in a chatty class. I had a particularly chatty second grade class one year, and they were great… until we switched activities. Once they were on something, they were fine. But trying to go from activity A to activity B was difficult, because they talked so much- and then they couldn’t hear the directions!
Eliminate transitions as much as possible. Think about the smoothest way to go from A to B. Instead of picking up rhythm sticks and handing out pencils, can they put them up and pick them up at the same time? If you hand out the next material, is it faster? Get creative, and eliminate as many transitions as you can.
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Define talking
This is going to sound like the dumbest thing I’ve ever told you, so I understand if you click out and never read anything I say again.
But the day I realized that some students only associate “talking” with “holding a conversation” was life changing for me.
Imagine this: You see someone turned around, talking. You say, “Stop talking. “ They say “I wasn’t talking!”
…
Sometimes it’s gas lighting.
Other times, they don’t realize it. Some of my students think if they just say one thing, it’s not talking. If they are answering a question, they may not realize that is considered talking. They only think holding a conversation is talking.
So when dealing with that, I typically say, “All mouths should be closed, everyone should face forward, and no sounds should be coming out of you.”
That’s much more clear than talking.
Speaking of which…
Ditch the circle
I know elementary music teachers loves sitting in circles, but it’s not always the best option. And it’s definitely not the best for chatty classes in elementary music class!
Have them sit in rows.
If students are sitting in a circle (or on both sides of a table), then their default view is going to be the person across the circle from them. This encourages conversation, which is great for group work, but not great for focusing on the teacher.
If you need the students looking at you, it might be difficult to look at you– and there’s people in the way! Instead, have students sit in rows. This encourages them to face the front, and makes it harder to talk, because now they are staring at the back of a head instead of the front of a face.
When we need to sit in a circle or do group work, we move. But the default setting on the seats is in rows so that they can focus on the teaching area and the screen, where I always have Google Slides going with helpful information they may need to know.
Give students something to sing or do
If they are bored, they are going to talk. So give them something to do!
In my class, the students are constantly repeating after me, or they are answering questions, or they are reading off of the board. I try hard not to talk all of the time– they can talk instead.
Give them something to say or something to do with their hands, even if it’s keeping the beat or tracing the melody. Doesn’t have to be hard. Just has to be something to focus on so they aren’t talking.
Use Talking for the Greater Good
The following strategies are all about using the chattiness for good instead of evil. In these, we will be using the talking to help students actually learn music.
Some of them might need to be taught and practiced, but if you use them, the students will learn better and you might be able to use the chattiness.
Ask don’t tell
Again– STOP TALKING. If you have chatty classes, make them do the talking instead. With anyone who can read, I’ll ask them to read off of the board. I’ll put up a slide and ask questions.
Instead of telling them what a quarter rest is, I ask: What do you think is going on here where there’s a beat but there’s no sound?
(I talk about exactly how I introduce quarter rest in this post)
This helps them be engaged in the lesson and activates those higher order thinking skills to help them learn better. They need to be engaged in the learning to be learning efficiently.
When I write a lesson, I think:
- How can I talk less?
- Is there something that they could do without my help?
- Is there something that can be turned into group work?
- Can I give them a task instead of talking?
- What can they figure out on their own?
I know this feels weird, but just start with one class, and see what they can do one their own. Put their talking to good use!
Mirrors up
Mirrors up is a Whole Brain Teaching Strategy, and it’s the holy grail of getting kids to understand things.
For this strategy, what you’ll do it say “Mirrors up”and put your hands up. The students repeat that and put their hands up. After that, they say everything that you say, and copy your hand movements until you say “mirrors away” and put the hands away.
Use specific hand movements for each vocabulary word. For example, whenever we say beat, we hold up the sign language sign for the letter “b”. (thumb goes across the palm and the other fingers are straight up.) This stays the same for every single grade level.
The idea is that they are both talking and moving their hands to associate those actions with those words, so make them something that works.
This requires them to actually internalize what you are learning.
Teach, Ok!
This is another Whole Brain Teaching strategy– Teach, Ok! This one can be tricky, but if you practice it enough, it’s super useful– especially for chatty classes. For this, you clap twice and say “teach!”, then the kids clap twice and say “ok”. Then they turn to a partner, and they teach the partner whatever you just learned.
So if you’re talking about the parts of the measure, they tell their partner all about the parts of the measure. Then they switch, so everyone gets to talk.
You can walk around while this is happening so that you can listen and hear if the students are understanding or not.
Turn and talk
Similar to Teach, Ok! Is turn and talk. For this one, students turn to someone next to them and tell that person about whatever it is you asked.
I typically use Teach, OK for when I want them to talk about specific vocabulary words. I usually use turn and talk for more open ended questions.
For turn and talk, I will often give students a question to answer, or I may say something like, “Tell your partner what you learned today,” or even “Tell your partner something you noticed in the book/video.”
Small group work
Another strategy for using the talking to you advantage is small group work or centers. When student are working in groups, they are able to talk, and you don’t have to keep them quiet. Giving them outlets like that (typically) helps them to be quieter in class when you’re talking.
I consider small group work when students are in small groups, and everyone is doing the same thing. I typically use this at the end of the class period.
I consider it centers when there are different activities, and students rotate through. This is typically a whole class period for me.
As far as what to do in small group work, you can get a 12 page guide with tons or activities for free here!
When it’s really rough…
Now, if you implement the strategies above, you can get pretty far. But what about the chatty classes that just won’t stop?
Implement the other strategies, and then…
Change the seating chart
Soemtimes, it’s as simple as changing where people are sitting, or the formation. And when it’s really bad? Then I spread them out. As far as the room will allow. The more space in between students, then less talking there will be.
Quiet turtles
For little kids, an effective strategy is quiet turtles. You can get a stuffed turtle, or make pom pom turtles, and give them to kids who are quiet. They are that child’s responsibility for the class. At the end of class, exchange the turtle for a sticker or a Dojo point or whatever makes sense. If they lose the turtle because they are talking, then they don’t get that reward.
Talking breaks
An effective strategy for chatty classes is talking breaks. This is especially helpful on a day where you need to talk a lot.
Make them a deal. If they are quiet and listening for x amount of minutes, then they get 2 minutes to talk to each other about whatever they want.
This is a reward rather than a teaching strategy, so for this, they can just chit chat.
If they aren’t quiet when you’re talking then they don’t get the talking break.
Pro tip: Call it a whisper break to keep the volume under control
Blurt tallies
Sometimes, we just need to see how bad it is– and one way to do that is with blurt tallies.
Every time someone blurts out when they aren’t supposed to, there’s a blurt tally. If there are too many (set a specific number), then there is some kind of consequence.
This can also be effective with individuals if you have a student who cannot stop blurting out.
Change the lesson
And sometimes… the class cannot handle the lesson.
If they cannot handle group work or games or instruments or whatever, they don’t have to do it.
I cannot tell you how many times I have scrapped a lesson and changed it because the students would not listen. I‘ve had years where I kept writing assignments ready to go so that if they couldn’t learn the “fun way”, then they’d learn the “boring way”.
Sometimes students need to learn the hard way what the consequences of their actions are.
Yikes, that is a lot of strategies for teaching chatty classes in music class!
Like I said before, some strategies will work with some classes, and some don’t. You have to find the right mix of things for you and for your students.
The most important thing? Keep your standards high, and hold them to the standards. If you allow them to be chatty, they will be chatty. If you don’t make them stop, they won’t. And if you don’t mean what you say, they will know.
For more classroom management blog posts, click here!
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Happy teaching!
Becca
