C.M. Corner: Whisper and Erasing Techniques

By
Travis Chapman

The holidays bring about all sorts of joys in the classroom.  Various decorations and projects, classroom/school activities and plenty of access to holiday treats, while fun and exciting, can cause students to become more easily distracted.  Bringing them back on task, depending on the activities, may prove more difficult with all of the excitement of the season.  Here are some techniques that you can use to help gain their attention.
 
Begin to whisper your directions.  If you attempt to talk over student conversations, the added noise typically causes students to talk louder.  As they notice you are talking, they’ll stop their conversation because they have to work harder to hear what it is that you are telling them.  Further, students who are trying to pay attention may try to help bring the rest of class back into focus.
 
Write directions on the board, one word at a time and then erase them.  (Take – erase- out – erase-your-erase-workbook- erase . . .  for example).  Similar to the whisper technique, students will have to pay close attention to what is happening to find out what they are expected to do.  The limited time to read the information and put it together will take most of their conversation and if they are to know what to do, they will have to stop what they are doing.
 
Being one of the biggest issues that substitutes face, classroom management is a very important part of the job.  Hopefully, having these techniques as tools will help to keep the holiday season merry and bright for the students as well as for you!  If you would like any additional resources or have any tips of your own that you would like to share, please email training@teachersoncall.com.  We would love to hear from you!
 
We hope you have a wonderful holiday season!