Low-Prep Classroom Management for a Talkative Class

We’ve all had a class that just seems to have a lot to say from the moment they walk into the room! It can be challenging to have a very talkative class, but it doesn’t mean you can’t improve the noise level. In this post, I’m going to share tips to help you set up low-prep classroom management for a talkative class.

The Challenge of a Chatty Class

While there are many other difficult behaviors that we deal with as teachers, a chatty class really does pose a lot of challenges to learning.

• Lost Instruction Time: There is a lot to cover during a day of instruction. The more time you spend waiting for your class to quiet down, the less time you have to teach.
• Increased Distractibility: Many students have trouble focusing on their work when there are conversations going on around them. 
• Schoolwide Disruptions: If you have a class that likes to chat on the way down the hallway, it can be disruptive for other classrooms throughout the school.
• Disrespectful Behavior: Talking when someone else is talking is just plain disrespectful! It’s important to create a community of respect by teaching students to hold their thoughts until an appropriate time to share. This is a life skill that students need to master.
  

These are just a few of the many reasons why it’s important to address excessive talking through your classroom management strategies. 

Low-Prep Classroom Management for a Talkative Class

If you’re looking for an easy way to improve the noise level in your classroom, you’re in the right place! I’m sharing a simple system that you can use to address chatty behavior through your classroom management in just a few steps.

1. Choose a Positive Reinforcement Strategy

The hunt for an effective classroom management tool for your talkative class can take up a lot of time! For this post, I’ll be sharing a very simple, low-prep tool that you can use easily switch up for the different seasons of the year. These seasonal cookies come in handy since students often become more chatty as different holidays approach. 

This whole-class reward chart is a cookie sheet with various cookies. The class earns cookies to put on the baking sheet by demonstrating a specific behavior goal. Once the cookie sheet is full, the class earns a pre-determined reward. These rewards can be anything from extra recess to a stuffed animal day. (Keep the rewards simple to ensure that this classroom management strategy remains low-prep!)

2. Prep the Incentive Chart

Once you’ve selected your reward chart, take a few minutes to laminate the pieces and add magnets or Velcro. You’ll be able to prep this chart once and use it over and over again! 

What I love about this reward chart is that you can save even more time by not cutting out the individual cookies. The white squares still fit perfectly onto the cookie sheet, so it looks nice as you fill it in.

Once you have the chart itself prepped, it’s time to prep your class for working toward the goal! Explain the “why” behind the behavior goal you’ve selected and how it will help your classroom community. It really helps to maintain student buy-in when they understand the importance of the positive behavior they’re being asked to demonstrate. You can also take this time to share the reward that students will be working toward.

3. Keep the Reward Chart in Plain View

Another way to save time with your classroom management strategy is to keep the reward chart and pieces in plain view. You don’t want to waste time tracking down the pieces when it’s time to recognize students for demonstrating the target behavior! You can use something as simple as an envelope attached to the bulletin board to keep everything within reach. I also like to use the small containers from the dollar store that have a small lip on them. They easily attach to bulletin board borders!

4. Consistently Track Progress

The reason why it’s so important to keep your reward chart in plain view is that it reminds you to actually use it! One of the biggest hurdles to addressing excessive talking in the classroom is not consistently recognizing the students who are making positive choices. It’s so easy to notice the chatty students and address the noise that we might overlook the students who are working quietly. By keeping the chart somewhere highly visible, it serves as a reminder for you and your students!

5. Add Individual Support If Needed

After working hard on voice level as a class, there might be individual students who still need some structured support to improve their talkative behavior. You can repurpose this reward chart as a token board for individual students, which will save you even more time! Just add the board and pieces to a file folder and it’s ready to go with minimal extra prep time. You can address specific goals that will help the individual student use an appropriate voice level for different parts of the daily routine.

Set Up a Whole Class Reward System in 10 Minutes!

Would you like to see these tips in action? In this video, I show you more details about how you can put together a classroom management system for your talkative class. The best part is that you can have this ready to go from download to display in ten minutes or less!

Classroom Management Printables

To save you some time, I’ve put together a set of the cookie sheet reward charts that you can use as a classroom management tool for your talkative class. Just print, prep, and display this reward chart and you’ll be well on your way to helping your students keep their noise level in check. Just click below to find this resource in the Teaching Exceptional Kinders shop or on TPT.

Save These Tips for Classroom Management

Be sure to save this post if you’d like to come back to it later. Just add the pin below to your favorite teaching board on Pinterest. You’ll be able to find these tips and resources whenever you need low-prep classroom management for a talkative class!