Creating a Calm and Focused Classroom Environment
A silent room where children are focused on their work is the goal for every teacher when the time is right. The specific approach to achieving this depends heavily on the class’s composition and the wider school culture.
A simple rule of thumb is that when someone else is talking to the class, everyone else must be silent and listening. This simplicity, however, can mask a complicated reality. It’s incredibly difficult to teach this behaviour when it’s not already present, but it’s essential if the class is to learn effectively.
With a new class, this norm needs to be established as quickly as possible, with corrections and consequences for transgressors kept as subtle as possible. At the start of the year, the ratio of interruptions to focused learning will likely be less than ideal, especially with impulsive individuals. However, this can be retrained over time. The main way to manage this when challenges arise is the consistent application of the school’s behaviour policy. A few missed minutes of break or lunch can address individual issues over time, but this is much easier to describe than to enact. As the teacher, you set the tone in your classroom, and if your message is delivered with positivity and persistence, it will eventually resonate with all children, sometimes with additional support structures for those who are harder to reach.
Whole-Class Instruction
When you’re teaching the entire class, the level of noise should be as low as possible. While some schools have support groups or other adults working in classrooms, any noise or distraction can detract from the optimal level of focus for the children. While some people enjoy studying to music when they’re alone, in a class of 30, it’s vital to protect the focus on the learning objective as much as possible.
Independent Work
When children are working independently, you should gradually build up the expectation and tolerance for silence. If the class is already well-adjusted to working in silence, this may not be necessary. However, if not, start with a single minute and make this your primary focus for that time, in addition to providing any necessary support. Similarly, the expectation for peer support during moments of silence needs to be explicit. A quiet request for an eraser or help with a problem can be allowed, but it should be kept to a very quiet minimum. Over time, as you increase the expected length of silent periods, the level of appropriate interaction will become intuitive for the class, reducing the need for you to intervene or remind them.
The next step is to ensure the class displays this behaviour regardless of which adult is teaching them.
Silence Beyond the Classroom
Public Silence
You can praise your class by saying, “My class are the best in the school at sitting in silence in assembly.” While this may or may not be true, training this habit in the classroom sets them up for success in different contexts at school and in various social situations beyond.
Corridors
Silent corridors are a feature of some schools in both challenging and less challenging contexts. The aim is for calm, purposeful, and, above all, safe movement around the school. The design of some schools can make for excellent running routes inside, but the behaviour challenge is won when even the most impulsive children show respect for the rules and safety of others by walking calmly with purpose, even when adults aren’t watching. This takes training. Again, you can reinforce this by saying, “My class are the best at this, and we will practise until we get it right,” using good humour and appropriate consequences for those who don’t follow the rules.
To have a silent room where children are focused and concentrated on their work is the aim for every teacher when the time is right. This is highly context specific in terms of the make up of the class and broader culture in the school.
A simple rule of thumb is that when someone else is talking to the class, everyone else needs to be silent and listening. This simplicity belies the complicated reality. Looking to teach this when it is not present is really hard. But teach it you must if the class are going to learn effectively. With a new class this norm needs to be established as quickly as possible. With corrections and consequences for transgressors as unobtrusive as possible. At the start of the year, the ratio of interruptions to focus inputs will be less than ideal, if there are some impulsive individuals, but with time this can be re-trained. The main vehicle for this when things get challenging is the consistent application of the school’s behaviour policy. A few missed minutes of break times. lunch times on the day over time will address individuals but this is much easier to type than to enact. You make the weather in your classroom and if the message is delivered in with positivity and persistence it will land with all children over time. Sometimes with additional support structures for our hard to reach students.
So when teaching the whole class, the level of noise needs to be as little as possible. Some schools have support groups in classrooms, or even other adults busying with displays and other jobs while the class is in full swing. In the same way that the Mozart effect is nonsense i.e. listening to Mozart while studying improves learning, any noise or distraction detracts from the optimal level of focus for the children. Some people enjoy studying to music – perhaps when alone, you do you, but for a class of 30 the focus on the objective needs to be protected as much as possible.
When children are working independently, the expectation and tolerance for silence needs to built up gradually. If the class are already well-adjusted to the norm of working in silence this may not be needed. But if not start with a minute and ensure that this is your focus for that time. Beyond adult support. Equally the expectation for peer support in moments of silence needs to be explicit – so that specific quiet requests for an eraser or perhaps if stuck a peer can suppport but this should be kept to a very quiet minimum. Over time increase the expectation for the length of the silent period and the level of interaction will become implicit for all the class. Freeing up any need to intervene or remind from the teacher.
The next phase of this is then to ensure the class display this behaviour no matter which adult they are being taught by.
Public silence
My class are the best in the school at sitting in silence in assembly. This may or may not be true, but the training in this habit in class is setting them up for success in different contexts in school as well as in different social situations beyond.
Silent corridors are a feature of some schools in challenging contexts and of those in less challenging contexts. Calm and purposeful – but not silent corridors – same. Rowdy and dangerous corridors? Same. Same. The aim is for purposeful and calm – above all safe moving around the schools. The design of some schools means that there are some excellent running routes inside, but the behaviour challenge is won when even our most impulsive children display respect for the rules and safety of others by walking calmly with purpose even when the adults are not watching. This needs training – again my class are the best at this and we will practice until we get it right. With good humour and appropriate consequences for those who transgress.
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