I remember preparing my third-grade students for an outdoor learning activity—Nature Journaling. They were excited. We were about to leave the classroom, go outside, observe nature, and record what we noticed in our journals.
It Happened Before We Even Left the Classroom
Before we could go outside, I needed to give the class important instructions. Most of my students were focused and listening, but three students were talking. They were excited about going outside and were having their own conversation instead of listening to my directions.
Teachers, have you experienced this? You are trying to give important instructions, but a few students are so excited about what is about to happen that they are already talking about it.
At that moment, I had choices. I could raise my voice. I could call their names. I could repeatedly say, “Stop talking!”
Instead, I stopped talking.
I became quiet. Then I looked around the classroom and focused my attention—not on the three students who were talking—but on the students who were already demonstrating the behavior I wanted to see.
“I appreciate this group. You are focused, ready, and listening.”
I praised the students who were demonstrating good listening behavior. The students who were talking began to notice. Instead of turning that small classroom-management moment into a confrontation, I redirected attention toward the positive behavior our class needed before we went outside.
Sometimes we do not need to give more attention to inappropriate behavior. We need to give more attention to the behavior we want students to repeat.
Their Excitement Wasn’t the Problem
Those three students were excited. They were not necessarily trying to disrespect me or ruin the lesson. They wanted to go outside.
As an elementary teacher, I think we sometimes have to distinguish between a child deliberately challenging an expectation and a child having difficulty managing excitement. That does not mean we ignore the behavior. The students still needed to listen—especially because we were preparing to leave the classroom and safety directions mattered.
But I did not want to eliminate their excitement. I wanted them to learn how to manage it.
Once we were outside doing Nature Journaling, I wanted their voices back. I wanted them observing, asking questions, discussing what they noticed, and being curious.
Student talking was not the real problem. The real issue was knowing when it was time to talk and when it was time to listen.
1. Don’t Just Say “Stop Talking”—Teach What You Expect
Sometimes we teachers assume students already understand what we mean when we say, “Listen.” But what does listening actually look like in our classroom? Does it mean voices are off? Eyes toward the speaker? Materials down? Students ready to follow directions?
If we want students to demonstrate a behavior consistently, we need to make the expectation clear. Instead of waiting until students start talking and then correcting them, we can establish the expectation beforehand.
“Before we go outside, I need everyone listening while I explain the directions. When we’re outside and begin the activity, you’ll have opportunities to talk and share your observations.”
Now students know two things: when they need to listen and when they will be able to talk.
For younger students especially, routines are not something we teach once and assume everyone has mastered. We teach them, model them, practice them, remind students—and sometimes teach them again.
We do not teach multiplication once and expect every child to master it immediately. Why should behavioral expectations be any different?
Evidence-based guidance for elementary classrooms likewise emphasizes explicitly teaching behavioral expectations and reminding students of those expectations before situations in which they are needed.
2. Give Students a Time to Talk
Sometimes the solution to too much talking is not simply less talking. Sometimes the answer is better-structured talking.
Children naturally communicate. They want to tell classmates what they are thinking, ask questions, react, and share experiences. Those conversations can become part of learning.
For example, I can teach for a few minutes and then say:
“Turn to your partner. You have 30 seconds. Tell your partner one thing you learned.”
Then I use a consistent signal to bring everyone back. The lesson develops a rhythm:
This also requires reflection from us. When students become restless or repeatedly talk, I can ask myself: Have I been talking too long? Have my students had an opportunity to participate? Can I turn some of this talking into learning?
Sometimes classroom management is not only about changing student behavior. Sometimes it requires adjusting our instruction.
3. Recognize the Behavior You Want to See
This is the strategy I used during our Nature Journaling experience. Most of my students were listening. Three were talking. I could have given all my attention to those three students. Instead, I stopped, waited, and recognized the students who were ready.
“I appreciate this group. You are focused, ready, and listening.”
This is more useful than simply saying “Good job” because it identifies the exact behavior being recognized. This is often called behavior-specific praise.
Instead of “Excellent,” try: “Thank you for stopping your conversation when you heard our signal and getting ready to listen.” Students now know exactly what behavior earned the recognition, and classmates hear what successful behavior looks like.
Praise should be sincere, not constant or artificial. But when we recognize appropriate behavior, we are doing more than complimenting students. We are teaching expectations.
4. Not Every Conversation Needs a Public Correction
Not every student behavior requires us to stop the entire lesson. Sometimes a student begins whispering while we are teaching, and our immediate reaction is to call the student’s name and stop instruction. But sometimes our correction becomes more disruptive than the original behavior.
There are quieter strategies:
- Eye contact
- Moving closer to the student
- A familiar hand signal or gesture
- Standing near the student’s desk while continuing to teach
- A brief private reminder
Use the least disruptive intervention that works.
If eye contact works, I do not need a lecture. If proximity works, I do not need to stop instruction. If a quiet reminder works, I do not need to embarrass a student in front of classmates.
We can also intervene before a predictable problem occurs: “We’re about to start something exciting. Before we begin, I need your attention for the next few minutes. Then you’ll have time to talk with your group.”
We are not waiting for students to fail. We are preparing them to succeed.
5. Build Classroom Management With Your Students
I do not want my students following expectations only because they are afraid of consequences. I want them eventually to understand something bigger: every person in the classroom affects someone else’s opportunity to learn.
That is why classroom management should not always feel like teacher versus students. I prefer teacher and students working together to protect our learning environment.
Classroom agreements, team goals, positive reinforcement, cooperative challenges, and approaches such as the Good Behavior Game can support that shared responsibility. The Good Behavior Game has been studied as a classroom behavior-management approach, with evidence supporting positive effects on student behavior.
“We succeed as a class when we help one another learn.”
The message changes from “Stop talking because I said so” to “Let’s make sure everyone has the opportunity to hear, participate, and learn.” Classroom management is not only about authority. It is also about community.
What If One Student Still Won’t Stop Talking?
Imagine your routines are working and most students respond to your attention signal, but one or two students continue struggling. Should we simply punish the entire class more? I do not think that is necessarily the answer.
Instead, I start asking: Why is this student talking? Is the student seeking attention? Is the work too difficult or too easy? Does the student understand the directions? Is sitting beside a particular classmate contributing? Does the student need another opportunity to participate, or additional support with self-regulation?
Two students can demonstrate the same behavior for different reasons. The same response may not work for both. This is why relationships, observation, and knowing our students matter.
Classroom management isn’t just about managing behavior. It’s about understanding learners.
What Teaching in the United States Taught Me
I came to the United States as a J-1 Filipino teacher with years of teaching experience from the Philippines. But teaching in another country still required me to observe, adapt, reflect, and grow.
That is one of the things I value about my international teaching experience. It reminded me that experience does not mean we have finished learning. Experience gives us more opportunities to learn.
My students reinforced an important idea for me: a well-managed classroom does not have to be completely silent. A classroom could be silent and still have very little meaningful learning happening. Another classroom could sound busy because students are questioning, explaining, collaborating, discussing, investigating, and thinking.
The difference is purpose.
Think about my Nature Journaling activity. Before we went outside, I needed my students quiet enough to hear the directions. Once we were outside, I wanted curiosity, observations, questions, conversations, and students sharing discoveries with one another.
Their voices had a place in the lesson. They simply needed to understand when and how to use them.
From One Teacher to Another
If you are reading this after a difficult day because your students would not stop talking while you were teaching, I understand. I’ve experienced it too.
There will be days when a classroom-management strategy works beautifully. There may also be days when you wonder whether anyone heard what you just said. Teaching is like that sometimes.
But I would not measure successful classroom management only by how quiet the room becomes. I would ask: Are my students learning? Do they understand our expectations? Do they know when discussion is appropriate? Can they return their attention when it is time to listen? Do they understand that their voices have a place in our classroom?
If those answers increasingly become yes, we are moving in the right direction.
“A well-managed classroom is not necessarily a silent classroom. It is a classroom where students know when to speak, when to listen, and how to use their voices for learning.”
— Lord R. Alcomendras
Practical ideas from one educator to another
HALFMOSTSIRE shares classroom experiences, evidence-informed teaching strategies, educational technology ideas, and practical resources for teachers, parents, and learners.
Explore More ArticlesResearch & Further Reading
The strategies in this article combine my classroom experience with evidence-informed guidance on behavior and engagement. Teachers who want to explore the research can begin with these resources:
- What Works Clearinghouse: Teacher-Delivered Behavioral Interventions in Grades K–5
- Education Endowment Foundation: Improving Behaviour in Schools
- What Works Clearinghouse: Good Behavior Game
Note: The Nature Journaling story and personal reflections in this article come from my own teaching experience. Research references are included to provide further professional reading and context.
Lord Rivas Alcomendras, M.Ed.
Lord Rivas Alcomendras is a Filipino educator with more than two decades of experience in education in the Philippines and the United States. As a J-1 teacher in New Mexico, he taught elementary learners across Grades 3–5. He previously served as an elementary teacher and Education Program Specialist II for the Alternative Learning System in the Philippines. He earned his Master in Education major in Educational Leadership from Universidad de Dagupan. Through HALFMOSTSIRE, he shares practical teaching strategies, educational experiences, digital resources, and ideas for meaningful learning.