How much talk is acceptable in a classroom setting? Or more importantly, how much talk is acceptable in your classroom setting?
We all have different beliefs about teaching and learning and this is reflected in what our classrooms look like and sound like. Just by walking down the hall at your school, you may have noticed differences in:
-desk/table set up
-visuals hung up in the classroom
-students working in groups
-use of technology
or the noise level…
And that’s okay. Because not only do our classrooms reflect us, they reflect our students.
I have 18 boys and 9 girls in my Grade 4 class and yes, my classroom is constantly brimming with activity and talk, even during the lunch hour, when the students are supposed to be eating.
When I realized that this is how they prefer to communicate and share, I discovered so much about them, like: one of my student’s father died 11 days before he was born, another student is getting a new sibling and Bruno Mars is a favourite artist among many of my students.
So I say, bring on the ‘noise’.
