This is Jennifer Gonzalez welcoming you to episode 80 of the Cult of Pedagogy podcast.

In this episode, we're going to talk about what to do when your students won't stop talking.

In my first few years of teaching, student talking was like popcorn.

I gave the class instructions for some kind of work. Let's say journal writing.

And for a few seconds, they did it. Things were quiet. Then, like that first kernel of popcorn,

one said she didn't know what to write. So I walked over to her desk to try and help her.

While we talked, two more raised their hands, two more pops, and said they were stuck too.

I signaled to them that I'd be over in a minute, but in the meantime, someone else was closing his

journal, finished already. Another pop. The two who were stuck asked him what he wrote about.

The room needs to stay quiet so we can concentrate. I told them.

Then someone else had a question. Another pop. I squatted by her desk and behind me,

a conversation started between two others. Pop, pop. Another journal closed while a different hand

went up. Okay, people, I said this time louder. Let's keep it down. And with rascally smiles,

they turned back to their journals to pretend to write some more. At this point, it had turned into a game.

Someone needed a sharpener pencil. Pop. Someone else decided to race them over to the sharpener. Pop.

In a matter of seconds, the whole room had erupted. A huge hysterical bowl of popcorn

exploding all around me and I couldn't find my way out. And then I yelled.

It was like that on most days. They'd talk. I'd tell them to stop. They'd quiet down. They'd start

again. I'd tell them to stop. Looking back, I can see the error of my ways. And although I never

quite mastered the problem, I definitely got better at it. But it took a lot of trial and error.

Year after year of watching how other teachers did it to figure out how to manage a roomful of

chatty adolescents. If this sounds anything like you, I want you to know you are so not alone.

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