Mastering the Teacher Look for Nonverbal Classroom Management [Episode 155]

Emily  0:37

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today’s episode, we are sharing our best teacher approved tip for non verbal classroom management and sharing some highlights from Episode 98.

Emily  0:49

What can you tell us about non verbal classroom management, Heidi?

Heidi  0:53

I am actually really excited about this episode. I can’t believe that we have made it to Episode 155, and we have never discussed the power of the teacher look.

Emily  1:05

And just to be clear, this isn’t your fashion look, although I’m sure you look very cute.

Heidi  1:10

Well, I know I do. This is about the look.

Emily  1:12

This is about the look, the eye contact that cuts through whatever nonsense is going on and lets kids know they better make a different choice real quick.

Heidi  1:22

The look is powerful. You can launch it in the middle of an assembly to remind Winnie to sit back down. You can use it to quell an off task conversation at 30 paces, it says, I’m not mad, I’m not upset, but I see exactly what you’re doing, and if you don’t put a stop to it, I will.

Emily  1:40

While any look from a teacher is technically a teacher look, the look is not just any look, and it’s not a stare down. A stare down implies a power struggle, and we do not engage in power struggles. We are regal, commanding and impassive.

Heidi  1:57

Impassivity is the key to making the look effective. It has to be serene. If you show that a student’s behavior has ruffled your feathers, that student won’t take your warning seriously. They’ve just gotten the payoff of controlling the situation, even if they aren’t aware that that’s what they’ve done. So we must be the ones to remain unflappable.

Emily  2:22

But you probably aren’t actually feeling unflappable or calm at all when students are flicking papers at each other instead of working. So the first step in giving the look is to breathe.

Heidi  2:34

And the second step is to give yourself something to think about, besides how annoyed you are. I did that by trying to channel my inner Queen Victoria.

Emily  2:44

Oh, I just like, sat up straighter just thinking about that. Yes.

Heidi  2:47

See, I would get very still and practice my best posture. I relax my shoulders, drop my hands and make fixed eye contact with that one little nugget who is causing a problem. Then after six seconds, and I literally would count it out in my mind, I would switch my focus and make eye contact with the other little nugget causing the problem.

Heidi  3:09

To help me keep my cool, I am running through all of this in my mind. Breathe. Relax your shoulders. Drop your hands. 123456.

Emily  3:19

You don’t have to channel Queen Victoria. If you’ve got an inner Victoria Beckham, or even Queen Bey or Blue Steel, just let them loose. The point is to have a model that slows you down, calms your reaction, and gives you something to focus your attention on.

Heidi  3:37

Now the ultimate coup de grace of the look is to relax your jaw. This is the secret to all my teacher success. The jaw is one of the most frequent places that we hold tension, and it’s our tell. If this were a game of poker, a clinched jaw would tip off your students that you’re bluffing about being calm and they don’t need to believe what you’re communicating.

Emily  4:01

Once you’ve deployed the look, the decision is up to the students. If they get back on task, you continue watching for a few more seconds before turning back to what you were doing. If they don’t get back on task, they’ve chosen for you to increase the stakes. You move slowly in their direction, like Queen Victoria floating down the Thames and calmly give a logical consequence for their actions.

Heidi  4:24

This probably won’t feel very natural at first, and that’s okay. Lean into that unnatural feeling and let it help remind you to relax, relax your shoulders, relax your arms, relax your jaw and breathe.

Emily  4:39

Try practicing in the mirror. Yes, seriously, to see how you look. Notice how much of a difference there is between clenching your jaw and relaxing your jaw.

Heidi  4:49

And while we’re on the subject of elevating our classroom management, let’s chat about your attention signal. Keep listening to this replay of episode 98 all about making your attention signal as effective as possible.

Heidi  5:04

Classrooms vary so much, even at the same school, but one thing every classroom needs is an attention signal.

Emily  5:12

And by attention signal, we mean a prompt that quickly focuses students attention on the teacher, regardless of what the students happen to be doing at the moment.

Heidi  5:21

Attention signals are typically used to stop what students are doing so you can give them some additional instruction or maybe prepare them for an upcoming transition.

Emily  5:30

And really you will not last long as a teacher if you don’t have a way to quickly take control of what’s happening in your room, because it can get out of control real fast.

Heidi  5:39

Yeah, that is so true. But the funny thing is, I don’t remember any of my school teachers using a signal.

Emily  5:46

No, me neither.

Heidi  5:47

Maybe it’s because we just did so much desk work, they could just start talking and we had no choice but to listen.

Emily  5:52

It’s very possible, or maybe they just yell, yeah, do remember some yelling.

Heidi  5:58

Well, we want to avoid yelling. We’re going to be better than that. So I am glad that attention signals have become the standard since we were kids.

Emily  6:05

But just because you have an attention signal doesn’t mean it’s doing what you need it to do. If you are giving your attention signal and your students are only kind of listening or maybe ignoring you all together, we are going to share five reasons why your attention signal might not be working, and the suggestions for what you can do to solve the problem.

Heidi  6:26

So the first reason why your attention signal might not be working is that maybe you didn’t teach it well enough. Maybe you just touched on your expectations the first day of school and moved on, and now your students are kind of responding the way you want. But maybe some kids seem a little confused.

Emily  6:43

Luckily, the solution to this particular problem is simple. Just stop and take 15 minutes and reteach your procedure.

Heidi  6:51

And just like any other procedure, the tell, try, tally, talk method is your friend here. We start by telling or explaining exactly what we want the students to do. We list the steps so that they can read them while you’re talking, and then you model exactly what you want them to do.

Emily  7:07

And then it’s time to try. So you can ask for a volunteer to model for the class what they should do when you give the signal, or you can switch it up and let a student be the teacher and give the signal, and you pretend to be the student quickly following directions.

Heidi  7:20

It’s also fun to let students be bad examples. Ask a volunteer to show what they shouldn’t do when they hear the signal. Kids live for that sort of thing.

Emily  7:29

Especially lower grade students. Yep, after a few volunteers have modeled the steps and you have pointed out the good things they’ve done, have your whole class try.

Heidi  7:39

You’ll likely need to use your attention signal in different settings, so try that now. Move to the rug, tell the kids to talk until they hear the signal. Try it out when they’re standing in line or in the gym. Use it in a variety of settings so they really get the hang of what you expect.

Emily  7:56

After your whole class has tried responding to your signal, it’s time to tally. Gather everyone for a discussion about how well they followed the steps, and make sure you point out all the good things they’re doing so they know to repeat those things in the future.

Heidi  8:10

Also make sure to gently point out any behaviors that don’t meet your expectations at this point, we don’t want little mistakes to become bad habits.

Emily  8:19

And then it’s time to talk. So ask your students what they’ll remember to do going forward. Discuss why this procedure is important and the consequences if they don’t follow directions.

Heidi  8:28

By that point, students will have a very clear picture of what’s expected of them. But don’t be afraid to reteach your procedure throughout the year if you find that students aren’t following directions the way they should. We have a tell, try tally talk slide deck that can help you teach and reteach any procedure, and we’ll be sure to link that in the show notes.

Emily  8:29

But if students clearly understand what to do when they hear the attention signal, but they still aren’t following the directions, maybe you have the second problem, which is that you aren’t holding students accountable for meeting your expectations.

Heidi  9:05

This is such an easy mistake to make. You give your attention signal and then, without waiting to make sure that your students have followed directions, you launch into your instructions. But when you do that, you are teaching your kids that you don’t mean it when you say that they need to follow directions, and if you don’t mean it when it comes to an attention signal, then you might not mean it at other times.

Emily  9:28

And they’re not doing it consciously. But once kids sense weakness in one area, they’re going to test the boundaries to find all the other weak spots.

Heidi  9:36

Bless their hearts. So now a little thing, like talking before you have the kids attention has turned into a constant daily power struggle.

Emily  9:46

In a classroom, little things turn into big things very quickly. So make sure that when you give your attention signal, you wait to speak until your class is actually giving you their full attention.

Heidi  9:57

This doesn’t feel natural at first. So don’t worry, especially if you’re a new teacher, but clearly, give your attention signal and then wait.

Emily  10:07

You get so good at this as a teacher of like, I can wait you out.

Heidi  10:11

And just have the confidence that your students will meet your expectations.

Emily  10:16

But when it comes to holding students accountable for meeting your expectations, make sure you take your students abilities into account. If you teach young kids or have neuro divergent students, hold them to high expectations for what they are actually capable of doing, not perfect expectations that they are ideally capable of doing.

Heidi  10:35

Yeah, we have reasonably high standards, not impossi high standards.

Emily  10:40

Now, if you’ve given your attention signal and waited but students are still not meeting your reasonably high standards for following directions, then the third mistake you might be making is repeating your attention signal.

Heidi  10:53

It’s so tempting, it almost feels like a reflex to repeat yourself when it seems like your students have tuned you out, but repeating yourself just teaches kids they don’t have to listen to you the first time.

Emily  11:06

When this happens, remind yourself that you want to reteach, not repeat. Once you get your students attention, which may take a few minutes, take a time out to do a quick reteach of your procedure.

Emily  11:19

Start by listing the unacceptable behaviors that you just witnessed. Maybe they kept playing their math game. Maybe they were talking too loud. Whatever they were doing, point it out and explain why it’s a problem. Then right away, do a tell, try tally, talk, reteach of your quiet signal procedures.

Heidi  11:35

Obviously you do not want to spend time doing this, but the kids are even less excited to do this than you are, and that’s good. We want them to see that there are boring consequences if they choose to ignore directions.

Emily  11:49

The first time you introduce your procedure, we want those tell, try tally talk steps, to be lively and engaging. But when you’re reteaching a procedure because students aren’t following directions, lean into that boring feeling.

Heidi  12:04

The tediousness of this task is going to work in your favor. If you have constant talkers or class clowns who rely on their peers for that engagement and feedback, make sure that any talking or clowning around just means that you have to start teaching your procedure again, darn it. Kids won’t be distracted by a friend’s antics when it leads to continued practice of the attention signal. That will bring a quick end to almost all unwelcome behaviors.

Emily  12:33

So let boring be your friend when it’s time for behavior consequences. But if you have clearly taught and retaught your procedure, and you’re holding students accountable for meeting your expectations, but your attention signal still isn’t working. Maybe the problem isn’t your students. Maybe the problem is you don’t have a good attention signal. They’re not all good, it turns out.

Heidi  12:56

And there are several reasons why an attention signal might not be a good one. Maybe your signal is easy to ignore. Sometimes teachers use signals that are completely visual, like I’ve seen this where teachers will just stand at the front of the room holding up the quiet coyote sign, and you will be waiting for ages with your hand in the air until enough kids have noticed and nudged their neighbors that everyone is finally paying attention.

Emily  13:21

And that’s just not effective or efficient. You definitely want to choose a signal that has a sound component, but make sure that it’s a clear enough sound that it’s not easy for students to miss it in a noisy classroom. Your voice makes a good signal, but if your class is really getting noisy, you may have to raise your voice quite loud to be heard over them.

Heidi  13:42

And that’s when a noise making device can come in handy. I know a lot of teachers are using doorbells as attention signals, and I think that’s a great idea.

Emily  13:50

It blows my mind. That would have been so amazing when we were teaching second grade.

Heidi  13:54

You can keep that button on your lanyard, and then you can signal from anywhere in your room. It’s perfect.

Emily  13:59

And something like a bell or chimes really limits your ability to give your signal whenever you need it, though. So if you’re at the front of the room and your chimes are at the back, you have to walk back to them before you can get your students attention. It’s not an impossible hurdle, but it is a hassle.

Heidi  14:15

But really, with any kind of device, even with the doorbell, portability is an issue. Yeah, you can easily carry the doorbell around your room, but you need a plan for what to do when you’re outside of your room. What if you need their attention in the gym or in the hallway? You’ll likely need to teach a verbal cue, even if you use a sound making device in the classroom.

Emily  14:38

So far today, we’ve mostly focused on the teacher’s role with attention signals, but we also need to consider the student’s response. When we give our prompt, what exactly do we want students to do?

Heidi  14:49

Well, obviously, with an attention signal, right? We want the students attention. But what are the specific behaviors that show we have that attention? You may be doing all the right things in. Signaling for your students attention. But if your students are responding to your prompt without actually paying attention, your signal isn’t a good one.

Emily  15:08

To make sure we have our students attention, it’s helpful to give them an action to do in response to the attention signal. A lot of signals have a student verbal response built in. So if you say 123, eyes on me. The kids are supposed to answer with…

Heidi  15:23

One, two eyes on you.

Emily  15:24

Good job. That’s your cue that they have heard the signal and should be ready to listen.

Heidi  15:29

There are lots of fun call and response signals. Emily you’re gonna help me out with this? Yes. So if you say flat tire, they say or you say hocus pocus, and they say…

Emily  15:41

Everybody focus. A rhyming signal is always fun.

Heidi  15:47

But you may want to consider adding a physical action besides a verbal response. Ideally, you you want something that gets kids hands empty to really improve your chances that they’re actually paying attention.

Emily  16:00

And that’s why I loved our pirate attention signal that we both did for years, so that, as the teacher, I’d say all hands on deck, and the students would respond with Eye, Eye captain, and they were expected to salute when they responded. So kids can give a verbal response without ever looking up, but if they also have to do something with their bodies, it’s much more likely they’ll be focused on you when you start giving directions.

Heidi  16:25

So consider if your attention signal is actually a good prompt. Can the students clearly hear it? Do you have something you can use that doesn’t rely on a device for those times when you’re not in your classroom? Does the student response to your prompt include a physical action?

Emily  16:40

And in a previous episode, we shared a whole bunch of attention signal ideas that were shared from our community. So we’ll link to those in the show notes too, case you want to go back and listen to that episode and hear those really awesome ideas.

Emily  16:53

So all of this brings us to our fifth reason your attention signal might not be working, and this might ruffle a few feathers. Maybe the problem is that you have too many signals.

Heidi  17:04

But there are so many fun signals out there, it really is tempting to want to use lots of them. If you have 5, 10, or more attention signals, or you’re changing them up all the time, you are actually setting yourself up for headaches.

Emily  17:20

When we have more than a couple of attention prompts, it takes a lot of space and students working memories to keep things straight. Is this when I say guacamole, or is this when I say Ghostbusters? If kids are confused, it impacts their ability to pay attention.

Heidi  17:35

We also need to keep in mind that the purpose of an attention signal is to create an automatic response in our kids brains. When they get this specific input, they can do this specific thing without thinking. If we want that automatic response, we have to keep the prompt as consistent as possible.

Emily  17:57

And that doesn’t mean you have to commit to just one prompt, but you need a limited number of prompts. Maybe you have one signal out on the playground and one whispery signal in the hallway and one signal you use in class. Use a few prompts consistently if you want a consistent response from your students.

Heidi  18:14

But that doesn’t mean we can never use the fun attention getters. If you do want to mix things up without creating headaches for yourself, try limiting your wild card prompts to a set time of day. If you have to meet your class outside to lead them in from recess, maybe that’s your moment. When all the kids are lined up you can do a few fun attention getters every day before you walk them in.

Heidi  18:36

Since the kids are already in line, the stakes are kind of low in terms of what you need students to do so that’s a great time to have a little call and response fun, or maybe you do it right before you dismiss them to pack up for the day.

Emily  18:48

Right by limiting your attention grabbers to a specific time of day, you can sprinkle in some fun without sabotaging your own classroom management.

Heidi  18:57

Your attention signal is one of your most important classroom management tools. So make sure your signal is a good one, and that you teach it right, and that you hold your students accountable for meeting your expectations without having to repeat yourself, and that you keep your attention signal consistent.

Emily  19:15

We’d love to hear your thoughts about attention signals. Come join the conversation in our teacher approved Facebook group.

Heidi  19:23

That’s it for today’s episode master the look for on the go, non verbal classroom management, and remember to relax that jaw.