Before stating expectations we need to understand is that when the child is calling out very often it’s because they haven’t first been taught the appropriateness of it. If you’ve got a child who’s come from a home where they’re an only child, where they have the undivided attention of their parents at all times. It’s very hard for them to adjust to the notion that in a classroom of 28 kids, they have to share the attention of the teacher with all the other students. 

So first things first, you need to understand that some kids will take longer to learn this than others. This is based on the environment they’ve been raised in. Some children have also never been taught appropriate conversation decorum. They don’t know that you don’t interrupt somebody when they’re speaking, or to ask permission to interrupt or to wait your turn before you speak. We need to understand that not all kids have come from the same context. It’s going to take time for us to support them through that. 

So with that in mind, the first thing you need to do is state your expectations. Make sure that they understand the correct way to interact in the classroom. One of the expectations in my class is to raise your hand for permission to speak. You don’t speak until I’ve permitted you to speak. Then I explain; “the reason we do that is that if everybody spoke at the same time I wouldn’t hear you. I want to make sure that I can hear from you. If you want to talk just make sure you put up your hand and wait for permission.” You need to communicate the expectation very very clearly. 

2. Do not Scold or Reprimand

The second thing you need to do when they call out or forget to put up their hand is not to scold them or reprimand them. What you’ve done when you stop to address the child, you’ve essentially communicated to them that the best way to get me to stop talking is for you to interrupt me. In attempting to address the problem you can inadvertently reinforce the unwanted behaviour. 

A little while ago my youngest son, who’s now 11 years old, had a big habit of interrupting me and my wife when we were talking. If he wanted his mother’s attention he would just come in and start talking regardless of who was already having a conversation. Now our first natural reaction was to tell him to wait his turn and to stop interrupting.

The problem with that approach was that every time we did that we stopped our conversation and gave our attention to him. Well, being the smart cookie that he is he realized that if he could get mom and dad to say wait your turn then he could start talking because we’d just broken our conversation. There’s a gap for him to interject, so he would just say yeah ok but just one minute, I just need to say one thing before you go back to your conversation. He would end up hijacking our conversation because we had already stopped talking. We had already given our attention to him. Now he was getting exactly what he wanted and that was to be able to control the flow of the conversation.

What we had to start doing was teaching him that if you want to interrupt a conversation you put your hand on our arm. You don’t say a word until we have finished talking. The second thing we had to do is control our reactions. When he interrupted we didn’t acknowledge it. We didn’t say anything, we didn’t stop talking, we continued talking to each other. Then he realized ok I’m not getting their attention by interrupting I have to put my hand on their arm and wait my turn. 

So that’s the same in the classroom if Steven calls out every time you’re talking and it frustrates you, and your natural response is to say Steven put up your hand, what you’ve essentially done is communicated to Steven you can get my attention by calling out. So you’ve got to ignore Steven and you’ve got to teach him another method of getting your attention. Whether it’s putting up your hand and waiting your turn or whatever it might be, teach him the method of getting your attention. Don’t give him the attention when he does it in the wrong manner.

3. Use A Timer

The third thing you can do for somebody who struggles with this is to teach them to practice patience. Often they don’t know how long it’s going to take or how long they have to hold up their hand. A lot of kids get very impatient. “I put up my hand and waited 30 seconds so now you should be giving me your attention.” They don’t know how to regulate themselves over long periods. What you can do is use a timer to teach them how to practice patience. 

You might get something like a little sand timer that has a one minute on it. Maybe have a digital timer on their desk that has 30 seconds. As soon as they put up their hand you don’t stop talking, you don’t let them interrupt,  you walk past them, continue to talk to the class, and flip over or start the timer. You’ve of course already taught them that they have to hold their hand up for one minute. When the timer runs they can hold the timer up and that’s your cue to give them attention.

What you’re teaching them is self-regulation and patience. You’re giving them a visual cue of how long they have to wait. Some kids feel like thirty seconds is an eternity. You need to just let them know in one minute I will give you my attention but you need to learn how to wait before I give it. So that’s number three, use the timer.

4. Use Praise Over Punishment

The last one is this, use praise over punishment or reprimands. Whenever they do the right thing praise them generously. Well done Steve, I love the way you put up your hand and waited, what would you like to say. As you’re praising him describe the behaviour that you’re enjoying. Describe the fact that he’s put up his hand ad waited. That will reinforce it the next time. If I want praise from my teacher I need to put up my hand and wait my turn. Use praise generously, use it in the moment. 

You can also use it as a parallel acknowledgment. I talked about this in my last episode. Parallel acknowledgment is acknowledging someone that’s done the right thing when you’re trying to correct the behaviour of somebody else. If Jarrad is calling out, identify a child in close proximity to him who is doing the right thing, and acknowledge them. “Mya, for putting up your hand and waiting for your turn.” Jarrad will hear that and put up his hand, then when it’s his turn (this needs to happen quickly to have effect) you say “well-done Jarred for putting up your hand thank you so much what would you like to say.” In doing this you correct Jarrad’s calling out positively without reinforcing the negative behaviour or getting cross at Jarred. 

So there it is; how to manage interruptions in your classroom. 1. Clearly state expectations but understand is that some kids are going to take time to learn this. 2. Don’t interrupt yourself by stopping and reprimanding them. 3. Teach the practice of self-regulation, use a timer is needed. 4. Use parallel acknowledgment to correct positively. 

If you like to learn more strategies like this why not have a look at our video course Beahvioru Management Essentials where we’ll teach you the essential skills every teacher needs to know to establish and maintain calmer classroom environments. 

If you would like to learn more about managing classroom behaviour effectively, why not check out our FREE video course Behaviour Management Blueprint. See below for details.

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