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One day, in front 36 riotous sophomores, I clutched my chest and dropped to my knees like Sergeant Elias at the end of Platoon. Instantly, dead silence and open mouths replaced classroom chaos. Standing up like nothing had happened, I said, 鈥淭hanks for your attention鈥撯�搇et鈥檚 talk about love poems.鈥�

I never used that stunt again. After all, should a real emergency occur, it would be better if students call 911 rather than post my motionless body on YouTube. I鈥檝e thought this through.

Most teachers use silencing methods, such as flicking the lights; ringing a call bell鈥攕ee Teacher Tipster鈥檚 ; raising two fingers; saying 鈥淎ttention, class鈥�; or using Harry Wong鈥檚 鈥撯�揳 command for students to:

1. 聽聽聽 Focus their eyes on the speaker,
2. 聽聽聽 Be quiet,
3. 聽聽聽 Be still,
4. 聽聽聽 Empty their hands, and
5. 聽聽聽 Listen.

There鈥檚 also the 鈥渢hree fingers鈥� version, which stands for stop, look, and listen. Fortunately, none of these involve medical hoaxes.

Below you鈥檒l find a collections of lesser known techniques for all grade levels.

How to Quiet Early Elementary Students

Novelty鈥攕uch as the sound of a wind chime or 鈥攃aptures young students鈥� attention. Beth O., in , tells her students, 鈥淧op a marshmallow in.鈥� Next she puffs up her cheeks, and the kids follow suit. It鈥檚 hard to speak with an imaginary marshmallow filling your mouth.

An equally imaginative approach involves filling an empty Windex bottle with lavender mineral oil and聽relabeling the bottle 鈥�.鈥� Or you can blow magic 鈥渉ush-bubbles鈥� for a similar impact.

If you want to go electronic, check out聽, , or 鈥撯�揳n Apple and Android tool that detects the聽noise level and produces an auditory signal when voices become too loud.

Late Elementary and Middle Grade Attention Getters

Back when I taught middle school students, I would announce, 鈥淪ilent 20,鈥� as a way to conclude an activity. If students returned to their seats and were completely quiet within 20 seconds, I advanced them one space on a giant facsimile of . When they reached the last square (which took approximately one month), we would have聽a popcorn party.

One of the best ways to maintain a quiet classroom is to catch students at the door before they enter. During these encounters, behavior management expert Rob Plevin recommends using 鈥渘onconfrontational statements鈥� and 鈥渋nformal chitchat鈥� to .

Two approaches for securing 100 percent attention聽are modeled in narrated by Teach Like a Champion author Doug Lemov鈥撯�揳 minimally invasive hand gesture and a countdown technique (鈥淚 need two people. You know who you are. I need one person...鈥�).

Another idea is to use a content 鈥渨ord of the week鈥� to signal that it鈥檚 time for silence. Examples: integer, renaissance, or circuit.

Quieting High School Students

Sometimes, rambunctious high school classrooms need a little longer to comply. In article, Rob Johnson recommends that teachers write the following instructions in bold letters on the chalkboard: 鈥淚f you wish to continue talking during my lesson, I will have to take time off you at break. By the time I鈥檝e written the title on the board you need to be sitting in silence. Anyone who is still talking after that will be kept behind for five minutes.鈥�

The strategy always, always works, says Johnson, because it gives students adequate warning.

Another technique, playing classical music (Bach, not Mahler) on low volume when learners enter the room, sets a professional tone. I played music with positive subliminal messages to ninth graders until they complained that it gave them headaches.

Call-and-Response

This is a collection of catchy sayings that work as cues to be quiet. The first ones are appropriate for early and middle grade students, and the later ones have been field-tested to work with high school kids.

• The teacher says, 鈥淗oly.鈥� The students respond with, 鈥淢acaroni.鈥�
• The teacher says, 鈥�1, 2, 3, eyes on me.鈥� The students respond with, 鈥�1, 2, eyes on you.鈥�
• The teacher says, 鈥滻鈥檓 incredible.鈥� The students respond with, 鈥淟ike the Hulk. Grrrrrr!鈥� (Kids flex during the last sound.)
• The teacher says, 鈥淗ey.鈥� The students respond with, 鈥淢acarena.鈥�
• The teacher says, 鈥淚 get knocked down.鈥� The students respond with, 鈥淏ut I get up again, you鈥檙e never going to keep me down.鈥�
• The teacher says, 鈥淥h Mickey, you鈥檙e so fine.鈥澛燭he students respond with, 鈥淵ou鈥檙e so fine, you blow my mind, hey Mickey.鈥�
• The teacher says, 鈥淭he only easy day.鈥� The students respond with,聽鈥淲as yesterday.鈥� (A Navy SEALs slogan.)

Implementation Suggestions

For maximum effect, teach your quiet signal and procedure, as demonstrated in this . Next, have kids rehearse being noisy until you give the signal for silence. Don鈥檛 accept anything less than 100 percent compliance. Then describe appropriate levels of noise for different contexts, such as when you鈥檙e talking (zero noise) or during a writing workshop (quiet voices), etc.

If a rough class intimidates you (we鈥檝e all been there), privately practice saying the following in an authoritative voice: 鈥淢y words are important. Students will listen to me.鈥� Say it until you believe it. Finally, take comfort in the knowledge that, out of 3 million U.S. educators who taught today, two or three might have struggled to silence a rowdy class.