Polly answers the question: “I have a really hard time getting my fourth grade students to settle down sometimes. They won’t stop talking or fiddling or even moving around the classroom. I’m a new teacher, in case you can’t tell. Please help!”

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Polly answers the question: “I’m a high school teacher and lately I’m quite shocked by how upset my students can get with each other in class discussions. I frankly don’t know what to do about this. Do you have any suggestions?”

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Polly answers the question: “I need help with blurters! They have such a need to talk in order to process so I try to let them talk when possible but it gets out of hand. How do I manage this?”

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Polly answers the question: “What resources do you like for teaching social skills to middle and high school kids? We really need help with this!”

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Polly answers the question: “I am working with a small group of grade 5 girls who need help in mathematics but instead of listening to me, they keep talking and arguing with each other. I don’t know how to motivate them to focus on their work. Please help.”

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Have you ever been teaching a class and kids are having side conversations? Of course, we’ve all had that happen. How do you handle it?

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Kids are struggling with the skill of ‘reading the room.’ What can we do? Use unstructured social time to coach them!

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Polly answers the question: “In my classroom I use prompts to get everyone’s attention, like, ‘Put your hand on your head if you are using whole body listening.’ This worked for a long time. But now they put their hands on their heads and keep right on talking! What am I doing wrong here?”

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How desks are set plays a huge role in how kids focus. Set them up for success!

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Remember when kids would pass notes? Now they text or just talk to each other. Here are some tips on how to handle these behaviors.

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