Polly Bath: I have a technique to handle kids talking in class. I call it “talk time.” I tell my classes, “Every 40 minutes or so, you get ‘talk time.’ I’ll take 6 or 8 minutes to catch up on some things. This will be your time to talk.”

Sometimes I end up just walking around the room during “talk time” because it’s where I get my information about what’s going on. I let them talk freely and I listen, taking it all in. And I’ll talk with them.

But I’ve found that by giving them this time, they are more apt to hold it together when I’m teaching. Because they know they will have an opportunity to talk with their friends.

People might say, “I don’t have time to do that! It will take out of curriculum time.”

This is true. But how much time are we taking out of the curriculum to deal with kids talking out?

Just try “talk time” and see how much better, and easier, it is to fight the battle of talking out!