How To Stop Your Class From Calling Out

Smart Classroom Management: How To Stop Your Class From Calling OutMaybe you haven’t been as consistent lately. Maybe you’ve lost a bit of control.

Whatever the reason, it can sneak up on you quickly.

Before you know it, so many students are calling out without raising their hand that it becomes impossible to enforce.

Now you’re struggling just to get through lessons, and their behavior is becoming more brazen and disrespectful.

So how do you fix it? You break them of the habit.

Here’s how:

1. Have a rule.

If you don’t have a ‘Raise your hand before speaking‘ rule, then this is the first step. If you do have one, then you must start over and reteach it.

2. Take responsibility.

Instead of lecturing or blaming your students for the disruptions, take responsibility yourself. Let them know that you haven’t done a good job protecting their right to learn.

3. Explain why.

Along with taking responsibility, explaining why the rule is important—because it provides time for them to think, gives everyone a chance to share, and safeguards the class from interruption—results in far greater buy-in.

4. Demonstrate.

Although it may seem silly or unnecessary, show your students exactly what raising their hand and waiting patiently to be called on looks like. It’s best to sit at a student’s desk.

5. Promise.

After allowing for questions—which is good practice for hand-raising—make a promise to never respond to call outs again and instead enforce a consequence every time they break the rule.

6. Use the long pause.

Chances are, at least for a day or so, you’ll be tested. When it happens, and your students start calling out one after the other, stop everything. Just stand and wait. Take a long pause.

7. Enforce together.

Once your class realizes that you really aren’t going to respond, that things really have changed, calmly say, “Jessica, Brian, Leo, and Sophia, you have a warning for breaking the raise your hand rule.” Then move on as if nothing happened.

8. Never answer right away.

Another powerful strategy to break the habit of calling out is to never call on a student the moment their hand goes up. Pause first, disrupt the ‘teacher-looks-I-answer’ rhythm, then call on them.

9. Curb individuals.

If a single student calls out, don’t enforce right away. Instead, look them in the eye, pause, then call on someone with their hand up. Wait for a natural lull in the discussion before enforcing.

What Matters Most

There may be times when you may want your students to share without raising their hand. This is perfectly okay—as long as you define when those times are and what polite sharing looks like.

Model and practice first. Make them prove they understand what give-and-take conversation looks and feels like. Then, just before going live, describe the parameters.

“For the next ten minutes you don’t have to raise your hand before taking part in the discussion. Just remember to be polite, stay on topic, and wait for a brief moment of quiet before chiming in.”

Following the nine steps above, and being clear about when the rule isn’t in play, will remove calling out from your classroom.

It’s proven effective from the youngest to the oldest students, freeing them to share and listen unimpeded and focus on what matters most:

Learning.

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26 thoughts on “How To Stop Your Class From Calling Out”

  1. This is very practical advice that does work with my young first though third grade class. You say it is proven to be effective so I wonder if that means based on your experience or research. I follow your work and loaned your book and management plans to my administrator. She thought the ideas were interesting but wanted to know the research behind it with citations. Do you get this response from others? It saddens me that little credit is given to teacher experience with students.

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  2. I’m so frustrated because I’m forced to use the PAX program. But, when I’m alone with my kids, I use all of your strategies! Thank you so much!

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  3. I have found the best way to manage the class discussions are also to have 3 hand signals. None of the hands are raised high. The hand signal is brought close to the chest. (This provides students time to think and remind themselves what they are actually going to do.) To answer your teacher’s question, bring your hand close to your chest with a fist and thumb up. For a question about the material raise only your pinky close to your chest. For a comment make a C with your hand close to your chest. Bathroom and water signals are different. All of these hand signals are easy to teach and are enforced exactly as you mentioned. Practice is key and you can keep small posters of the hand signals up on your walls if needed and simply point to them. It is extremely helpful too to know if a student is actually going to answer a question vs. ask one or make a comment which may not be the right time.

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  4. Thanks for the tips. I have asked for raised hands, and most follow, and do not acknowledge call outs. I’ve also waited for the interruptions and blurting out to stop before continuing. Any suggestions on how to get students from interrupting one another and having side conversations while a peer is talking?

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  5. About number nine, Michael.

    Could that not be misconstrued by the students as “the teacher look”. I remember you stating, previously that the teacher look is not good practice. I think you believe it is intimidatory, which I actually agree with.

    Wouldn’t it be better to ignore the calling out student, totally? I would just like to clarify the purpose of looking at the student who calls out, wrongly, and the difference between that action and “the teacher look” .

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  6. Thanks so much for this! I’ve been enforcing your strategies after studying them over the summer and my classroom really is different. It seems like I’m not having as many behavior problems as other classes, so thank you! I’m not sure I understand Step 9. If I have a student who struggles with calling out, wouldn’t I want to call on him the minute his hand is raised to enforce the behavior? Or is that a kind of reward? Would love if anyone could answer this!

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  7. Interesting how questions about consequences comes up and there are no comments to help? I too would like so suggestions for high school consequences. Thank you!

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    • Please check out the Rules & Consequences and Classroom Management Plan categories of the archive in the sidebar along with the high school and elementary classroom management plans.

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  8. I work in a private school that caters to upper class kids (read spoiled) and when I try to be consistent in the way you describe above, I am accused of destroying the positive atmosphere that should exist in the classroom and by extension the desire of the students to go to school.

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  9. The other big plus of #8 (the long wait strategy) is that this keeps the “slow” kids involved.

    I don’t mean that in a derogatory sense, or as a code word for students that need special education services. It’s just a fact that not everyone thinks at the same speed, and those that need more time to think and reason through an answer have just as much a right to volunteer as the fast hand-raisers.

    It recognizes that Understanding is what you’re after–not speed. Otherwise, you will lose kids that would otherwise understand the material, but tune out because you aren’t building enough wait-time between questions. They won’t feel like they are part of the class unless they are fast enough to keep up.

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  10. What about a student who will ask before I can give directions? Or one who will rush on to the third question when we are still on the first one?

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  11. Hi Michael,

    I’ve been running to your blog in the five weeks since the school year has started. I found your blog maybe a couple of days before school started so I’ve been hastily trying to catch up to someone who would have seen your advice and already had an implementation plan. I wrote the rules but the consequences weren’t written down and no management plan was sent home. Do you think it’s too late to write out the management plan and send it home to parents?

    Additionally, I work with 9th graders in a context where whom cursing comes all too naturally. How would you model how using profanity results in a loss of the protection of the students’ learning if the other students don’t really agree that it does interfere, although they are quick to remind each other that profanity is not allowed in the classroom just to get my attention to issue a warning?

    When I explained why we do not use profanity in the classroom, I told them that it is not part of professional dialogue and we are preparing them to be people who have a broad vocabulary such that other people want to listen to what they have to say. How can I get that message across when modeling what not to do? Do I use the whole word? Should I let students go crazy one day and just use profanity to practice what not to do?

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  12. I think kids will always try to test boundaries, it’s what they do. Keeping them engaged and making them feel like they are an important part of the lesson will help stabilise the clas and should help you get the best out of every child.

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  13. Do you have any suggestions for a child that will get out of the seat and ask a question at inappropriate times and when when I do not respond and respond to a child who has their hand up he continues to ask the same question over and over and over and over whilst tapping me. This child seems oblivious to the rules. He obviously receives a warning for this behaviour and it has culminated in three warnings and a message home to parents (who happen to be the head) but this has not deterred his behaviour

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  14. Michael, I’m a big fan of your site and books. Question: some of my students have “planned ignoring” listed on their IEPs. Do you have any advice for reconciling this accommodation with the expectations for the rest of the class? How do I fairly enforce a consequence on the rest of the class when they call out, if I’m supposed to ignore “small things” like calling out from a certain student?

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  15. I’m a Sub/Relief teacher.
    Whether there is a class culture of calling out or just a few kids, l have always found that stopping and explaining the process of THINK really helps.
    It also helps curtail the kids who constantly put their hand up, who can be just as disruptive.

    I say “before you call out, put your hand up or do something” l want you to THINK.
    Is it True what you’re about to say? Is it True that you’re “allowed” to do it?

    Is it Helpful right now?

    Is it Important enough that everyone needs to hear?

    Is it Needed at all? Or could you tell me later?

    And last of all, is it Kind?

    I go through some examples and explain that they won’t get in trouble, I’ll just ask them to THINK.

    And every time someone calls out or puts their hand up when I’m trying to talk to the class/small group, l remind them and go through which part of THINK they should have considered.

    Not only are the interruptions and disruptions significantly reduced, a lot of the squabbling and niggling at each other is curtailed within a day… especially if you praise and encourage the kindness in their words and actions.

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  16. I sub grades 1-8 in a suburban district.
    Here’s a sample of how I handle it. Consistent. Like water dripping on a stone.

    Me: “Good morning. I’m Mr. ________. Here are my expectations: Please raise your hand when you have a question or comment, or need to leave your seat.”

    Student #1, without hand-raise, politely asks: “What’s our special today, PE or Music?”

    Me, looking and pointing at the student: “I wish you’d raised your hand and I know you will next time.”

    Student #2, without hand-raise, politely and helpfully announces: “We have PE today.”

    Me: “I wish you’d raised your hand. Class, what’s our special today, PE or Music?”

    Student #3 raises their hand.

    Me, pointing and acknowledging: “Thank you for raising your hand.”

    Student #3: “We have PE today because it’s Day 3.”

    Reply

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