One problem for teachers is to get the classroom quite. A technique to do that is to call for everybody’s attention without singling out a single students.

So instead of calling out on specific students “Pete be quite now”, teachers call loud and clear for attention followed by the exact number of students that are still talking.

For example, if the classroom is almost ready but there are still students speaking in the back, the teachers says “Attention Everybody - we are still waiting for 3 student”. (the teacher shows 3 with his hands). Once only two remain talking, the teachers continues “We are still waiting for 2”, and finally “we are now waiting for only one”. This goes on until the room and quite.

During class the teacher then discreetly approaches each of the “naughty” student independently to remind them quietly that the class was waiting for them.

The technique is based on the motivation research “Praise in Public, Criticize in Private” . Experienced managers apply it for their teams by calling out heroes in front of others, and then quietly giving constructive feedback to those who failed.

If you are a teacher, please try this technique and let us know what you think in the comments below. Subscribe for more videos that we release on youtube, or visit us on Facebook to continue the conversation.