Stop Lecturing - Cutting Down on Teacher Talk

Last week, one of my children came home exhausted after a long day of classes. “The teachers lectured in every single class,” she said. “I’m trying to follow along, but it’s hard for me to focus when someone talks for such a long time.”

Regardless of how old anyone is, it can be very difficult to sit and receive information for any length of time. For kids, if every class they go to consists primarily of an adult talking at the front of the room, they spend a majority of their time sitting passively and often inattentively as their focus slips.  To keep everyone in an active frame of mind for learning, the strategies below can be helpful for cutting down on teacher talk.

Say Less

In many classrooms, teachers do most of the talking, which is not ideal. True, students often resist sharing their thoughts out loud, which is a genuine barrier to teachers talking less. However, there are ways to even the distribution of voices in the room. The first is to purposefully be quieter by planning for it. For example, rather than create a slideshow that necessitates an entire class period of talking, be sure to build in opportunities for students to talk or process their ideas as well as a part of the presentation.

In addition, holding true to the principles of wait time is an underrated and valuable way to hear more from kids. After asking a question, be sure to wait five full seconds (count off in your head if needed) before jumping back in to clarify a question. Just as important, wait another five full seconds after students speak. That gives the person who responded additional time to elaborate on what they shared while also providing other students in the room with an opportunity to jump in and join the conversation.

Get Kids Moving

Our brains don’t work as well when our bodies are still for long periods of time, and that is especially true for students in their most energetic years. If kids are sitting silently in class showing marked signs of disengagement, it is entirely possible they just need to move. While there is sometimes the fear that students will go off-task if they get up, they will most certainly not be tuned in if they stay where they are.

One easy way to incorporate more movement is to take the traditional “turn and talk” strategy and modify it by asking students to get up, find a partner across the room, and have a conversation. This approach has the added advantage of helping kids speak with classmates who don’t sit right by them all the time, and it also gives them a much-needed break from sitting down. Getting up will ensure that anyone who is zoning out can regroup and refocus.

Increase Student Output

We often think of participation in terms of vocal contributions to class, but there are many ways for students to show us that they are involved. For example, teachers are accustomed to asking students questions and waiting for responses, but there are various ways to flip the script slightly to get more bang for our buck. One way to get a wider array of student responses is to ask students to write their thoughts down and share them with one another before calling on anyone to lower the risk factor that some kids associate with raising their hands. Another helpful strategy is to have students write open-ended questions about their learning rather than asking those questions ourselves. By seeing what kids are asking about the topic of any given day, it is far easier to get a sense of what they got from the lesson. 

Assess Engagement

While the kid who sits in the front row nodding and smiling might seem engaged, it’s entirely possible that they’re also completely tuned out. Being interested in class occurs at many possible levels, and as this article explains, one of them is quite shallow. External signs of engagement typically align with compliant classroom behavior, like appearing to be focused on tasks or following directions. While it is always helpful for kids to be cooperative, it only gets anyone so far. Imagine a class is studying the history of peaceful protesting in America. There is a marked difference between students who check off any required boxes for related assignments and those who make connections to their own lives or what they read in current events. That latter level of excitement for learning is far more ideal. Therefore, moving students toward a deeper interest in learning can help them find meaning in course content, which in turn will result in a more ideal level of engagement. 

With few exceptions, people don’t enjoy being talked at. Initially, students might prefer sitting still and being passive in classrooms, but the boredom and disengagement that results can get old, and fast. Kids spend much of their day parked in chairs. At the end of the day, they are often too worn out to do anything but decompress. If we want to maximize participation in class by leaning into methods that help students take on a greater responsibility for learning, then making a few changes that cut lecturing down to a minimum is a vital step. 

Written by Miriam Plotinsky, Education World Contributing Writer

Miriam Plotinsky is an instructional specialist with Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, where she has taught and led for more than 20 years. She is the author of several education books with W.W. Norton and ASCD. She is also a National Board-Certified Teacher with additional certification in administration and supervision. She can be reached at www.miriamplotinsky.com or via Twitter: @MirPloMCPS

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