Spark
a guide to redefining classroom participation
Establish Out-of-Class Quiet Zones
Materials required
Implementation procedure
Strategy in practice
Depends on your implementation
Your out-of-class quiet zone may be a library, another classroom, or even a space outside. Regardless of where you select, it is important that you choose somewhere that reduces noise, reduces foot traffic, and is available for a breakout group of students since you won’t be there to supervise.
Laura’s third grade class is rowdy. Even she often finds her ears ringing at the end of the day. But while she appreciates (and even thrives) on the energy, she quickly identified six students in her class who do not take the environment well. These six - four girls and two boys - don’t say much during the day, and they typically leave the building looking exhausted. On one occasion, Laura mistook one girl’s behavior for illness and sent her to the nurse
Description
Perhaps there isn’t space for in-the-classroom quiet zones, or perhaps they aren’t effective for some of your students. Establish places outside of your classroom (but still within the school campus) where students can seek a respite from their peers and/or a noisy classroom.
.Laura was concerned; third grade is a critical year for developing advanced reading comprehension, and if her classroom inhibited these kids from learning, it could hurt them later on. Laura had developed a solid friendship with one of the school librarians and asked if this small group of kids could sit in the library when the class was particularly noisy. The librarian was a little wary - she had a job of her own and couldn’t manage the extra responsibility of supervising an extra six - so Laura and she worked out an agreement to make the library available to them for limited portions of the day.
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Limiting the time slot to no more than two hours made the extra responsibility palatable for the librarian, and the kids liked having a special space where they could go to pursue quiet work.
