Which of the following is the best way to stop noise caused by one student?

What is background noise and what can it affect?

Background noise is any noise present that interferes with the speaker.  It can affect the clarity of speech heard, as well as the child’s attention to tasks and behavior in the classroom.

Who does background noise affect?

Background noise affects many children, not just children with hearing loss!  Background noise can affect children with attention and behavior disorders, children with language delays, bilingual children, and children with auditory processing disorder.

Where is background noise commonly heard?

In a school, background noise can be heard in the classroom, in the cafeteria, in the hallways, on the playground… everywhere!

When is background noise present?

Although there are times of the day in which background noise will not be as great, it is something that, realistically, is unavoidable.  Although you can (somewhat!) control the voices in your classroom, it is nearly impossible to control voices in the hallway, yelling on the playground, or sounds within the environment (e.g., construction, traffic, a loud AC unit, etc.).

Why is it important to reduce background noise in the classroom?

Being mindful of and making attempts to minimize background noise will benefit the entire class.  Decreasing background noise increases all students’ access to clear speech.  This allows students to increase their attention and participation, while decreasing their frustration level (and the negative behaviors that can often accompany frustration).

How can background noise be reduced?

Thankfully there are some quick and affordable options to decrease noise in the classroom and create a listening and learning-friendly environment for students.

• Use rugs or carpeting: Placing rugs or carpet around the room helps to absorb sound, while also making the room more visually appealing and comfortable for students.

• Hang soft materials on the walls: Corkboards and feltboards can be used to display important information and students’ work, while also serving to absorb noise.

• Place soft tips on the bottom of chair and tables: Chairs and tables are moved around frequently in the classroom, causing unnecessary noise. Adding soft tips to the bottoms of furniture can decrease this noise significantly.

• Hang curtains and blinds on the windows: Aside from serving their purpose to avoid glares from the sunlight, curtains and blinds can be used to help to absorb noise occurring in the classroom, as well as outside the classroom.

• Close doors and windows: The world is noisy, and although we can’t control all of the outside distractions, we can limit their impact on the noise in the classroom by closing doors and windows when possible.

• Turn off loud noise sources: It’s inevitable that noise-producing equipment (e.g., projectors, fans, heaters) is needed in the classroom; however, when this equipment is not being used, turn it off. This will not only reduce noise but also save energy.

• Re-arrange furniture: Placing students’ desks and workspaces throughout the room, instead of in rows, reduces the amount of sound bouncing off of walls.

• Educate students: Hold students to the expectation of only talking when it is their turn. Although a common classroom rule, students can be taught that this is not only respectful behavior but also a simple way to decrease noise.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jessica Klein began working as a speech-language pathologist at CID in 2004, assessing and treating children from birth-age 12.  Klein co-wrote the “Targeting Speech Skills for Children Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing” workshop, presenting annually at CID as well as at Southeast Missouri State University and at the Missouri Speech and Hearing Association conference.  In 2011 she accepted a job as a speech language pathologist in one of St. Louis’ charter schools.  While in the public school setting, Klein assessed and provided speech and language services to students in kindergarten-fourth grade with varying speech and language needs.  She was a member of the school’s CARE team, collaborating with teachers and specialists to develop interventions for students struggling in the classroom.  In 2015 Klein returned to CID ready to share her public school experiences with colleagues to help better prepare CID students for the mainstream setting.   Since her return, she has written a webinar about developing literacy skills in children who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing as well as spoken about literacy skills and case managing Deaf and Hard of Hearing students at Fontbonne University.  She currently provides speech and language assessments and intervention to students in the Pre-K and Primary departments.

All children are not equally disturbed by noise. The younger the children are, the more noise jeopardizes their understanding of speech and memory. Children with impaired hearing must work harder to hear, which may disturb their school work. When the intensity of background noise increases, speech separation becomes more difficult. This particularly affects children with learning disabilities.

Background noise is more disturbing to speech separation when listening to a foreign language. Therefore, noise reduction is particularly important, when there are students in the class studying in a non-native language.

When sounds grab a child’s attention, studying is disrupted

Attention span refers to how easily a child’s attention shifts to stimulation from the environment. Low attention span means weak concentration. Some children have low and some have high attention span, but for most children it is something in between.

Low attention span is related to weaker success in school. Studies do not point out a clear reason for this, but one reason can be related to noise. For a child who has a low attention span, it might be difficult to ignore noise from the environment. Relatively quiet sounds can also distract such a child and interrupt studying.

It is possible to reduce noise and echo with a good sound insulation and by choosing silent equipment

Noise in classrooms can be reduced by building sufficient sound insulation and by choosing as quiet air conditioners as possible. Felt pads can be installed under classroom furniture, which makes it quieter to move them. Echo can be reduced by panels and textiles. Plants also reduce echo.

Keeping group sizes small is the most efficient way to prevent noise in a classroom

It is important to pay attention to structural factors affecting noise levels in classrooms, but they alone are not enough. The most important source of noise are the children themselves. The bigger the group, the more noise it creates. Therefore the most efficient way to prevent noise in classrooms is to keep group sizes small enough.

In Adapteo’s adaptable school buildings noise is minimized

A lot of attention has been paid to the design of Adapteo’s flexible school buildings in order to reduce noise and echo. The target is to have the best possible indoor experience.

It is important for us to have the best possible soundproofing in our buildings. We are striving for good design to minimize voice propagation in the structure of the adaptable buildings. In addition, the roofs of our spaces have an extra acoustic noise reduction. Our floors are mostly covered with a plastic mat that attenuates sounds from steps and furniture.

Niko Oksa
Technical Sales Manager, Adapteo Finland

Continuous development of the buildings’ technology

Adapteo continuously develops and improves the technology of its adaptable buildings.

“In our latest C90 building, we have been upgrading the ventilation devices and their components to reduce noise. The air conditioning in our buildings is now even quieter than before,” Oksa comments.

Lowering classroom temperature improves results

Correct temperature is another factor that affects students’ performance.

We’ve all had that teaching moment where it feels like your students are leading a revolt against you. No matter what you do, they won’t be quiet and untroubled and they refuse to sit still. When you signed up to be a teacher you thought it was all about teaching, right? Think again. Half of your battle as a teacher is getting your kids into “study mode” and gaining control of their attention long enough and well enough for them not to need to go wild. When it comes to teaching a full class, particularly of kids under thirteen, a lot of your job as a teacher is simply crowd control. However the quicker and more effectively you control and calm the class, the more time you will have to do what you actually signed up to do – teach. So what are the best ways to handle noise in the classroom? We’ve put together a list of effective methods to calm your students and get them ready to learn.

Kickoff as you mean to go on

We must address the students that they should know that when they enter the classroom it is time to act in a calm and collected manner, which may be difficult especially if the lesson follows a break or lunchtime. Define your expectations and how you want the class to behave throughout the lesson. Letting them know the lesson plan at the start, and when there will be a time to collaborate and talk with fellow classmates may inspire them to be quiet and focus when needed. Purpose of setting the tone for the class will give the students the structure they need to focus and learn, set aside a few minutes to remind the class how they should enter the classroom. If they enter a calm and quiet classroom, it will set the tone and promote them to keep to that noise level throughout the lesson.

Don’t address students as a group

One of the best ways when trying to quiet down a noisy classroom, don’t address a whole group, instead focus on a few individual students who are being the noisiest. If you speak to a group, they have power in numbers and often no one takes responsibility and continue to do what they shouldn’t. Assumptions are that by identifying students personally and not as a collective you are much more likely to get results and get them to be quiet as there is more fear that they could get reprimanded. Once some of the main culprits are quiet the rest of the class should quickly follow.

Say things once is normal

Make it your goal to try and say something to your class only once to encourage them to listen carefully at all times. By repeating what you say you are enabling them to be lazy listeners, as they will learn that they don’t need to listen as you will repeat it a second or third time. There are lot of reasons why the noisy students will soon learn that if they aren’t paying attention they will miss out on what is said and not get the instructions for the task. Make sure to set the standard early and let all the students know early on that you don’t repeat instructions, that is sure to get their attention

Give noisy students more duty

By giving some of the noisiest students that drive the disturbance in the classroom something to help with or activity to lead they will feel more responsible and much more likely to concentrate. Imagine this will help to cause a ripple effect throughout their fellow classmates causing them to also be quiet and listen.

Classroom a place only to learn

There are lot of kids who enter the classroom already wired from the fun they were having with their friends in between periods or break time. The teacher should make it clear that the classroom is a place to learn; all goofing off should take place elsewhere. They should leave their horsing around and loud voices at the door and enter the classroom in a calm and collected manner. This will set the tone for the rest of the class.Kids do better when you take 15 minutes during one class period to teach your kids the “correct” way to enter the classroom. Once you’ve set this standard, don’t get lax on it otherwise the kids won’t take any of your rules seriously.

Take Away Privileges to Discipline.

Sometimes its the best to let your students know that every behavior has a consequence.No matter what let the class know that if they keep being loud you’ll take away game time, story hour, or whatever other activity they really enjoy. If only one or two individuals are acting out, keep them for five minutes after class. It is helpful for your students to learn that if they don’t do what is expected of them, there will be a consequence and this will be enough to motivate your class to be quiet.

Acknowledge Student’s Positive Behavior

Granted it can sometimes be difficult to not focus on the child who's exhibiting the bad behavior. However, kids often show certain behaviors for attention or other motives. One universal classroom control technique is to shift the attention to the students who are exhibiting the right behavior. Here's an example: "I like how Ashley is sitting in her seat with a zero voice. She's ready to listen and ready to learn. Thank you, Ashley!" By acknowledging the positive behavior, you encourage students to shift their behavior in order to hopefully be accepted for their attentiveness.

Consistency is important

So how do you quiet a class without yelling? The most important component is to establish control from the very beginning, starting with controlled entry in to the classroom. This sets the standard for the rest of the lesson and, if consistently enforced, the rest of your lessons to come. Consistent, clear starter tasks or activities at the beginning of every lesson become a regular, expected behaviour and tempt students away from chatting to fill the 10 mins at the beginning before the lesson starts. But it’s all about achieving a balance. Despite needing consistency in your lessons, it’s also good to pick your battles and allow certain noise levels that work depending on the job at hand. With younger ages, this can work by using a traffic light system where students know that red means silent working, orange means quiet chatting to the person next to you and green means group talking.

Attention Grabbing

When the noise levels start to slide, you need to grab their attention and yelling at them is not always the way to do this. If you are always shouting, it loses power and becomes the norm. With younger children, it can be easier to grab attention with unexpected sounds like noise makers, bells, etc. You can try clapping or raising your hands where the students then have to copy you. Some teachers try counting down from 5, with students knowing that they are expected to be silent by the time you get to 1. Younger classes respond well to call and respond strategies: the teacher says “1 2 3 eyes on me” and the class respond “1 2 eyes on you”. This can work with song lines too. This may be enough for some classes, but noisier classes may need some incentives or consequences to remain quiet.

Students Not Engaged in Lesson

I declare that not every lesson has to be an exciting knockout they’ll remember forever, but when students aren’t engaged, they are more likely to socialize in class, leading to a louder classroom. With that in mind when we make our lessons more engaging by adding more student choice, movement, or excitement, students are more likely to be more motivated, engaged, and on task, creating less noise within the classroom.

Verbal prompts:

• If you can hear me, touch your nose… If you can hear me, touch your ear… (students will eventually see their classmates performing actions and follow along, quieting a class without having to raise your voice)
• 1, 2, 3, eyes on me – 1, 2, eyes on you
• Can I get a – whoop, whoop
• Countdown from 10 (This allows students to finish their conversations to focus on you)
• Clap a rhythm, and have the students repeat it back to you (change it up to keep students on their toes)

Other prompts:

• Use imaginary marshmallows. (Students place an imaginary marshmallow in their mouth, puff out their cheeks, and can no longer talk. This is an excellent option for hallway walking)
• Use proximity to get physically close to students who need extra support to quiet down
• Bribery. I mean… it works.