Talk less. Teach more!

A nonverbal recipe book for talked-out teachers!

1684 tips and techniques to preserve your voice and your nerves in the classroom.

Pearl & Derrick Nitsche

Illustrations by Gabriele Schaettle

ISBN 9781475242713

Copyright © 2011 Pearl Nitsche

All rights reserved. The full page posters may be copied and reproduced exclusively for use in the classroom. Otherwise no part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author.

www.pearls-of-learning.com

The Authors

Pearl and Derrick Nitsche work individually as well as a team and specialize in facilitating communication and teacher training seminars.

Pearl Nitsche

was born in the United States and has lived for over 30 years in Vienna, Austria. She is an enthusiastic teacher, teacher trainer, language and communication facilitator as well as an internationally known conference speaker.

She founded SLL Institute in 1984, which offers communication and brainfriendly learning training. She has trained thousands of teachers in 26 countries on four continents.

She has had experience teaching learners of all age groups from kindergarten to the university level and has been a teacher trainer for over twenty years.

Derrick Nitsche

is an actor and a coach as well as a communication and foreign language trainer specializing in brain-friendly learning techniques and NLP. He facilitates trainings in the corporate world as well as for teachers and trainers in the areas of creative learning techniques and (non)verbal management, both in German and in English, in Austria as well as internationally.

Many thanks

to the teachers in our courses, who shared and contributed their vast experience to this book. You -and our pupils- are our inspiration!

Gender

To simplify reading and writing this book, we have used the pronouns “she” and “he” at random.

If the shoe fits…

The tips and techniques presented here stem from our own teaching experience and from other teachers of all grades, subjects, and age groups. A technique which is suitable for a certain age group, ethnic group, nationality or religion may not be appropriate for another. There are so many to choose from – simply select what is appropriate and appeals to you.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

	The Authors
	Introduction
	Anchors in the Classroom
CHAPTER 1	RITUALS DURING THE SCHOOL YEAR
	1.	Beginning a new school year.
	2.	Weekly rituals and rituals for each lesson.
	3.	End of the week, the semester, the school year.
	4.	Every “new beginning” presents the opportunity for a fresh start!
CHAPTER 2	AT THE BEGINNING OF THE LESSON
	1.	Let’s start!
	2.	Divided opening sentences.
	3.	Arrival: Are your pupils really there?
	4.	Tardypupils.
CHAPTER 3	GROUP WORK
	1.	Forming pairs and groups.
	2.	Getting chatting groups back on task.
	3.	“No one wants to work with me!”
	4.	Making fun of one another.
	5.	Building team spirit.
CHAPTER 4	HALL DUTY, DURING BREAKS, AND ON EXCURSIONS
	1.	Pushing and getting in line.
	2.	Felix is twirling his gym bag.
	3.	Hall duty.
	4.	Starting and ending snack time.
	5.	Pushing, shoving, fighting during the break.
	6.	Line up your school bags, please.
	7.	“Where are your house shoes?”
	8.	Excursions.
CHAPTER 5	DEALING WITH THE CLASS AND THE INDIVIDUAL
	1.	“Yuck! It smells in here!” / “I’m too hot!” / “I’m too cold!”
	2.	“It’s raining!” / “It’s snowing!”
	3.	“Oh, a spider! / a wasp! / a fly! / a bee!”, etc.
	4.	“I can’t see the board” / “I can’t hear you!”
	5.	“It’s so loud. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”
	6.	“Somebody’s talking in the hall!” / “A dog’s barking outside!”
	7.	“The sun’s in my eyes.” / “Can I close the curtains?” / “Can we put down the blinds?” / “May I open the window?”
	8.	“I have a stomach ache!”
	9.	“I’m bored!”
	10.	“I’m thirsty.”
	11.	“I’m hungry.”
	12.	Pupil burps, sneezes loudly, etc.
	13.	“Am I being good today?”
	14.	Disinterested posture.
	15.	Emotional outbursts and fits of rage.
CHAPTER 6	TAKING CARE OF THE TEACHER
	1.	Self protective measures for your mental state.
	2.	“My patience is running VERY thin!”
CHAPTER 7	DISCUSSION GUIDELINES
	1.	“One person speaks at a time!”
	2.	Swear words.
	3.	Sign language.
	4.	Tattling.
	5.	Talking to someone across the room.
	6.	Raise your hands if you want to say something.
CHAPTER 8	IT’S TOO LOUD IN HERE! or: ARE YOU STILL ALIVE?
	1.	Getting their attention during the lesson.
	2.	“You are concentrated and relaxed…”
	3.	“Are you still breathing?” Waking them up with movement.
	4.	“I”m not deaf!”
CHAPTER 9	DISTURBANCES AND DISTRACTIONS DURING CLASS
	1.	“Stay in your seat!”
	2.	“Go back to your seat!”
	3.	Pencil tapper.
	4.	Passing notes.
	5.	“Can I pass out the papers?”
	6.	Provoking the teacher.
	7.	“Turn off your cell phone.”
	8.	“I’m finished!”
	9.	“I don’t understand what I’m supposed to do!”
	10.	“I want to be first!”
	11.	“I NEVER get called on!!”
	12.	“Why me?”
	13.	“Spit out your chewing gum!”
	14.	“May I go to the lavatory?”
	15.	“I’m thirsty!”
	16.	“He / She started it!”
	17.	While walking through the room, Florian bothers the classmates he passes on the way
	18.	Micheala pesters her neighbor.
	19.	Listening to music during class.
	20.	“Parrot” behavior.
	21.	Chatting and daydreaming.
	22.	Steven is preparing ammunition for a spit ball battle.
	23.	Maxi uses gym equipment without permission.
	24.	Without asking, Sandra takes a red pencil out of Petra’s pencil case.
	25.	“Stop rocking your chair!”
	26.	Playing around with objects during class.
	27.	Mark takes out his glue stick and starts playing with it during class.
	28.	Susi refuses to take notes.
	29.	“When is…?”
	30.	“What are we going to do today?”
	31.	Rudy is fidgeting in his chair and can’t sit still.
CHAPTER 10	CLASSROOM PROCEDURE
	1.	“Put your worksheets in your notebooks!”
	2.	“Your homework is…”
	3.	“Do not begin until I tell you to start.”
	4.	“Well done!” – nonverbal.
	5.	“Well done!” – verbal.
	6.	“What do we need?”
	7.	Missing material and tools.
	8.	Getting learning material.
	9.	“Open your math books to page 57,”
	10.	The teacher needs to leave the class for a few moments.
	11.	“Clean up your desk!”
	12.	“Hurry up!”
	13.	“Put your writing utensils aside!”
	14.	“Put your chairs on your desks!”
	15.	“It’s circle time.”
	16.	Disturbances during circle time.
	17.	“Speak loudly and clearly!”
	18.	“Speak in full sentences!”
	19.	“Please clean the board!”
	20.	“Use a ruler.”
	21.	“Use a sharpened pencil”
	22.	“I’m about to say something important!”
	23.	“Hand in your homework?”
	24.	Administrative tasks: Delegate! Delegate! Delegate!
CHAPTER 11	POSTERS
	CONTACT INFORMATION

INTRODUCTION

The techniques presented in this book are among the topics dealt with in our seminars and books on nonverbal classroom management. They are based upon the precepts of NLP and our experiences working in Austrian schools (Derrick in an elementary and middle school and Pearl in a middle school, a high school, and a commercial academy for teenagers) as well as contributions from the many teachers of all subjects and age groups from around the world who took part in our courses.

The first two books in this series on nonverbal classroom management include a bit of theory as well as a great deal of practise, and concrete tools for the challenges we face in our classrooms on a daily basis. The inspiration for this third book came from a group of teachers in Liezen in southern Austria who said what they really needed was a book which could be kept on the teacher’s desk and referenced at any time as a source of “first aid” in challenging situations. And now the book has been written and we would like to thank you here for your good idea!

As every one who has attended one of our seminars knows, it is

One of the comments we often hear in our seminars is:

“It felt so good to realize that what I’ve been doing in the classroom intuitively for years actually has a name and is used by others too.”

“Intuitively” is the key word in this statement.

On an intuitive level we know how to teach effectively. And we do exactly that.

But, because we are simply listening to our gut feelings and generally don’t understand the theory behind the practice, we do not use our intuitive knowledge systematically. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. We are leaving success up to chance.

It is only when we come to understand WHY it works – when the unconscious becomes conscious – that we have gained a dependable tool that can be used intentionally and systematically in the classroom.

For this reason, we would like to suggest that you also read the other two books in this series, in which the background information and theory behind these valuable tips and techniques are explained. By doing so, you will insure that your success is not a coincidence but that you can depend on it happening regularly and dependably. This book is a sort of workbook designed to accompany the first two books, a very practical recipe book full of tips and techniques which you can use tomorrow, more or less exactly as they stand here in your classroom.

The focus of this book is on the process level and the group dynamics in your classroom. We do not deal here with WHAT you teach but rather HOW you teach it. Therefore the contents are suitable for every subject and every age group. There is a lot here for facilitators in adult education too. The lists are not complete. We would be happy to receive any suggestions or additional information you would like to send us. My address is pearl.nitsche@chello.at. I appreciate and answer every single mail I receive and would love to hear from you!

It was and is important for us to give you an extensive selection of anchors, techniques, and rituals. Just as each situation, each class, each teacher, and each student is unique, so is each and every anchor presented in this book. Some will be perfectly suited to you and your present situation and others won’t.

We would like to invite you to a “What do I do when …” buffet. Take a large dinner plate and feel free to pick and choose what is right for you. Fill up your plate with those delicacies that you need at this very moment. Enjoy. And once your plate is full, be sure to pack up all the leftovers that you don’t need right now. You can put them in the freezer and rest assured that if you should ever need them at some later point, they will be there for you.

And with these words we wish you:

“Bon Appetit!”

At this point we would like to close our opening remarks with our guiding principles and mission:

We believe in your potential.

As fellow teachers we understand the challenges you are facing today: crowded classrooms, more students each year with behavior problems, plus economic measures designed to save the government money but which hinder us in doing top-quality teaching.

This book, along with the first two books in this series, is an acknowledgement of your personal engagement and your dedication to a noble profession. A profession which will determine the state of tomorrow’s world. We have written this book to accompany you on your professional journey, to enhance the joy that your work brings you, and to enable you to more easily realize the tremendous potential that rests within you and your students. Let us work together – that each of us can do his or her small part to make our world a better and a happier place to live in.