How do you deal with a chatty class?
Stop trying to respond to the chatter and start preventing it. That's the short version from Claire English, host of The Unteachables Podcast and a specialist in classroom behaviour. In a listener Q&A episode she explains that low-level noise is almost always a symptom of weak routines, poorly matched tasks, or unmanaged transitions, and she walks through the specific fixes: entry and exit routines, assigned seating, and activities that match the brain state you need.
Mitigate, don't respond
Claire's first point reframes the whole problem. Most teachers handle a chatty class by reacting: a shush here, a name there, a raised voice when it tips over. Each of those is a response to a behaviour that has already happened, and she says that's the single biggest mistake she sees.
Low-level disruption is high-frequency and low-stakes, which makes it exhausting to police one incident at a time. Her alternative is to look at the conditions that produce the noise. Is the work scaffolded enough that every student can actually start? Do students know exactly what to do in the first three minutes? Are they coming in from lunch wound up and being asked to sit silently? Fix the conditions and most of the nagging disappears.
"I think the biggest mistake that teachers make when managing behavior is trying to respond to low-level behaviors rather than mitigate them."
Routines are the heartbeat of the lesson
If she had to name one prevention tool, it's routines. Not routines as a poster on the wall, but as the structure every lesson runs on. Claire's view is that if you treat routines as a nice-to-have rather than the foundation of everything you do, you're not giving them the weight they deserve.
The two she prioritises are entry and exit. On entry, students should walk in and immediately have a short, accessible task waiting, either something tied to the lesson or a quick socio-emotional check-in. That gives you three to five minutes of breathing room to sort materials while the room settles itself. On exit, she recommends a task that runs right up to the bell and gets collected, so the message is clear: the lesson finishes when I say it does, not when you start packing up.
"Routines should be like the absolute heartbeat of your lesson and if you're not treating them as something that is foundational to absolutely everything that you do as a teacher, then you're not giving routines the attention that they really deserve."
Start with your worst five minutes
Claire is realistic that you can't rebuild every routine at once, especially mid-year. Her advice is to find your single biggest pain point and fix that one moment first.
If the chaos is at the end, with students packing up early and crowding the door, build a solid exit routine and nothing else for a couple of weeks. If it's the start, work on entry. Once one transition is calm, the rest of the lesson gets easier, and you'll have the bandwidth to tackle the next weak spot.
"If you're finding that you're standing at the door at the end of the lesson and students are packing up early, there's chaos, and they're pushing at the door and they're wanting to leave, then definitely start with a solid exit routine."
Seating plans and phones: both wins
In the rapid-fire section, Claire doesn't hesitate on seating plans. Assigned seats from day one remove the negotiation and indecision that eat the first minutes of a lesson. Students come in knowing where to go and what to do, which she calls the path of least resistance to getting started. She frames it to students as helping her learn their names, which takes the sting out of it.
Phone bans get the same verdict. Her reasoning is honest: she finds herself reaching for her own phone constantly, and she can't expect a teenager with less regulation to resist it in a classroom. A clear ban means fewer battles and a calmer room.
"Seating plans are a big, big, big win and I don't even care if that makes me old school."
Match the activity to the brain state you need
The last piece is regulation. A class that has just come from PE or lunch is up-regulated, and asking them to drop straight into silent reading is asking for chatter. Claire suggests thinking about transitions in terms of the brain state you need next. If you need calm, independent work, build in something that brings the energy down first. If you're moving into collaborative work, use a short movement-based activity to bring the energy up deliberately rather than letting it leak out as side conversations.
She also answers the "can you be too nice?" question here, and it connects. You can't be too kind, she says, but you can be permissive, and compassionate teachers slip into permissiveness easily. The fix isn't to be harsher. It's to pair the warmth with strong, predictable structure so students feel both cared for and clearly led.
"We can balance the compassion and the kindness and the love that we have for our job and the care that we have for our students with being a really strong, credible teacher."
What to remember
- Chatter is a symptom; fix the conditions (routines, task accessibility, transitions) instead of policing each incident.
- Build entry and exit routines first. Students should have a task waiting when they walk in and work until the bell.
- Don't overhaul everything at once. Pick your worst five minutes and fix that transition first.
- Assigned seating from day one and a clear phone policy remove two big sources of low-level noise.
- Plan transitions around the brain state you need next: settle before independent work, energise before collaboration.
People also ask
Can a teacher be too nice?
Claire says you can't be too kind, but you can be permissive. The goal is to keep the warmth and add strong, predictable structure so you're compassionate and credible at the same time.
Should I use a seating plan?
Yes. Claire calls seating plans a big win because students come in knowing exactly where to sit, which removes negotiation and gets the lesson started faster.
What should an entry routine look like?
A short, accessible task students can start the moment they sit down, either tied to the lesson or a quick check-in, taking the first three to five minutes so the room settles while you get organised.
Based on Episode 173 of The Unteachables Podcast, a listener Q&A released June 23, 2026, hosted by classroom management specialist Claire English.
