#3 Too Much Teacher Talk
Talking is not teaching, and “passive” listening is not learning.

Research indicates you maintain students’ undivided attention for approximately three seconds out of ten when you lecture. The remainder of the time students are consumed with their own barrage of fleeting and varied thoughts.

When your students’ minds are adrift, listening and learning are at risk! To help obtain a marked increase in both attention and retention, reduce the amount of time you talk to a maximum of two minutes, and increase student active participation!

Fill the two minute intervals with double-doses of student involvement both mentally and physically. When you reduce your uninterrupted stream of words, a proportional increase in retention takes place. Insist on students’ becoming active participants in the learning process.
It makes your job easier when you require your students to do the work rather than shouldering the burden yourself.

Remember: “The person who does the work does the learning.” Please stop doing all the work in your classroom and let students it.

Talking is only natural! But considering the research, is it the effective way to communicate with your students?

Remember, they listen only three seconds out of ten—70% of the time their minds are in a muddle and learning suffers.

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The primary ingredient in the recipe to reduce your teacher talk is to become aware of the amount of time you engage in a monologue with your students.

There are several techniques to increase your awareness level...
One is to invest in an inexpensive digital timer that displays elapsed time. When the timer reaches no more than two minutes, STOP talking and involve your students in the lesson by asking open-ended questions, or employ some other form of student participation technique to increase involvement.

Another way to increase your teacher talk awareness is to ask a student to serve as your “too much talk monitor.” Again establish a time period, preferably less than two minutes, and have your monitor signal you when you’ve entered the drone zone.

The third way to increase awareness is to watch for students’ non-verbal signals. When their eyes start to cloud and their faces reflect boredom, you’ve entered the dreaded drone zone where listening and learning becomes virtually non-existent.

Force yourself to STOP talking because talking is not teaching.