The Unteachables Podcast

#152: So it's December, and your students won't stop talking... Now what?

• Claire English

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In last week’s episode, we talked about what to do when student energy is flat, motivation is MIA, and you're pulling teeth just to get through a lesson. This week, we're flipping the script and tackling the other end of the spectrum, those wild, chatty, off-task end-of-year vibes that have you asking:

🫠 “Why is everyone shouting?”
🫠 “Why can’t we sit down for longer than 2 minutes?”
🫠 “Is it me? Am I the drama?”

This high-energy chaos is totally normal (and very human), but it doesn’t mean you have to just white-knuckle your way through it. In this episode, I’m walking you through exactly what to do when your students are dysregulated, off-task, and bursting with excitement as the holidays approach.

We’re talking clear routines, calm teacher energy, classroom games that actually work as brain breaks, and how to keep your lesson bones strong while still leaning into festive fun. Let’s do this.

What you’ll learn:

  • Why student energy spikes in December (and why it’s not a behaviour “problem”)
  • The brain science behind high arousal and dysregulation
  • How to stay consistent and calm, even when students are bouncing off the walls
  • The exact classroom games and mindfulness activities I use to channel energy without chaos
  • The real reason some students act out before the holidays
  • How to reset your teaching presence when you’re just plain tired

Resources Mentioned:

  • 🎁 Free Game Download: 13 no-prep classroom games you can use anytime
     https://www.the-unteachables.com/freedownloadgames

Have a question, comment, or just want to say hello? Drop us a text!

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SPEAKER_00:

Hi there, teachers. Welcome to the Unteachables Podcast. I'm your host, Claire English, and I am just a fellow teacher, a toddler mama, and a big old behaviour nerd on a mission to demystify and simplify that little thing called classroom management. The way we've all been taught to manage behaviour and classroom manage has left us playing crap control, which is not something I subscribe to because we're not dancers with teachers. So listen in as I walk you through the game-changing strategies and I mean the things that we can actually do in action in our classroom that'll allow you to lean into your beautiful values as a compassionate educator and feel empowered to run your room with a little more calm and dare I say it, a lot less chaos. I will see you in the episode. Well, hello there, lovely teacher. Welcome back to the Unteachables Podcast. If you're new here, my name's Claire. We just come here and hang out every Tuesday and we talk about classroom management in a way that's super accessible. You walk away with something tangible that you can use. Bob's your uncle. Bish bash bosch. That is the podcast, right? Just to demystify classroom management and just make it easy. Like let's just do stuff that makes sense. Let's do stuff that actually helps in the moment, in the classroom, without us trying to do things that don't make sense, right? So that is the whole jam here. And I've got 150 episodes that you can listen to now for anything that you could possibly want to learn about, or at least get to start to learn about. I can't believe I've done 50, 150 episodes, and I still don't know how to start the podcast in a way that's not super awkward. So yeah, that's just me. I think that's that. I'm not gonna get any better at that now. Like, this is literally it. Like this intro is what it's gonna be for the rest of the podcast's existence. Alas, the meat of the podcast is going to be great because in today's episode, I will be talking about like so. Last episode we spoke about what to do at the end of the year when your class is exhibiting some really apathetic behaviors, so really lethargic. What the hell are we doing here still? There's no point being here. I'm just gonna put my head down, those kinds of behaviors. And in today's episode, we're going to go and flip the coin to the other side, which is those super high energy, chatty, really tough to manage behaviors that you will see at the end of the year. So that is the other side of the coin we're going to be speaking about today. If you're listening to this episode and you're like, actually, no, the apathetic ones are what I'm dealing with the most, go and listen to that first because it is really, really helpful. So it is the final stretch, right? But chattiness and off-task behaviors and disruptions are at an all-time high. Students are getting chattier and chattier, they're turning up to class with higher energy, or they're turning up a little bit late and loud, and you know, they're listening less to instructions, they're goofing about, they're running in and out of the room, they're not able to focus and engage with the work because the energy is super high. If that is the case, then we are operating at the other end of the scale. I went through this last episode where it's the spectrum of arousal. So on the low end, which is what we spoke about last episode, the low end, which is the lethargy, you know, resting their heads on the desk, yawning, disengaged, lacking that motivation. That's one side of the scale. We're going to go to the other side, which is the high arousal, which is a lot of movement, excessively chatty, high energy, difficulty saying still. And just like with the low arousal, we're trying to get students to come into that optimal arousal state, which is a state where they're alert, they're focused, they're wakeful, they're able to take on tasks. That is perfect. Like that is what we want in a lesson. But my gosh, is it hard at the end of the year when high arousal is very, very common, very normal, because they're excited. So we can look at a little like a few reasons why. The first reason is that students are just excited. Their anticipation is high, they can taste that freedom. They might be thinking about all of the things they've got planned, what they want to do. That energy goes up, that excitement goes up. That is so normal. It's so human. They're excited. I actually read something the other day. You know how you go on holidays and just say you go away for a week. I read something where the actual, like the happy hormones in our brain are actually at their highest before the holiday even starts, and in that first two days. And then after the two days, if we're on a week holiday, days three to seven are apparently actually the same in our brains as before the holiday, anyway. Like just back to our baseline. It's the anticipation and it's that excitement and then that novelty at the start. All of that excitement goes way up. So we're battling against their biology. We are, it's very normal, it's very human, and we're probably feeling the exact same. Anticipation is really, really high. Another reason why it happens where this, you know, high arousal state happens, because it's also this state of dysregulation, right? One of the reasons as well why this can happen is that expectations do start to slip. I'm not saying it's your fault your class is, you know, gone mad and blah, blah, blah. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying that naturally the countdown and the vibe towards a holiday break is naturally more relaxed. We tend to, you know, kind of do some activities that are a little bit more creative or a little bit more relaxed. We might bring in some things because we're tired, our approach is less likely to be as consistent. So we tend to do things and change up the structure. So those expectations, those non-verbal expectations might be slipping just a little bit. That consistency, that predictability might be slipping. And not only is that nonverbally saying to students the expectations of your behavior are different, but it's also increasing dysregulated behaviors for students who really genuinely like rely on those predictable, consistent routines to be able to stay in that level of like optimal arousal or in a regulated state. So that is the second reason why you might see more of these challenging behaviors. Another reason why you might be seeing that increase in the chattier behaviors, those more, you know, like high arousal behaviors, is the drive to connect. Like love and belonging is this huge driver of behaviors, especially in young people. Like we are social beings, and it is actually a part of our development to connect, to like, you know, form bonds with people and to foster those connections. That belonging, that sense of belonging is so pivotal in our survival. And as our time together comes to a close, they might be looking to strengthen those connections. They might be looking to solidify some of those connections, maybe to make sure that in the holidays they might be the ones that get invited over to each other's houses or, you know, like really trying to strengthen those connections. And that means that there will be more chatty and more off-task behaviors. Now, I'm not talking about really challenging, dysregulated behaviors here. I'm talking about more the low-level chatty behaviors. When it comes to those bigger, you know, more explosive, more challenging behaviors that are, you know, harder to manage in that sense. That could also be due to the fact the holidays are coming and they're losing their sense of safety. They're losing the idea that they're going to have something consistent, they're going to have, you know, food, like maybe the holiday period for students who don't have a lot of safety at home or predictability at home. Maybe they're in financial hardship at home. Christmas isn't going to be something that is this beautiful, festive, bright, wonderful time. It could look really different for those students. And if that is the case, then no wonder that this period can be marked with more dysregulation and those behaviors are going to be firing because of that. So I just want to do that as a little bit of an aside that I'm not talking about those particular behaviors, but just to hold space for students who actually in the lead up to the holidays, their behaviors will increase because of that lack of safety, that lack of felt safety at home, or just um, you know, general hardship at home. So when it comes to this energy, right, our goal is to downregulate so we bring students back into that optimal arousal state. And if you want to do that, here are some quick action steps to be able to do it. I just love to lean into it, but lean into it in a way that has clarity and consistency and predictability, making sure we keep those same routines, we're keeping that predictability there. So we can honor that end-of-year energy. We can honor the fact that it is coming into the holidays and we are all excited. And, you know, like we can still do that and be human about it, but we can do so in a way that continues to reinforce those year-long entry routines and boundaries and expectations and transition routines and exit routines and the things like the bones of our lesson can still stay there no matter what you're doing. You can be doing, I don't know what you teach out there, right? But you could be doing a Christmas craft activity where you're creating a lovely Christmas tree. You can do that while still keeping an entry routine where you're doing a starter activity. You can still provide students with a task card for that activity so they can be ticking things off. So it's not just a free-for-all. You can be embedding a reflection at the end. So that is their exit ticket. So you know that when the exit of that lesson comes, you're going to have everybody sitting in their seats, listening for instructions and exiting the room the way they always would. So you've got them, right? You've got that predictable, consistent entry, transition, exit, all of those pizzas in the mix. Hey, you can even do some awesome brain breaks that are just like festive games or just regular games where they're doing something that is fun, that is something that is going to honor their need for connection, that is going to, you know, help them wind down for the holidays, but doing so in a way that you're still leading that. Uh, I love my um classroom games to use it a pinch. I always use these throughout the year when I want a brain break that is going to be a little bit more fun. But at the end of the year, they're really great to then channel that energy back. So, yes, you might think a game is going against the goal, which is to bring their energy down. But I use these to channel the energy. So, for example, uh, let's talk about, I'm just looking at the list, let's talk about silent ball. Let's talk about silent ball. I love this one, and I'm sure a lot of you out there know exactly what I'm gonna say, but I'll go through it anyway for those of you who haven't played Silent Ball before. Just get students standing in a circle in the room. And if you can't make a circle because the room is too small, you've got too many students, you can have them just standing up at their desks. Uh, and they have to just pass the ball around the room quietly without talking. If somebody drops the ball or if they make a bad pass or they talk, they're out. And whoever's standing remaining is the winner. I love it because fun game, great brain break, brain break, brain break. It fosters connection, it's leaning into the energy, but it's actually requiring them to be quiet. Like, shut your mouth, let's listen. And if you talk, then you're out. And you're channeling the energy in a way that is like just really easy. You're not nagging at them, you're not wasting your energy standing up the front of the room going, come on, everyone listening. Like it's so demoralizing at the end of the year, especially when you just have to wait and wait and wait, trying to quiet the class instead of going, I'll just wait for the 50th time, go, let's play a game of silent ball, everybody up around in a circle, let's do this. And it might take five minutes, but after the five minutes is up, you can then transition to teacher talk because you've gotten everybody settled, as settled as you possibly can in that moment. Uh, there's a lot of different games that require students to do the same kind of thing. Um, I love get to 21. I think I spoke about that last episode, actually. So I won't talk about that one. The 20 is the one, like the 20, get to 20. Um, is it called get to 20? What have I called it here? It is count to 20. Oh gosh. Uh, that was a bit obvious. Um, so students take turns counting out loud, but only one person can say a number at a time. If two students say a number at the same time, everyone has to start over. You can't repeat numbers, you can't interrupt, you can't jump ahead, and the game is one as a class team when you finally reach 20. So, for example, you've got 30 kids in front of you, Jane goes one. If Jane and Jim say one at the same time, you start back again. You can't communicate other than just saying the number. So then you get to three. Jane jumps up, three, and then you've got Bob, four, and then you've got James, five. But if James stands up at the same time as, you know, somebody else and says five, you have to start again. It's actually so frustrating. It's so hard, but there is so much buy-in. The kids love it, and you have such a nice vibe in the class after that. I absolutely love count to 20. So all of these games, um, I've got a free resource that you can download um that has all of these games on it. How many are on there? I have 13 games, just like that one. You don't need any resources for, you don't need anything else. You can just play the games. Um, and it just comes as a cheat sheet that all of them are on there with like really simple instructions. These games, because you need no resources and you don't need to do anything else, you can just like pull one out of a hat. They will be a gift in the lead up to the end of the school year or the end of the calendar year, sorry, for some of you. Uh, so you can download those by heading to the dashunteachables.com forward slash free download games or one word. So the dashunteachables.com forward forward slash free download games. I'll also pop the link to that in the show notes. But if you haven't gotten those yet, please go download them. They are so good at just channeling that energy. What I also find at the end of the year when people, people, when our students are like chattier and higher energy and we're tired, we're exhausted, and we're up against it, I find it really hard to bring the joy back into some lessons when it's really tough. These games are really great at just bringing a little bit of fun back, bringing a little bit of joy back, used as brain breaks. They're so, they're just so perfect. So go download those if you haven't already. The next thing that I strongly suggest doing if you are battling against really chatty behaviors, really, I don't even want to say behaviors, just like a vibe, just an energetic thing in your class where things are just off and unsettled and chatty and, you know, just really hard to get engaged in a lesson, or really hard just to try to get to listen to teacher-related instructions, those kinds of chatty energies in your classroom. I strongly suggest embedding a daily starter activity, mindfulness practice, where you're getting students to do something at the start of the lesson that is pen to paper or something really chilled, really relaxed, something independent. So you're setting the vibe from the get-go. That is what a great starter activity does already, something really regulating, pen to paper, achievable. If you can embed something like a mindfulness activity within that, that is absolutely perfect. It can literally be one of my SEL starters, but you can just use anything for this. So I would have things like um an alphabet challenge. So they have to sit down and they have to think of, you know, foods, each one starting with the letter of the alphabet. Or they do like, you know, my perfect day. They have to explain their perfect day, or they think about like the um their calm place and they have to describe their calm place, or just little things like that. That's pen to paper. Um, one of the ones that I really love that I created the other day was um a hands activity. So they have to look at their hand and they have to like really just spend time looking at it, and then they have to write down a list of as many things as they possibly can think of that they're grateful for about their hands and what they do for them. So little things like that, because it's grounding, it brings them into the moment, it's personal, so it engages them, it gets a lot of buy-in. But the main point of this is from the very start of the lesson to create that invisible barrier as they walk in. So they come in, they sit down, and they're doing something that is regulating for their nervous systems, it's calming, it's quiet. It gives you a chance to, you know, do your attendance, which I would always forget doing anyway, but it gives you a chance just to kind of catch up on those little things. So mark your role, do your attendance, uh, and then give them a chance just to reset their nervous system as they're coming in. So you've got then, you know, more chance of getting in the driver's seat for that lesson and then transitioning into the lesson in a calm way. Other things that I love doing as they're walking into the room, I like doing calming music on entry. So I might put like a YouTube video on of, you know, something really calming, maybe like a nature background during activities. You can put on like ambient sounds, again, like maybe like a rainforest or something. You can do a guided meditation as a brain break midway through, or just anything else you can think of just to set that calm tone. Uh, you can do a little bit of stretching, a bit of yoga, you can do some mindfulness coloring. There's lots and lots of stuff you can do that just helps you to channel whatever energy is in the room, put it somewhere and get them to settle into the lesson. Just as I did in the last session, I just wanted to do a bit of a main takeaway here and just to reinforce something for you because all of those chatty, high-energy, off-task behaviors are very expected at this time of year. They're very human. As I said in the beginning, like we're excited. There's that energy, there's that anticipation, like that's very normal. And that isn't students being purposefully naughty or winding you up. Like that genuinely is just us being human. Just like I have been in staff meetings at the end of the year where I can't stop laughing. I'm my energy's really high. I'm really excited. And that's me as an adult. So our students really do struggle with that at the end of the year as well. You can also control your patch in the classroom, but you can't control the things outside of the room that also might be fueling the challenges that you're seeing in your classroom. There are other things that happen at this time of year. They have Christmas concerts, they go to, you know, sports days, they go to all of these different things that are happening within the school. They might be going on field trips or, you know, other things like the panto. If you're, I remember taking the kids to the panto at the end of the year, um, the school, like the calendar year towards Christmas. All of these things are happening and they are fueling not just the excitement because things are different, but they're fueling dysregulation because things aren't. As predictable. So just remember to try to keep your space, your patch of the school, as safe as possible for them in terms of their felt safety. And that just means have a consistent starter, have a consistent routine for transitioning into different things or brain breaks. Have a consistent exit routine. And if you keep the bones of your lesson, it is going to help you immensely. And then, as I said, you can start to channel that energy amongst there with, you know, little strategies like some games that help you kind of get that energy and put it somewhere else and still, you know, meet their need for connection, doing things like little mindfulness activities, putting on some music that brings down the energy. And also remembering that, just as I said last episode, when it comes to apathetic energy, if you're feeling frantic, if you're feeling stressed, if your energy's high, that's also going to be what is influencing. I'm not saying that it's always going to be your, it's not your fault. It's just the way that it is when it comes to co-regulation and co-disregulation. If you are feeling like that, it's much harder to then channel the energy down. So do yourself a favor and you know, take care of yourself. Do something to make yourself feel settled and calm going into that lesson. Take a deep breath. Tell yourself the only person's behavior that I can control is my own, and then move forward into the lesson doing that. So just as a recap, three things to be doing as we end 2025. Still can't believe we're saying end of 2025. The first thing, keep things consistent, keep things predictable, don't sleep on your entry routine, keep that the same no matter what, no matter what the lesson, have a starter. Number two, have plenty up your sleeve, as many games or starters or mindfulness clips up your sleeve as possible, and just be ready to lean in, use them at a pinch whenever you feel like you need to bring things back into balance. And the third thing is keep using your credible, calm teaching presence because you are the energetic captain of your ship. Even if the waters at the end of the year are rocky as heck and far harder to navigate, it is very important that you remember that you are that energetic captain of your classroom. And that is all. Sending you all of the best, all my love for the rest of the year. I think I've got one more episode that I'll be recording before I take a break for Christmas and New Year as well, and then return in January. So I shall see you back here next week at the same time. And until then, lovely teacher, please remember to keep sprinkling that classroom management magic into everything you do. Bye for now.

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Claire English

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