Now that I had a program for teachers that were too punitive, It was time to work with teachers who were too permissive. I had used a "time timer" with multiple teachers successfully. The teachers would decide how much time was needed for the didactic part of the lesson before a more laid back part of the lesson began. They set a large clock like timer at the front of the room for the set "quiet listening and attending" time that must be followed. Each time the class is disruptive, the teacher moves the timer back a minute. If the students have any time left at the end of the period, they are able to spend the remaining time as free time, get to do a class activity, or earn a small reward. Teachers do not use this technique all day, just during the most important or most disrupted periods.
I wanted to automate the system. I began to look online for a noise monitor with a timer that would stop and start with the level of noise. It would run for a predetermined time and record what time was still available at the end of the period. The timer would need to be adjustable for each classroom. I spend much time digging but could not find just the right program. Then I discovered the Zero Noise Classroom (ZNC).
The Zero Noise Classroom met most of my needs but not all. I contacted the developer (Manuel Llorens), a lovely high school teacher in Spain. He reworked the app so that it was both a stopwatch and a noise monitor.
I worked with a kindergarten teacher the winter before the pandemic to use the ZNC during her ELA period. Students were to be working independently on paper, pencil tasks. The teacher cued up ZNC on her smartboard for 15-20 minutes. As long as the students had at least 50% of the minutes left on the timer, they earned reward time (such as playing with slime) or a small reward (candy, stickers). Immediately upon starting the intervention, it was possible for the teacher to work with individual students without yelling to be heard above the noise. There were actually moments of quiet. Unfortunately the pandemic recess began two weeks into the intervention, so there was not enough data for publication. I would consider starting the intervention again this year, but I am teaching at a local university in addition to my day job, so I think my plate is full enough. I also doubt my principal would be excited about having an extra person in the building during COVID.
