Ignoring and Nonverbal Redirection¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · no claims cited

Description¶

Many misbehaviors don't deserve any response at all. A behavior that is infrequent and unlikely to spread — an otherwise-quiet student whispering to a neighbor once in a while — is often more effectively left alone than responded to, since it is likely to disappear on its own (or "extinguish," in behaviorist terms) and interrupting the activity to address it risks causing more disruption than the misbehavior itself. Some misbehaviors are worth ignoring even if frequent, as long as they don't bother other students (a student who is chronically out of her seat sharpening her pencil, unnoticed by classmates, may not actually be "a problem" despite being unnecessary or ill-timed). The genuinely difficult cases are the ambiguous ones in between — whispering that happens more than "rarely" but less than "often," or a habit that bothers a few classmates but not most — where there's no clean threshold for when ignoring stops being the right call and a more active response becomes necessary.

When misbehavior is a bit too serious or frequent to ignore, but not serious enough to warrant taking the time to actually speak to the student, nonverbal cues — gestures, eye contact, or other "body language" involving little or no speech — are often enough. A glance in the direction of two students chatting off-task, a frown, or simply moving physically closer to them can be enough of a reminder to bring them back on task, and even if it isn't fully sufficient, it can still keep the off-task behavior from spreading to others (see the ripple effect in Kounin's Classroom Management Research). The main risk of relying on nonverbal cues is that some students may not notice them (if engrossed in conversation) or may fail to correctly interpret their meaning — a risk that is higher for young children still learning the subtleties of adult nonverbal "language" (Guerrero & Floyd, 2005; Heimann et al., 2006), and higher still for students with limited English proficiency or a cultural background whose nonverbal conventions differ from the teacher's own (Marsh, Elfenbein, & Ambady, 2003).

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Accurate judgment of whether a misbehavior is actually minor, infrequent, or unnoticed by others — the strategy depends on getting this classification right
• For nonverbal redirection specifically, a shared nonverbal "vocabulary" between teacher and student

Constraints¶

• No sharp threshold separates "ignorable" from "needs a response" — frequency and disruptiveness exist on a continuum, and judgment calls will sometimes be wrong in either direction
• Nonverbal cues can be missed or misread, especially by young children or students whose cultural background uses different nonverbal conventions than the teacher's — see Culturally Responsive Classroom Norms
• Ignoring behavior that is actually escalating (rather than genuinely minor) risks letting it spread via the ripple effect before a more active response is used

Target Learners¶

• Students engaged in minor, low-frequency, or unnoticed surface behaviors — not students whose behavior is already disrupting others or escalating

Target Learning Goals¶

• Minimizing disruption to lesson flow from minor misbehavior while avoiding the greater disruption a spoken intervention would itself cause

Instructions¶

1. Judge whether the misbehavior is minor, infrequent, and unnoticed by others; if so, ignore it rather than responding.
2. If it is a bit too serious or frequent to ignore but not serious enough to merit speaking to the student, use a nonverbal cue instead — a glance, a frown, or moving closer.
3. Watch for whether the student notices and responds to the cue; if the behavior continues or the cue seems to go unnoticed or misunderstood, escalate to a verbal response (see Low-Profile Classroom Control).

Related Strategies¶

• Low-Profile Classroom Control — the next tier up when ignoring or a nonverbal cue isn't enough
• Teacher Effectiveness Training / Conflict Resolution — for misbehavior persistent enough that ignoring and nonverbal redirection have already failed
• Train teachers on technology management, report interpretation, and minimal redirection before computer-based instruction

Key Sources¶

• Guerrero, L. K., & Floyd, K. (2005). Nonverbal communication in close relationships. Erlbaum.
• Heimann, M., et al. (2006). Children's understanding of nonverbal communication. [cited via secondary source]
• Marsh, A. A., Elfenbein, H. A., & Ambady, N. (2003). Nonverbal "accents": Cultural differences in facial expressions of emotion. Psychological Science, 14(4), 373-376.
• Arduini-Van Hoose, N. (2020). Responding to student misbehavior. In Educational psychology. Retrieved from https://edpsych.pressbooks.sunycreate.cloud. CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.