37. Students Keep Saying "6 7?" How to Deal with Disruptive and Repetitive Noises in the Classroom

Are you tired of hearing your students say "6 7," "sigma," or any other random phrases or noises that disrupt your classroom? This year, it seems the repetitive, disruptive noises from students are at an all-time high. Spurred by what's trending on social media, these seemingly harmless fads tend to distract our students from learning - and wear on our teacher patience. In this episode, we'll discuss why students keep saying and doing these trends (trust me - it's not the first or the last) and how we can combat their impact on student learning. 

Are the demands of the classroom causing you to think about quitting teaching? Before you do, check out my best-selling book, Teachaholic: The 7-Day MindSET Shift to Conquer Burnout, Build Life-Changing Boundaries, and Reignite Your Love for Teaching. You can learn how to get your copy at www.erinsponaugle.com/book and download your free  Teachaholic Action Guide to begin your journey back from burnout here.

Get your copy of Teachaholic: The 7-Day MindSET Shift to Conquer Burnout, Build Life-Changing Boundaries, and Reignite Your Love for Teaching at www.erinsponaugle.com/book.

You can download the Teachaholic Action Guide to begin your journey back from burnout here.

Download your FREE checklist, The Great 88: Rules, Routines, and Expectations to Go Over and Over, and feel confident establishing classroom management.

For more resources on classroom management, time management, and preserving mental well-being to avoid teacher burnout, visit www.erinsponaugle.com.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:08

Being a teacher isn't what it used to be. The good news is you don't have to figure it out on your own. If you're looking for truth, inspiration, and tips for success, in the classroom and beyond, you're in the right place. It's time to turn the page to the future of the profession. This is the next chapter for teachers podcast. Hello everyone, I'm Erin Spinagle, and this is episode 37 of the Next Chapter for Teachers Podcast. Welcome back. Thank you for listening. We are getting further into that first semester of school. We've been talking a lot about burnout and dealing with ways to combat the burnouts, the symptoms of burnout and disillusionment this time of the year. Today we're going to talk about something that could be contributing to your feelings of overwhelm and just general happiness in the classroom. And it all starts with two numbers that have made themselves the superstars, unfortunately, of this school year. So we're going to be talking about disruptive and repetitive noises. The brain brain rot, if you will. I can't even get it all out because it just thinking about this makes me so of those magical numbers six and seven that have seemingly taken over the brains of our students. I if you have been in a school for any longer than 30 seconds, you have probably, especially first thing in the morning when they're getting off the bus or at the end of the day or anytime they have free time, you have probably heard somebody say 6'7 or something else that is just a random repetitive word that our students just feel the need to say and repeat and communicate to one another. And this year, it just seems more prevalent than ever before. This need to say things, repeat things, and disrupt our line of thought. And we're already overstimulated during the day, teachers and students. So adding one more thing to you have that you have to combat along with just teaching your students and being in contr being in charge of all the things that go into being a teacher all day long, this might take you over the top. Just having to listen to this and get it across to your students that this is not the thing that they need to be saying or thinking about right now. We just want to teach. We want to do our jobs. We want to help our kids to learn and be the people that they're meant to be, but we're having to deal with the uh the pop culture, the things that are popular right now to say, and then are kind of being a cog in the wheel of just trying to get through the regular school day and focus on the things that matter. And we're human beings, us teachers, and sometimes when you hear the same thing over and over, and it's the same thing that you've addressed over and over again, it kind of feels like you're being hit over the head trying to get your point across or trying to get kids to stop doing something that is just a distraction from learning and helping them get where they need to be. So, why are these kids doing it? Where are they getting it from? And what are we gonna do about it? We're gonna get into that or dive into that here now. So, what's up with this 6-7 business or the Sigma or all the random things that they just blurt, blurt out of their mouths for no reason and just you know, completely just take your uh classroom off course. Well, it's pretty obvious it's it's social media. Somebody thought it would be cool to say that in a reel or a post or a video, and it's caught on. Now, should the kids be on social media? Absolutely not. I firmly believe that social media is not the place for most people, kids, adults included, but that's where they have mostly picked this up. They have been on social media, they've seen it, and it doesn't take me or any, you know, to really get across the need for our kids to not be online without adult supervision. Uh, a book that I read this past summer by Jonathan Haidt that just recently came out, The Anxious Generation, all about the impact that cell phones and social media are having on uh children. It's it's a great book. I recommend that everybody in education or that has a child read it because it does talk a lot about what the impact is on our kids being online all the time and how it is negatively affecting their communication, their ability to grow and adapt and experience life. It's an excellent, excellent book that I would highly recommend. Because as these kids, I know it seems pretty harmless just saying the two numbers six, seven, over and over. It means absolutely nothing. But they hear it repeated as they scroll, and then after they're not on the phone or on their apps or whatever, they they will repeat it too, because it's what they've been seeing and hearing, and you know, input-output. So they're saying this to each other, it's social attention. It reminds me a lot of a couple years ago. Oh, this is like going way back when I taught fifth grade. It was it was 21. They would just say the number 21. They heard that on a vine or something, and that was annoying too because you would say the kids turn to page 21, he'd be like, oh no, I did not just say 21 and they all go crazy. And it would sound like a bunch of little frogs in a room going 21, 21, 21, drive me nuts. Drive me crazy. Oh, another one was this is even way back, this is more than 10 years ago. That that song let it go from that from the movie Frozen. Oh my gosh, when that because I used to say a lot to my students when something had happened in the room, just let it go. So I just said that by you know, out of habit, and then whenever I'd say, Oh, let it go, they would just bust out in song like a Broadway tune. I was like, I just want to do my thing. So they start saying these things that they've heard online for attention because they've seen that it's cool online, so of course it's gotta be cool in person, too. Uh, and that just reflects that how social media is negatively impacting our kids' social skills. Now, are there kids that repeat things or say things or do things out of sensory needs or because they're stimming? Yes. This is not I this is not what I'm talking about. I realize that those students do certain things and we have to adapt to um to that as needed. That's not necessarily what I'm going to do. I'm going for the things that are really much really under control, and it's really because it's caught on and it's like it's caught on and it won't let go. And it's interrupting our class time. But also repeating something that they've seen or heard in a way can actually be kind of soothing to them. And some I know. Yeah, I know. It's not very soothing to us, but they're repeating something that seems familiar and that is well accepted by their peers. So in a way, it becomes soothing to them or calming to them. And we're going to talk about alternatives that can be just as calming here in a minute. But yeah, this this 6-7 business or just the repetitive noises or sounds that they have heard or that have been made popular. It's connection, it's communication with their peers. However, it also gets a response. And that response is not always something that is positive. I mean, yeah, their friends are gonna laugh, and that gives them a dopamine hit. Um someone might repeat it back, there's their validation that what they said was cool. But they also know that they're getting some groans and some outrage from the adults, and that's another kind of response that they like, like, oh yeah, it made her mad again. So they're also not all of them, but I also think they are kind of enjoying the the negative impact that this has. And then they get the adults that think that this is not cool or that they're not not on board with them doing this. Uh my problem is that it almost seems like it's become compulsive and it's interrupting class and keeping us from focusing on why we come to school. So if you think that you're not gonna survive 6'7, I'm just like I got mentioned a few minutes ago. I we've survived a couple other uh phenomenon like 21 and et cetera, et cetera. Um, we're gonna get through it. It's gonna lose its appeal at some point, hopefully sooner than later, but you know we'll see. But here's what it comes down to. Well, we gotta put a we gotta put the stop to this or find a way to curb the fascination with saying repetitive and disruptive things like this six, seven thing. It's disruptive. We're there to learn at school. We're there to learn, we're learning to be the best people we can be, and doing silly things like this, it may seem harpless harmless, but it is taking the attention off learning. And it's a distraction. Some kids are very distracted by uh not unnecessary noises or things in the classroom that get them easily off task, and that that unpacks their learning environment too. And most of all, if you have asked your students to stop doing this or you don't want them to do it, if they do it anyway, it's disrespectful. And I know sometimes we tiptoe around, I feel like we tiptoe around this sometimes, about you know, you know, oh, that's you know, we need to talk about that quite gently, or we need to not emphasize or ignore certain things. But this is a life skill when somebody asks you not to do something that bothers them or that they don't want to see or hear in their space, it's a problem if you keep doing it. And that's disrespect. And I'm not afraid, as someone who's taught for 20 over 20 20 years at this point, to just out and write, out, out and out tell a child that how they're behaving is disrespectful, and we need to fix it. Because, as previously stated, we are at school. I'm there to teach, they're there to learn. My job is to keep them safe and to teach them, and they're there to to learn and grow into the people they're supposed to be. So, what are we gonna do about this? Well, if you want something, if you want a behavior, you have to teach it. So when it comes to things like repetitive words that you don't want to hear in your room, you gotta tell them what you want. Tell them how it's gonna be, what you expect, and you don't have to be mean or nasty about it, but you do need to be firm and say, this is not the way it's going to be. I don't want to hear that anymore. It might be fine at recess, but it's not fine in the school building. And I say school building because we also don't want to disrupt other classrooms. And, you know, we just don't need to say that in the hallways all the time. We can think about other things. We can focus on getting to our class instead of goofing because that's often when that free time, that independent time in the hallway when they're transitioning to classes, that's when a lot of things happen that shouldn't. So, yeah, it's fine during your free time or your social time, but it's not fine during your your learning time. This also requires you to redirect what they're doing sometimes when they slip up. So you can say then we're working silently right now. We're not saying words or six, seven, or making different oops that have some some that's a big thing right now today. They say oop. I don't get it. I do not get it. It's just really it's distracting. It distracts me, so I know it's got distract kids. Or you say you can say we're working on something, this is what we're doing. You're supposed to be discussing whatever they're discussing. You're if you're working in a group, or we're focusing on this right now. Just redirecting the behavior and taking the attention off the the sound or the the word. And sometimes that may require some reteach. So if your students can't do it quietly or correctly, we can reteach how we walk through the hallway without saying the words or the random things. And yes, that's annoying, and I hate doing it, I hate taking time. But sometimes that, you know, taking their time and take making an a statement, so to speak, of how we are going to do things and how we are going to behave in the school, it it reinforces what you want to see. And without having to be um over the top or having to erase your voice, we just without emotions, okay, we're gonna practice how we do this without talking because this is the expected behavior. So let's talk. It's not just the words or the sound. I mean, it it it's not just the words, it is also sometimes the sounds humming, noise making, all of those things I have noticed an uptick in uh not over the past couple years, but especially this year. And sometimes that just comes from students not being comfortable with uh quiet or silent time. That's you know, the phones and the social media and everything, it's just giving them this expectation that everything needs to be stimulating all the time, and that's not the case. Sometimes we just need quiet time to focus. So what do we do to kind of give them that stamina to build build up that stamina so that they can learn how to focus without having to have something that's said or done for stimulation? Uh something that has helped me even with um focusing is the the box breathing technique, and I think that's what it's called. But it's basically you inhale for four seconds, you hold it for four seconds, you exhale for four seconds, and then you repeat. So it's like a way to to calm yourself down. It's great for anxiety to uh refocus and to promote calm without having to make any noise. It's just working it's something that you do internally that doesn't impact the working space of others. Along with that, if you if students do need to hear something or you need something in the background, music, appropriate music, background music, white noise, things that they can be listening to that will take their mind, hopefully, off of making sounds, getting attention, and allow them to focus on what they're supposed to be com working on in your room. But all the both of those things will help build stamina for quiet. And that that does that does matter. I know that some people need different things. They like noise, noise stimulates them or helps them focus, but other people need to have time to be quiet, and you sometimes have to do the things you're not you know always going to like experiencing, like quiet, because that's just part of life, and that's okay. So, and like you know, I was saying there, some kids are highly distracted by nonsense noises and disruptive, and we have to do what's best for them too. Not everybody needs noise or thinks that is something that is necessary, not just the teachers. Sometimes the kids get sick of it too. So we have to model what we want, but the kids have to be in charge of correcting the behavior. And do I want to call a parent and say, your kid keeps repeating these two numbers over and over again and uh you know, distracting my class? Do I do I want to say that? No. So what I will tell my students, and I I teach art and I see them briefly each week, I see them for 40 minutes each week, each class. But what I've been saying to my students when they're doing something silly like this that they can fix quickly, I will say to them, I will give you a chance to fix this problem. Can you do it? Can you fix this problem? Can you stop doing this without anyone else? Most of the time, they will fix it. Most of the time. They will fix it if I say it to them. And my favorite thing also to say is I I don't like that. Please please stop. Not not in my room. You know, because you know, they might something might be permissible or might be okay with another teacher, but it's just not something that I want to have in my room because I don't see them very often. It's just, you know, a very it's a short time frame each week that I have to work with them and have them to do a project or work on something. So I want it to be purposeful. I don't want it to be spent dealing with silly stuff that could be easily fixed. And that all kind of goes back to the social skills and the things that they're getting off being online. You know, we just have to kind of reteach to them, reteach them how we act in public spaces. And it's not just saying things all the time or saying random things that make no sense and get everybody else off track. Also, your needs as a teacher and person matter too. And this is not a matter of being intolerant, like, oh, you can't handle them being kids or something like that. Oh, yes, you can handle them being kids, you handle them being kids all the time. It's kind of like going over to somebody else's house. And when you go to someone else's house, maybe you wear your shoes in your house, but if you go over to somebody else's house and they don't wear shoes in their house, that means you take your shoes off. You you follow their rules. So this this applies this to things in the classroom too, dealing with disruptive and repetitive noises. If that's not what you want in your house, in your classroom, then that's the way it needs to be. And they may not like that at first, but that's okay. They don't have to like everything. Not everything is meant to be like a carnival or an or an app or an over like I said, something that's over stimulating all the time. Sometimes you're at someone else's house and you have to follow their rules, and that's part of life. So the challenges that we face in the classroom, they are indeed enormous, and the stakes are high with testing and our expectations for our students, which is why we gotta stuff out s stuff out, stomp out, maybe that's a better way to put it, stomp out these silly things that are distractions and get our students off track so that we can do the important work. Because we're already overwhelmed, overworked, and uh a little overstimulated. That's an understatement. So these are the things that we can fix and that our students can take responsibility for fixing so that we can continue to do what we need to do. So well, this is just a moment, this silly stuff, the 6-7, the Sigma. I hear that a lot too. That's why I keep bringing that one up. The the noises, it's it's a moment. There'll be something else that'll be popular, and then this won't be cool anymore. How we tackle this and how we respond to it is a blueprint for the next time something comes up and we need to protect our peace. So that's all for this show for this week. Have a great week. Focus on the good, take care of yourself, keep yourself healthy, happy, and whole. That's all for this episode of the next chapter for teachers podcast. If you like what you heard, be sure to rate, subscribe, and leave a review. Join us next time when we turn the page to the future of the profession. Until then, remember to be different, but more importantly, be the difference. And I'll see you in the next chapter.