ABSTRACT
Classroom activity is dynamic. One characteristic of this dynamism is that the action sometimes moves in waves. The teacher often has to use the rhythm of the wave or risk being thrown on the metaphorical beach. Examples of “riding the wave” effectively are allowing students to briefly socialize and put down their books before beginning a class session, allowing the buzzing to continue and die down after an interesting teacher question, starting a line of students moving when most of the students are ready instead of waiting for perfection, being sure that all students have started working before the teacher’s distracted by an individual student, allowing natural laughter to die down rather than trying to cut it off immediately, not insisting on total quiet when turning to write on the board, using turning around to face them as the cue for quiet. In general, the principle is not to hold on to impossible dreams that run counter to the natural flow of the classroom. Instead, use the flow of energy to move from one segment to another, cueing transitions when the “wave” has hit the beach. If a tsunami keeps returning, look to other causes.
