Volume Level 3: Whisperers

In “Old People are Playing you for a Fool”, grandma taught a valuable lesson about whisperers. Whisperers draw you in. Whisperers make you curious. I know I ignore gossip religiously (I’m usually nose deep in a book or having a lovely conversation with my beautiful wife when people gossip) but even I get curious if I see two people in a restaurant leaning close and sharing hushed tones together. What are they saying that I’m not allowed to hear?
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Great movie directors know that the key to creating a scary scene is employing the scariest element of all: the unknown. By filming their heroine’s face only from the left side, the audience is on the edge of their seat wondering “what’s happening on the other side of the camera?” Most scary movies released follow the same pattern even:

1. Wow this house was cheap. It’s so nice; the cause of the price is unknown to me.
2. Hmm, I wonder what’s behind the door covered in red, sticky liquid deep in the basement. Even though it’s contents are unknown, let’s ignore it for now.
3. Wow, strange things are happening, but it could possibly be the wind. I’m starting to wonder about all these unknown occurrences.
4. Oh my! Everyone is dead and there are voices and blood and craziness and it’s unknown to us how we will ever survive.
5. Oh wait, what is this old newspaper article I found under this creaky floorboard? It explains that a series of insert random bad events happened on this property. Maybe all the strangeness has a reason.
6. Now that I know the reason, I can solve the death and misery by using the solution hidden in the old newspaper article -- noticeably, the solution is usually a series of words or a symbol that makes for easy t-shirt marketing..
7. It is no longer scary, the random bad events stop. It is dawn. I am in love with the scantily clad lady or man with whom I survived. (We both needed to tear off, and tear apart our shirts to staunch each other’s bloody-gushy wounds.) Insert sunrise abdominational kissy-face scene here.

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It’s the unknown that makes scary movies scary. As soon as the characters find the book, or article, or crazy old guy who isn’t really so crazy to explain what’s happening to them, the movie is no longer scary. It isn’t just horror movies that use the unknown to prompt us into feeling or acting a certain way.
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Advertisers use the unknown to make you buy all sorts of stuff you never need. They offer products that play on your fears of the unknown and offer a beautifully engineered, profit-yielding solution that will fill in the holes of your unknown fears.
For Example:

1. It’s unknown how bad the weather will be this winter, but it won’t matter if you buy the 12-inch ground clearance 4x4 to tackle your seven minute commute through well-paved suburbia to your kids’ school.
2. It’s unknown what clothes will help you fit into the wedding, so you should come into our store and we will outfit you with something you know will make you the talk of the evening.
3. It’s unknown what the financial future holds for you, so invest all your money with our company because we will protect it better than you can by simply not giving it to stupid companies that say they can protect your money.

Examples abound, but you get the point. I’m sure an advertiser could give you better examples, but I am a teacher. Speaking of teachers, Brad, why are you talking about scary movies and advertising? We are supposed to be learning how to reach the level 3 Whisperer status of classroom management. You haven’t said anything about classrooms or teachers yet!
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Teachers, especially the whispering level teachers, know the power of the unknown, and use the power of the unknown to influence their students behavior in the same way that directors and advertisers use it. Why do students always behave well on the first day of school? They behave well on the first day because it is unknown to them how their teacher will react when they act out. It’s emphatically in your best interest to keep that unspoken fear intact all year long. Ask a whisperer and she could tell you, but don’t ask them during gym class, you’ll never hear them over the sound of dribbling basketballs.

​Whispering works to manage a classroom in more ways than simply inspiring fear. For the purpose of organization, we’ll start with why whispering is scary, and how that fear can help manage a classroom. To give us a glimpse into a whisperer’s classroom, please enjoy the following anecdote.
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For Full Understanding: Read "What Happens in the Hall Stays in the Hall."

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For sake of an introduction, to whispering, here’s what Ms. Undertone from the above linked anecdote did right:

1. Her whispered message was short and clear, she did not share her whispered explanation with Jeremy in the classroom. This method keeps the element of the unknown alive longer in Jeremy’s head. How much did she see? What else did I do wrong today? What’s going to happen to me? How mad is she? This lets Jeremy know that Ms. Undertone is aware of what he did, but gives him the hope that if he follows her ‘hallway’ directive, he might talk his way out of it. Refuse to go to the hallway and it’s a guaranteed write-up.
2. She immediately moved away from the audience of students. Students are likely to argue in the presence of an audience. They’re straightforward fighters. Sidestep them by meeting them on your terms, away from their 21 allies. Jeremy couldn’t argue with her even if he wanted to. She wasn’t there to argue with. If he could have argued, his classmates would know what she whispered, and she would have lost the power of the unknown. If Ms, Undertone had waited inside the classroom and followed Jeremy out, he would have had an audience for an explosion, but Ms. Undertone denied him the chance for a Butch Cassidy-esque verbal shootout to end his reign of terror.
3. In the hallway, she did not yell or talk, she continued whispering. This preserves the unknown because no one in the classroom can hear the discourse. Also, a whisper is less likely to elicit a loud argument or yelling match. Even if a teacher wins a yelling match, everyone loses in a yelling match.
4. She kept her lecture in the hallway short, concise, and focused on how Jeremy’s behavior hurt his classmates. Ms. Undertone never gave him a reason to be mad at her, and even made him her ally by implying that she didn’t mind the hijinks if it weren’t for the distraction they caused his teammates. Also, she ended by giving him the time he needed to cool down and welcomed him back into her classroom afterwards. She did not threaten what would happen the next time he picked on Jessica. As mentioned before, the next time never comes. All that matters in classroom management is this time. She left any future consequences unknown to purposely keep that power. Threatening future consequences also tends to send kids into a Breakfast Club syle “do you want another detention?” “yes” endless loop that no one wins.
5. Immediately after re-entering the classroom, Ms. Undertone refocused on what mattered most, academic achievement. This signals to all the students (who are, upon reentry, noticeably your audience and not Jeremy’s) that the incident is over, and everyone can move on. Many teachers re-enter the classroom and let out an exasperated sigh, or yell and lecture at the entire class of students who weren’t misbehaving, because of the one student who was. This type of behavior robs students of academic time as pointlessly as Jeremy’s ear flicking.

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The logic behind whispering being scarier than yelling is rather backwards from what most teachers believe. They believe that screaming is scary to students, and that whispering is done by weak and mild teachers who tend to get walked over. Again, there are times to scream, and there are times to talk, but managing a classroom at the level of a whisper allows you to operate behind a veil of secrecy; whispering keeps students at that first day of school level of staying on your good side.

Whispering offers a range of benefits to teachers. Fear of the unknown is just one of the benefits. Most teachers (myself included) don’t want to manage their classroom by fear. That being said, it’s a tool that teachers would be silly to ignore.
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Managing by whispering limits the number of words you speak aloud. By limiting the number of spoken words you deliver during a class, students will eventually learn that during the seventeen words you use to give directions, it’s supremely important to listen, because it’s the only time they’ll hear you speak all period. Teachers who talk to introduce a topic, and talk to give directions, and talk to manage their classroom, and talk to read aloud to their students, simply destroy the value of their words by basic oversupply and under demand. You’ll definitely find the Talking Consta-Reminder in his classroom delivering clear, perfect instructions augmented by a visually pleasing digital multimedia presentation that balances positive and negative space in a way that augments students’ comprehension. You’ll also find the Talking Consta-Reminder repeating his beautiful lesson 26 times again individually to 26 students, or 15 times to 15 students, or 21 times… The Talking Consta-Reminder oversupplies his words and under demands action from his students.


Whispering is uncomfortable, because it is, by nature, done in very close proximity to the student. It’s not nice to be close to students, and students don’t like being close to you. By managing a classroom by whispering, it tends to lend itself to the teacher thinking about what they want to whisper before whispering it. It also tends to limit the length of the message, because it’s awkward to stand all bent over and next to a student’s ear. Whispering, because it’s an uncomfortable activity for both parties involved, will make the whispered conversation it’s own punishment for the student. Plus, teachers will think twice about doing something that makes them uncomfortable, thereby helping them reflect even more on their classroom management methods. Any activity that causes a teacher to think first and speak after, and to limit the length of what they say to manage a student’s behavior, is a win-win. Manipulation of the unknown is just an added benefit.


Wow! Whispering sounds REALLY good. How is it possible that whispering is only level 3? How could Ms. Undertone have gotten her message across if she hadn’t whispered it to Jeremy? Whispering is the best option yet, because of all the advantages listed above, but silence is golden, and should be treated as such by the aspiring classroom manager. Ms. Undertone was effective in part because of the manipulation of the volume of her voice to her own advantage, but there was a bigger management technique at work that really aided her in her effectiveness, and that technique doesn’t require the uttering of a single word.