creating engaging classrooms

For many teachers, some teaching tools are so ingrained or instinctive we just take them for granted. This is one such case, which I only realised wasn't completely obvious when observing a new teacher the other day... Picture the scene: the class is working to find evidence in a text or working through a series of Maths/MFL exercises (this could be any subject at this point). Many are working diligently, but others aren't. There's some off topic chat, nothing major, nothing really disruptive, but these students are not engaged in the task. They aren't learning. To me, which getting on for 20 years of experience in education, there's a simple fix, yet the teacher remained seated and tried to manage this by tackling those who are off topic.  Ok, that might work. But maybe they are disengaged because they don't know how to approach the task or what's in it for them. So, rather than go with stick, provide a carrot. Get up. Immediately that will refocus some stu...