Available
Talk-Time Alerts
Know when to let students talk.
How do you teach?
Most teachers talk far more than they think, and students learn by talking, not listening. Talk-Time Alerts give the host a private nudge after 30 minutes, based on their share of talk time, while there’s still time to adjust.
It’s easy to fill a lesson with explanation and leave your student little room to think out loud. After 30 minutes you get a private nudge about your share of talk time, so you can hand over.
In an online class, silence feels awkward, so teachers fill it. After 30 minutes you get a private nudge about how much of the talking was yours, and time to open it up.
Trainers drift into lecturing, and participants switch off. After 30 minutes you get a private nudge about your share of talk time, so the second half can be more hands-on.
Talk-Time Alerts measure the call, so they suit lessons taught online. In your classroom, the same habit matters, but the alert only applies when you teach through a Space call.
The alert measures talk time on the call, so it suits virtual training. For a room-based workshop, it applies only when you run the training through a Space call.
If your child’s online tutor does most of the talking, your child does less of the thinking. Tutors get a private nudge after 30 minutes when their share of talk time is high.
Free for 2 weeks on any paid plan. No credit card required.
What it solves
- Quiet students, and the tutor talks most
Helps you
Teach better
Part of
Running the lesson
The problem
Teachers talk most of the lesson
Students learn by explaining, asking and trying, but in most lessons the teacher does most of the talking. Few teachers notice it while it’s happening.
The usual way
Talk time comes up, if at all, in an observation weeks later. By then the habit is set and the lesson is long over.
How Pencil Spaces solves it
Live call alerts: after 30 minutes, only the host gets a private nudge based on their share of talk time. Nobody else sees it.
What changes
Students talk more and learn more. Teachers get feedback while there’s still time to adjust.
What it looks like
In practice
Thirty minutes into a lesson, only the host sees a nudge that they’ve done most of the talking. She switches to asking questions for the rest of the lesson.
In a 1:1 lesson
You’re 30 minutes into an hour with a student. A private nudge shows you’ve done most of the talking, so you ask her to explain the next problem to you.
In a group class
Half an hour into a 50-minute class, you get a private nudge about your talk time. You move the discussion into pairs and let students lead.
In a virtual training
After 30 minutes of a compliance training, the nudge tells you the talking has been mostly yours. You switch to a scenario discussion.
In your classroom
On a day your class meets online, you get a nudge 30 minutes in. You stop explaining and ask three students to talk through their answers.
In the training room
You run part of your workshop on a Space call for remote colleagues. The nudge after 30 minutes reminds you to hand the floor to the group.
At home
Your son’s tutor gets a nudge halfway through the lesson. She stops explaining and asks him to show her how he’d solve the next one.
