There has always been one golden rule in libraries: No talking!

The same could be said of classrooms across the country.

How appropriate, then, that the Butler Public Library hosted a workshop Saturday on nonverbal classroom management.

It was taught by former Butler resident Pearl Brown Nitsche, who now lives in Vienna, Austria. She travels all over the world helping teachers create and sustain a more positive classroom atmosphere.

"(The program) is good because it saves the kids' and the teachers' nerves, as well," said Nitsche. "It's something that is urgently needed in the classroom."

Nitsche, who graduated from Butler High School in 1966 and obtained her education degree from Grove City College, has written a book on nonverbal communication called "Talk Less. Teach More!" It is featured at the library's local authors table.

"Over 82 percent of our communication is nonverbal. Whether I say anything or I do not, I'm still communicating," said Nitsche.

The interactive workshop instructed educators on how to hold their bodies and use their voices effectively — without raising them. Topics also included deciding when it is most advantageous to stand or sit in the room, among other things.

"It is a sampling of what is done in my workshops. It makes school a lot more enjoyable," said Nitsche.

The library was filled with the sounds of classical music, a part of the methodology of Nitsche's work, known as Accelerated Learning, Superlearning, or Suggestopedia.

"Kids come with so many learning barriers to school, saying 'I can't do this' or 'I can't do that,'" said Nitsche. "With accelerated learning, we break those barriers down and kids learn three to five times faster."

Matt Depew, a reading specialist and former kindergarten teacher in the Freeport School District, is among those who attended the workshop.

Having also been among a handful of educators who helped translate Nitsche's book into English, Depew already had been incorporating some of the nonverbal cues into his work.

Those cues include using classical music to signal journaling time for the kindergarteners, as well as sitting in designated chairs to alert the children to story time or message time.

"They're focusing more on you, and they know that when you're talking it's something important," said Depew, noting the children can sometimes "turn you off like television" if they perceive the talking as unimportant.

"You have more energy as the teacher because at the end of the day you're not worn out from talking ... and they're not worn out from hearing your voice," he said.

Nitsche's program is a further development of neurolinguistic programming (NLP), an interpersonal communication model designed to increase behavioral choices through manipulation of a person's state and point of view.

The idea is to clarify distorted areas of communication to increase understanding and reciprocity.

Nitsche has worked with Michael Grinder, brother of theory co-inventor John Grinder, to adapt the program for groups.

"In Europe, its practice is very widespread. I would very much like to develop it further in the United States. That is our goal," said Nitsche.

As a German major in college, she spent her junior year in Vienna and returned to found the SLL Institute in 1984. The institute specializes in communication skills and teaching with learning techniques such as Accelerated Learning, foreign languages and NLP.

"Teachers everywhere have the same challenges managing the classroom," said Nitsche.

She has taught her workshop on four continents, from Butler to Moscow to Istanbul to Poland.

Saturday's workshop was sponsored by Pearls of Learning Press in Butler, owned by Nitsche's sister-in-law, Shelley Brown.

"This is really the first of a six-part workshop," said Brown. "We're waiting to get into the Butler school system."

Brown said the program still requires Act 48 approval to become part of any school curriculum.

Nitsche has taught age groups from kindergarten to the university level, worked in adult education for more than 25 years and taught 10- to 14-year-olds at a bilingual middle school in Vienna.

For more information on Nitsche or her book, visit www.pearls-of-learning.com and www.pearls-of-learning-press.com on the Web.