In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were done with middle school students. Questions were asked about their teachers' classroom management. Coded transcriptions showed that participants primarily described talk in the classroom. Analysis of talk in the transcripts resulted in four themes: Controlling the talk, Getting Off-Task with Talk, Learning through Talk, and Connecting with Talk. These themes align with the bases of power in the classroom (French & Raven, 1959) and show that teachers' use and control of talk in the classroom is an important aspect of students' perceptions of effective and ineffective classrooms.