Effective Communication Is The Key To Success

Communication – the easiest thing in the world to do! You simply open your mouth and let the words roll out, but in a classroom, it is usually a situation where teachers find themselves letting the words roll like poetry, but the walls pay more attention to them than the learners!

Communication with hyperactive learners who eat way too many bowls of Fruitloops in the morning can turn out to be quite the challenge, but as a former teacher myself, I found that the following techniques to improve communication in your classroom really does make a difference!

Verbal techniques help your learners understand what is actually being said. You have to vary the speed and tone of your voice to keep your voice interesting to listen to. If you explain everything in a monotonous tone, you can just as well crawl under your desk and die a slow and painful death – like your learners’ ears! Project your voice to be easily hear and to show confidence in what you are saying. Pause to gain attention and emphasise what you need to and for goodness sake, allow their brain and ears to digest all the crucial information. Nothing says “I rock this job” more than a confident teacher voice.

The we have the non-verbal techniques that help learners be receptive to what you are saying. Maintain eye contact and stand up straight to once again project confidence. Even though you want to kill them silently in your mind, smile to communicate that you value what you are saying. Use movement to convey energy and enthusiasm but avoid excessive gesturing and distracting clothing, because they can divert attention from your message. As we all know, the best idea for clothing for a teacher isn’t exactly a halter top and mini skirt #justsaying

Media also helps to explain complex ideas. Use it to enhance, not distract, from your message. A chalk board or Smart board can allow you to be dynamic and can be used to show a process unfolding or articulate the reasoning behind a derivation. Slide presentations are useful for organising a variety of visual, audio or animated information and can be used to emphasise key points and summarise ideas. We all know that learners love visuals, especially if it can make their day colourful and less boring. Videos and animations can illustrate dynamic processes and provide a sense of scale. Audio clips can introduce a new voice into the classroom (often from another time/place) and illustrate the sounds of physical processes. Just please don’t try and play a Justin Bieber song as motivation, you will have screaming girls (and boys) in your lesson and no message will ever be conveyed in that sense. Artefacts bring elements of the “real” into the class (e.g., meteorites or historical objects). Handouts, whether paper or electronic, are an effective way to share detailed information and images with students and they absolutely adore having notes and not to actually write things themselves now and again.

Every morning, make sure you connect the day’s topic to the learners’ interests, experience, and prior knowledge to spark curiosity and explain why it’s valuable or useful for them. Repeat key ideas and concepts to emphasise their importance to students and help students to understand them. And a little help from a friend, have a sense of humour now and again, learners always engage with a little joke or a friendly gesture. If you take life and teaching too seriously, you’ll never get out alive!