"ah, uhm" habit
Yes, I agree that if an instructor uses the "ah, uhm" frequently when answering a questions, the reliability of that instructor's answer might also be in question.
There is nothing wrong about pausing before you respond. Trying to eliminate the "ah,uhm" should be standard in any form of public speaking.
Hi Tony,
Excellent way of staying on top of your game as an educator. You will continue to grow and your students will benefit. A win win for everyone.
Gary
The first step in identifing poor habits is to become self-aware of them. This can be done by having a peer sit in occasionally or videotaping oneself. I learned to break many habits by listening to myself as I taught. It's interesting to note how many times individuals have spoken and their message comes across as rehearsed and without spark. If we listened to ourselves as our students do, we would pick up our habits and wonder "Why did I say that" !
Hi Nicolle,
As instructors we need to be on the watch for annoying mannerisms that can direct our students to them rather than what we are saying. It is easy to get in such habits and hard to break them unless we remain on guard to keep them from becoming a permanent part of our presentation style.
Gary
Gary
The au,uhm habit can cause the students to feel as thought he instructor is not confident in their material.
That's all well and good but in our college we teach Public Speaking. One of the criteria students are graded on is this very thing. Constant uh's and um's are sometimes signs that the speaker is ill-prepared.
The problem now is that these students leave this class and immediately start critisizing instructors who do this.
It may not seem like a big deal to some, but it is distracting in class and not proper in terms of professional oral communications. It might be easy to tell yourself its not that big of a deal but then again it might also be easy to simply start noticing you are doing it and doing something to correct it.
Hi Myron,
You are right on target with your effort to stay on task with your content delivery. Even though there may be some bumps in the road along the way by keeping the big picture in mind you will be able to bring the discussion and topic back to where it needs to be.
Gary
I am also guilty of this, when teaching a technical class. And being from a mechanical background, it is very easy to catch myself doing this more than I would like.
But I don’t stress those little times. And continue focus on getting the curriculum across.
Good point about over using the replacement phrase. I had a teacher in high school who taught communications. She spoke to us about this very subject..you see.. and said how distracting verble pauses can be..you see.., She especialy talked about the use of ah and uhm..you see.. but had replaced them in her own speach with the phrase "you see"...you see... Being a smart mouthed teenager I responded with "I see" every time she said it. It took her two days to catch on. Using verble pauses is a habbit that is very easy to miss in our selves. I still catch my self doing it from time to time but I make every effort to stop as soon as I do. I don't think that students think your incompitent but it can be anoying to listen to.
I had to videotape myself before teaching an actual class and it really brought to light some of my tendencies that I didn't even know I was doing. It was almost impossible to watch myself. It did help to rid myself of the little "ticks". I agree that it does not suggest lack of knowledge but lack of awareness of oneself at times.
I too am guilty of this "habit". However, I am as aware of it as much as my class is and it can become distracting to me as well. I try to pause to think and also use other words instead of Uhm or Ah. I am a true product of the 80's, I started using "like" and "so" a lot. not this this is any better but sometime I feel I need this as a stop gap while composing my next thought.
That can be a show stopper. When a question hits me off guard I pause and approuch the answer from a different side. Useing the way the question was presented by the student as a guide to answer it. "Let's take a look at that" I also bring in the entire class to help me understand his point. This brings about a group involvement that ends up with the question answered, a break in the lecture, involvement by all.
Hi Brandi,
Thanks for sharing your insights on the "ah uhm" issue. We all have to be on our toes about mannerisms that might annoy our students when we are speaking. Your suggestion for a substitution phrase to break the pace and flow of the lecture is a good one. We just have to be careful not to over use that phrase as well.
Keep up the good work.
Gary
This is a funny topic. I agree that "ah, uhm" is not an indicator of an instructor's lack of competence.
As a student in college during presentations I noticed that I would "ah, uhm" so much that it was distracting. I decided to end this vicious cycle. As an instructor I have learned that it is also distracting and not a very good word to use when speaking. However, sometimes as instructors we need a break between thoughts, during lecture, or even when answering questions. Usually I say "ok" or something to that effect instead! One of the big things we as instructors must realize is that we do not have ALL the answers and sometimes we are thrown off by a question. Yet, in practice just by changing "ah, uhm" to some other phrase, it may just knock the indication or implication of incompetence right out the window. It really keeps you on your toes!
I just don't see it as an indicator of an instructor's lack of competence. It is a habit that I have to an extent, it also is something I have seen people do almost every other word. At best, it can be.. uhm,, distracting.:)
may be she is just thinking.. or may be it's a handy cap?? it's against the law to discriminate against one's handy cap..
