i tend to talk fast when i get excited about certain points or concepts. i need to slow down and maintain my pace throughout the lecture. I also would like to get to know the students on a one on one basis a little better but our program is very accelerated and sometimes that is hard to do. It would help me to understand why they are there and what their long term goals are.
Non-verbal skills... especially the "pause" and walking around the room. I think nonverbal communication is the most important when teaching, and these are 2 areas that I need to work on.
Dolly,
Good suggestions, especially about using email to follow-up early in the course.
Margaret
Margaret,
I personally take the time to speak with all of my students one-on-one sometime during the start of the module. This can be done at the very beginning of class when students are getting settled in or during a break. I just take a few minutes to speak to a student directly and let them know if they have any questions or concerns that I will make myself available to them. I also connect with students in the form of emails. Some students are much more comfortable sharing when they have the anonymity and safety of their email. Then I can follow-up with an email and after speak to them face-to-face.
Dolly
In a diverse learning environment, I believe it is very important for an instructor to do a lot of one-on-one communication with students. This is the only way we can really help with these individual learning problems. As an instructor, I am working on introducing more group activities in my English classroom setting. Although I do not prefer giving a high percentage points to students based on group performance, I do believe that learning to work effectively in groups is very important. The key to me is the instructor spending the necessary time to set up the groups effectively.
Margaret Bennett
Hello, I think it is difficult to select just one communication skill that is important. I do believe, however, that students see right through their instructor to the instructor's concern or lack of concern for the student. I think this is communicated loudly and clearly with tone, physical gestures, eye contact, and clear delivery. Which communication skill do you think is most important?
Margaret Bennett
Communication skills that I feel are important to teaching to a diverse learning environment...First and foremost, being open and approachable. If students feel comfortable approaching you then communication is opened and if there are other issues/problems that may arise, then they feel that they can approach or ask you anything.
Things I would like to improve...keeping to my guns. I want to trust all my students, so when they come to me with life "excuses" I accept most of them. In return, it makes my life more difficult, and may harm my students in the fact that they think they can get away with turning in late work, with an excuse to get them by, once they hit the corporate world.
I find that when I taught one class (one I was more comfortable in) compared to the other class (which I wasn't as relaxed and comfortable in) my lecture time changed dramatically. The nerves really sped up my dialogue and I didn't have as much topic discussion through the one lecture...
Hi Jay,
When talking about a diverse learning environment, you have to know what is "diverse" about it.
If the learners are "diverse" -- that is to say from different cultures -- then the instructor has to be keenly aware of different communication styles.
Such was the case with my students in the past. From a different culture than me, communciation for them was largely "high context." That is to say that there was much more "between the lines." Nonverbal communication such as facial expressions, what is NOT said, and posture take on even greater importance than when dealing with students from cultures whose communications are more overt or "low context."
As an instructor, it was incumbent upon me to not only be aware of these communciations in my students, but in myself as well. Coming from a culture that is "low context" in communication, I had to be cognizant that I might be sending off unintentional signals to my students.
While this is important while dealing with ALL students, it takes on even greater emphasis when working in a diverse student environment.
Regards,
Christopher
I have a background in public speaking and poetry, and lean on my verbal communication skills heavily in the classroom. I am working on the other aspects of my delivery: support materials and technological teaching aids. I would love to seamlessly work with PowerPoint, for instance, to give my teaching more routes to the students.
you have to be a very open instructor,especially with diverse students,communication is key.
I think speaking clearly is most important, especially teaching with a diverse group of students.
I am from the South and am teaching in California. Sometimes when I am nervous, I will unconciously start speaking with a southern accent. Then my students start to tease me about it.
it was very helpful and informative. thank you for all the valuable information
I believe that the ability to speak in a manner for students to understand. I have a tendency to speak fast. I must consciously force myself to slow down.
It is extremeley important when you have students, whose primary langauge is not english. Some words are difficult for them to understand. By talking slowly and watching their reactions to the words, I can tell if they understood what was said.
Another important point that I have to remember is the usage of words. I have to remember that the students may not understand the meaning of words that I take for granted. It is not in their culture. An example of this is the phrase "Going dutch." I used the phrase and I could tell the students did not know what was meant by the phrase. I had to explain to them.
I have to understand not to take things for granted when I explain things. I must talk slowly, observe their reactions, and explain.
Verbal and non-verbal communicatins is what student sfirst see and hear. Addressing the variety of levels of communication is sometimes a very exhausting challenge. Identifying and choosing the appropriate code for some students and then communication the same ideas in a different code for other students is part of my repetitive practices with communication.
Also, feeling the need to go further and cros the line with too much yielding lower performances and higher frustration levels all around.
Do less, more effectively.
Communication is important as we know to do almost everything. I would like to improve on listening without forming an opinion half way through a conversation.
In a "diverse learning environment" listening is probably the most important communication skill. The second one is asking open-ended questions. Those two skills can always be improved.
I think storytelling is a critical component of effective teaching. Students need to be able to visualize examples and application, and stories (or cases) are a great way to represent the theory in practice.
I also find that using stories of personal failures in business is sometimes even more effective. It humanizes your relationship with students, and it helps students recognize that even "esteemed" professors have failed more times than they've succeeded. Discussion can be more honest and open when students know they are allowed to make mistakes.
In my own teaching, my biggest challenge is keeping my stories succinct. Students will ask a number of questions, and sometimes I rush through the final point in the lecture to finish on-time. Thus, class time management is something I'm working on.
Great question. Thanks for asking!
Yes, I agree Jacob. I work as a professor online and in the classroom. I noticed that with the online classes changing the inflection of my voice helps. In the classroom, moving around and using props really keeps students engaged.
Hello,
A Communication skill that I believe is most important to a diverse learning environment is the tone of voice. This can make or break the atmosphere for higher learning. A monotone voice can disengage students quickly. Whereas a professor with an enthusiastic voice can keep the attention of students. I find that when I am excited to teach a topic I get more feedback from students. This is a great energy exchange between the students and the teacher, which helps keep the momentum for creating more curious learners. I find that when I am covering a serious topic and have a serious tone, the students understand the importance of the topic and its relevance to the course materials. When I am covering a topic that is not as intense and add a sense of humor to it, students also throw in their own jokes which makes the class more entertaining.
As an instructor I have come to realize the significance of the qualities mentioned above as being a good communicator on and off through a lecture. I would like to be more consistent with these communication skills as I become more experienced in the academic field.
