Jacqueline,
this is a great skill to always be improving & thank you for including it in communication skills. One of my pet peeves as a communication "guy" is when people talk about communication & listening as if they are separate. All part of the same important package.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Hi Dr. Meers!
As an instructor for nearly 15 years, the communication skill I am constantly improving is listening. I have learned to listen with my ears as well as my eyes. I feel observing and listening to a student's body language can be beneficial.
I teach general studies and oral communications courses. It is more natural for most of us to be effective speakers and hopefully solid listeners. However, I feel there is always room for personal growth and improvement.
Wynell ,
These are great goals to have as we seek to improve our classroom communication.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Hello,
Well, actually.... all of them. I think this is an ongoing activity. I need reminding that I need to NOT show my emotions or frustrations in the classrooms because the students do react. And then I may react. This module reminded me that not matter how frustrated I may be, a smile going a long way and can help dissolve a frustrating experience. Walking around is also a great point that I will try to practice more often.
Best wishes, Wynell
I definitely think that I need to work a little on my verbal communication. It's not that I have a hard time lecturing, I just need to figure out a way to pace myself as not to rush through the content. I move around them room and maintain eye contact well, and also engage in different ways of relaying the content to the students. I would say that my lecturing is the thing that I need to work on the most.
I'd like to work on the pace of my lectures. Speaking in front of a large group of new students can be overwhelming. I find in my nervousness, my speech pattern is fast. When I catch myself, I take a deep breath and keep in mind that I'm there because I have information they want to learn. I do much better when I'm more relaxed. I try to break up the class with mini demonstrations of techniques and let students try as I walk around and help one on one.
We can all do better at communicating with our students and I am no exception. I found the first module of the course on this subject interesting and mind-provoking. My key take-aways for improvements are:1) I'd like to work on my tone and voice volumes and using them more effectively to engage my students; 2) owning the room more and moving from the front of the classroom as I tend to walk back and forth in the front of the room nearest the whiteboard; 3) utilizing eye contact more effectively as I'm not sure that I really focus on each student. I believe I'm using this technique but not to the full potential; and finally 4) continue to work on my delivery techniques as I like to change-it-up every 15 to 20 minutes to keep the students engaged and "awake". This is always a challenge with math and accounting. I find it critical to move between lecture, class activities, demonstrations, etc. to give their brains constant rest and re-charging time. Thus far, I am getting a lot of good ideas from this course.
Agree completely. I find if I wtite on the board it slow us all down and student have a better indea of important points cause i write it on the board.
Jodi,
this is great self-awareness & you are right that if we can just periodically pause & regather our thoughts we do much better at communicating with our students.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Sometimes when I lose focus I start to use "um" and "uh" a lot. If I can learn to just take a 5 second pause I think this will help fix this issue. By using these words I might be portraying to my students that I am not as knowledgable as I should be.
I would like to improve in giving the students the "big picture". Sometimes, I'm so excited about getting the class started that I forget to give them a rundown of the day.
Communication skill is very important in the teaching profession. You can be expert and very knowledgably in your subject area but if you cannot communicate what you know then you are not teaching. This reminds me when I relocated form the United Kingdom to the United State and started teaching in the College. My British accent became a communication barrier to most of my students. To overcome this challenge, I had to learn to adjust quickly to improve my communication skills. I used more visuals aids, demonstration and a lot of relevant example to be able to make my students to understand me. You cannot impart knowledge if you don’t have good communication skill. Communication skill is therefore important in the teaching profession.
Stephanie,
great self-awareness & yes, you do not want to loose that enthusiasm & energy, but you also want to make sure they understand you. The rule of thumb I use is, if you feel you're going very slow, you're probably the right speed.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
As an instructor, I woould like to personally like to slow down my speech. The more excited I am about the subject, the faster I tend to talk. This is a great aspect in one way because the excitement about the subject can be infectious with the students, but I know I talk to quickly at times. I will not make a concerted effort to decrease the rate of my speech.
Slowing down and using a language they understand.
Carlos,
that's good & we all have little vocal clutter expressions that we need to improve upon. The first step is being aware & then seeking to improve as much as possible.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
One issue that I wish to correct in my communications is that I have a kind of a stutter. I would pause with saying "ette" in Spanish. Which will be the equivalent of Uhm in English. The students have not mention so I am guessing that I am not doing it as much as I use to.
Edric,
clarity of speech is a vital skill in classroom communication & enthusiasm connected with this.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
eye contact and speaking (enunciating) clearly and slowly so students understand the words out of my mouth
Tricia ,
that is a good plan & remember, don't be afraid of silence.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
