HI,
the communication skill that I would like to improve upon is the speed at which I lecture. I feel as though I go too fast and dont give enough pauses. I am going to implement the 5 second pause now and see if that helps.
The concept I really liked was the have the students repeat the key points made during Day A's lecture sometime during Day B's lecture. Doing this will reinforce the concepts and commit them to memory. I will begin to use this technique immediately. Thanks!
Joseph,
this is a great goal & it really is vitally important.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I would love to improve my listening skills. I need to give the students more time to phrase their questions before I attempt to answer them.
I would like to improve my extemporaneous speaking. When I have the topic in mind I have no problem working my way through it. But when a student asks something I am unsure of, I can get flustered. I need to work on a smooth approach to handling these types of situations.
John,
this really is important as our nonverbal convey so much of our message so it's important to have them positive.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I personally would like to improve on the facial and body expressions. Like to deliver more info with smile and with more pronounced movement to demonstrate the lessons
The one communication skill that I have worked on for the pass year (and continue to work on) is my listening skills. In this fast paced very distracting world we live in today with multiple ways of communicating with people I often observe that we just do not take the time and truly listen to each other. One good example would be, I was called into a meeting with a manager. The meeting was for nothing special just one of those get together to touch base meeting with everyone on the team. During the meeting he was glancing at his computer screen in addition to the computer he had two cell phones on the desk (one he answered during our brief time together) and his door was open so as people passed he would get their attention for a quick hello. After the meeting I did not feel as if I was a valued member of the team I felt as if I was an annoyance and wasted his time.
After that incident I increased my knowledge of what it means to truly listen to a person and practice it daily with any student that I come in contact with.
Any time a student ask me a question in class or in any other area of the school I stop what I’m doing and reply “I’m listeningâ€. At this point I take out an index card and pen and get ready to jot down any information the student is giving me. I use active listening words like, yes, go on, and please continue and I do not try to finish sentences or answer before the speaker is finished.
By practicing active listen skills I feel it has helped my insure the students who come in connect with me have a positive experience while in school.
Jeffrey,
this is a great point, the tempo & flow really are important, also to make sure that the majority of the class is hanging with you.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
My tempo and flow. You want to get your point across at a swift enough pace that you don't lull the students to sleep, but no to quick that they miss the information.
Erin,
exactly right & it can really provide some great, interesting discussions
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Christine,
I highly encourage this as it really does help the students see the relevance of today's "theory" with tomorrow's practice.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I love the idea of asking more open ended questions. I will review the key points of the lecture by asking open ended questions. This also helps me identify if the students understood the material.
I need to improve on using real world examples to reinforce the course content, so that the students can see the value of what they are learning.
I need to work on slowing down and pausing longer after directing a question to the students instead of answering it for them. I can see how not pausing longer is a bad habit to get into. It is not giving them time to formulate their answer.
Oh yes, this is a great way to bring relavance to the subject. Make sure that it is short, funny, and to the point.
Curtis,
this is a great skill to develop & one that can be challenging. There are some good books out there about powerful questions & using the Socratic method that might prove helpful.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I would like to learn how to ask good constructive quetions instead of lecturing to students which leads to a more natural communication and dialog with students.
I would have to say for me would be my ability to remember. On a daily basis I often get task with numerous amounts of imformation. I try my best to write these things on paper.
I would like to find a way to get students to pay attention when they are in a computer class. They set at the computers, decide that they know what they are doing and forget to listen when you try and tell them things that will make what they are doing easier. Then they frustrated because they get stuck.
