I believe it is important to avoid being monotone. Ones voice should vary in pitch. When one puts emphasis on how they speak in the classroom it will aid in keeping ones interest.
Verbal vocabulary in order to reach students with varying backgrounds.
Gestures to maintain interest.
Leon Guendoo
Showing enthusiasm for your subject in both verbal and nonverbal ways. I also think it is important to let students know that you support them and want them to succeed. This can also take place in both verbal and non-verbal ways. Often the tone of your voice can make a huge difference in the way students react to the lesson.
charles,
stories really are incredibly powerful & do provide such a great way to open up a dialogue & discussion.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Anitra,
I completely agree with you that the interpersonal communication is of utmost importance.
Dr. Ryan Meers
The most important communication skill is the use of stories used as examples and the creation of class dialogue from those stories. In teaching sociology, it is important to keep an open dialogue with the students, to make the abstract concepts make sense within the context of their own lives.
If you don't understand the topic you certainly can't speak about it.
Speak clearly and maintain eye to eye contact.
The communication to the divers learners must be clear, demanding(to get the best from each student),and motivating. These are mostly required for online teaching.
I believe the most important communication skill for students is one on one communication. It is important for students to know that you care about their personal growth and development to help them acheieve there current goal as a student.
Marcia,
I agree with you on your list of skills & this story is a great one to point out how we need to be aware of the cultural differences.
Dr. Ryan Meers
very your tone so students can pick out important points,
Use eye contact to keep everyone engaged.
Gestures and movement to maintain the class focus.
I feel that verbal communication is very important when teaching due to the fact that the information we possess as instructors relies on our ability to effectively and clearly communicate in order to properly instruct our students. I also feel that nonverbal communication is very important when it comes to body language in order for us to project the proper attitude to our students. This also serves to aid in their instruction. However, something that I have not seen mentioned was style of dress while instructing, which I feel is another type of nonverbal communication.
When teaching in traditional universities I never had a dress code that I was asked to adhere to, although I have been while teaching at career colleges. However, in both cases I chose to dress more formally because I felt as though it gave my students the proper nonverbal cues. It allowed me to distance myself from my students in a nonverbal way while allowing me to maintain some proximity with them verbally, possibly more than I would have been afforded dressed more casually while still remaining an effective instructor.
In a diverse environment, I think the important communication skills are speaking clearly, giving multiple examples of important content, using humor and a positive, compassionate approach/demeanor. I used an example of a cheer, "2,4,6,8, who do we appreciate," when trying to help students remember the peak & duration of action for Regular Insulin. Several foreign students were unfamiliar with the cheer, so they did not connect what I was trying to say. When I realized it went over their head, I laughed at myself and then rephrased with another example, and explained the importance of the numbers.
Patricia,
you are right that we need to make sure we are trying to understand the differences in nonverbal communication.
Dr. Ryan Meers
Steven ,
you make an excellent point here about making sure we are speaking to all students & not just one group.
Dr. Ryan Meers
In a diverse learning environment, I really believe our non verbal language says a lot and we who instruct in that environment, need to immerse ourselves in other cultures to have a better understanding of our students, so as not to be misinterpreted! Those of us who have accents other than American, need to be aware of our diction and speak slowly and distinctly to avoid misunderstanding.
In a diverse learning enviroment I feel that noverbal communication is extremely important. We need to be aware of what we convey with nonverbal communication.
understanding the demographics of the classroom so each students feels that the instructor is speaking directly to them.
I think clear communication is the most important, whether it's verbal, physical or written.
