Communication

One of the focuses in Exploring Teaching is communication. We have been examining how to effectively communicate with both students and parents.

Today, we discussed obstacles to communication and how to over -come them to clearly and accurately communicate with students.

Students participated in communication activities to simulate some of these communication obstacles. First, students got into pairs and assigned an “instructor” who would be in charge of giving directions and a “builder” who would be responsible for listening and following the directions given to construct a design.
Below are some pictures from this activity.

 

 

 We then adjusted the activity so “instructors” were require to direct a blindfolded student to draw a picture given to them. This was accomplished first by instructors controlling their blindfolded partner hand movements and then using only their words to assist their blindfolded partner.

Students were able to effectively give directions to their peers. We discussed how these activities are similar to teacher/student communication and came up with strategies such as checking for understanding, repetition, following students' nonverbal cues, and asking students questions that students can employ to communicate effectively as a teacher.