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.

We began with “Bubble Gum Instruction” where each student was given a piece of gum and instructed to blow the biggest bubble possible. The students with the largest bubble then stepped out and in pairs of individually came back and instructed the class on “how to blow the perfect bubble.”

This activity helped illustrate the need to clear communication and how details and a common language are necessary when providing instruction. Students were able to use demonstration as a teaching method as well and showed how examples are helpful for learners.

 

 
Students then paired up and completed two communication activities. 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.
 

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.