Communication is key in the classroom: successful teaching is generally considered to require only 50% knowledge to 50% communication skills. As a result, a teacher should be proficient in all four modes of communication – listening, speaking, reading, and writing – and should know how to utilise this proficiency effectively in a school environment. Being able to do this has been proven to impact the success students achieve in their academic lives, as well as the teacher’s own career success.
We have all heard of the power of positivity, but did you ever stop to think about its impact in the classroom, and within communications to families?
It is really necessary to have an effective communication in school because that ultimately grooms the child’s personality , helps them in building their career , clears doubts of students which ultimately helps in better conceptual knowledge of subjects, boosts confidence , imrproves the thought process, in all embraces the childhood.
Remember the last time when you talked to your friends or family freely without any hesitation and you felt so relieved that your heart felt light as a feather. Now imagine yourself talking like this to your teachers , imagine having all the solutions to your problems in your childhood that you will be facing in your adulthood. Feels nice? Right?
Human mind is like huge storage device. It can store as much data as it wants. But what if you don’t posses the skills to convey that information to others effectively. Here comes the role of the communication…EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION.
Undoubtedly teachers play a major role in it. From being parents to mentors to friends of the students teachers shape the behavior, personality and mindset of the child. Appreciating their small efforts and motivating them to achieve bigger targets can help them express their feelings and thoughts in a better way. Listening to them is the most crucial part of this process. Everyone needs to be heard and when a student knows that they are being listened to properly they pour out their feelings and perform better.
It is one of the reasons why students lack motivation perform badly and consequently dropout of school.Nurturing this kind of interactive and engaging teaching environment demands regular and effective communication. We have compiled our top techniques to create a positive dialogue between students and teachers.
There are few ways which can help the student overcome the lack of communication problem
1. Create a safe environment
Create a safe and supportive environment where students feel comfortable to open up and express their thoughts and ideas. An atmosphere that allows students to ask if they need help is crucial to their academic success. It is important that at all stages of the teaching process that you nurture this kind of non-judgemental environment.
By having an open door policy and allowing students to pop in and talk about anything that may occur is a great way to promote good communication. Giving students extra support, tuition or explanations before and after class helps shy students that don’t feel comfortable in class to ask questions to learn. This is something we here at Mentimeter strive to promote.
2. Don’t stand at the front of the classroom
Moving around the classroom and getting involved with the students will create less of a student-teacher feel. By moving away from the front of the classroom and joining them either at their desks to discuss ideas and getting involved in small discussions will help them feel more comfortable and more likely to open up.
3. More teamwork
Doing more team activities, and group work is a great way to take the focus off competing with one another and concentrate more on working together to get the best results. It can encourage communication, cooperation and collaboration and help students talk more and effectively express themselves with their peers. Something that is transferable across all aspects of life and particularly important in their future working lives.
4. Positive feedback
Often teachers forget to mention when a student has performed well and instead focus on the negative aspects such as bad behavior. This can have significant effects and demoralize students. Although negative feedback can create positive outcomes by helping students to improve, giving positive feedback is a necessary part of promoting effective communication in the classroom.
It has been shown that students that receive praise are more likely to believe that they can accomplish tasks and be successful. Other benefits are that it can help to build a student’s confidence, create a good rapport and supportive environment.
Conversely, it can be beneficial to encourage your students to give you feedback. Allowing them to share their feedback on lessons or teaching styles shows that you appreciate and value their opinion as well as helping to improve learning.
5. Active listening
Listen to hear your students, not just to respond and give an answer. Sometimes just lending an ear can be extremely useful in promoting a supportive and caring environment.
Other times, students have a question about homework or need some clarification about a topic that has been discussed where an answer is needed. Listening to your students enables you to provide better assistance and consequently a better education.
We all recognize the power of positivity. Being positive is a mindset of looking at a glass as half full instead of half empty. We can share that positivity through our communications with families and reap the benefits for the entire school year.
Teachers should regularly reach out to families to share positive news about a student through notes, emails, or phone calls home. This establishes a positive relationship early on so that if later you need to discuss an academic or behavioral issue, the family will be more receptive to that conversation. You can do this through phone calls at the beginning of the year and then sharing regular positive anecdotes throughout the year. Although it will take time, make it a point to reach out to each new family at the beginning of the year with a quick phone call. Making a personal phone call to each family simply to express your joy at having their child in your class will go a long way towards establishing a positive relationship.
