Classroom Communication

(adapted and modified to be more culturally inclusive from Classroom Communication Tips, Sheridan Center for Teaching & Learning, Brown University)

Verbal: help your audience understand what is being said.

Vary the speed & tone of your voice to keep your voice interesting to listen to.
Project your voice to be clearly heard.
Pause to gain attention, emphasize transitions in material, and allow students the opportunity to consider and reflect.

Non-Verbal: help your audience be receptive to what you are saying.

Engage with the audience and stand comfortably (but solidly).
Use movement to convey energy and enthusiasm but avoid excessive gesturing or distracting motions, because they can divert attention from your message.
Project excitement and energy (in a manner that is natural or comfortable for you) to hold your audience’s attention.

Media helps to explain complex ideas. Use it to enhance, not distract, from your message.

A chalk board or dry-erase board can be very adaptive to student feedback, and can be used to show a process unfolding or articulate the reasoning behind a derivation.
Slide presentations are useful for organizing a variety of visual, audio or animated information and can be used to emphasize key points and summarize ideas.
Video clips or animations can be used to illustrate dynamic processes and prove a sense of scale.
Audio clips can introduce a new voice into the classroom (often from another time/place) and illustrate the sounds of physical processes.
Artifacts bring elements of the “real” in the classroom.
Handouts, whether paper or electronic, are an effective way to share detailed information and images with students.

Get the students interested

Connect the day’s topic to the student’s interests, experience, and prior knowledge to spark the students’ curiosity and explain why its valuable or useful for them.
Provide an engaging example or anecdote that the students can connect to – they can often be memorable years after the class.

Organize the class

Structure the class in a logical way; e.g., frame the topic as a story or provide the big picture, present a problem then develop its solution, describe events and processes chronologically or show the relationship of interconnected ideas to an overarching theme.
Share an outline to help the students organize and assimilate their learning.
Make explicit transitions between topics to help students follow along; e.g., use verbal signposting such as mini-summaries or link a new topic to the one prior.

Center for Professional Development & Inclusive Excellence

OIST Lab 4, E18 and E07

https://groups.oist.jp/c-hub