Communication is very much a way of connecting with others not only by what you say, but how it is said. In the classroom, children learned when they are engaged and their instructor shows passions for the subject. How you express what you are saying can be thought of as nonverbal communication. These nonverbal messages can make all the difference in the classroom and knowing how to improve your nonverbal communication can be a vital skill in the teaching process.
Nonverbal Communication
To improve your nonverbal communication:
1.) Make Eye Contact: This helps open the flow of communication and signals interest in students.
2.) Facial Expressions: To further improve your nonverbal communication, smiling can transmit warmth and friendliness that will make you more approachable.
3.) Gestures: To avoid seeming stiff, adopt an animated style of teaching to capture and engage your students. Nodding while a student is answering a question correctly gives positive reinforcement.
4.) Posture and body orientation: This is a large part of how to improve your nonverbal communication. The way you walk, talk, stand, sit, etc communicates to students. Stand tall, or lean slightly forward when sitting to seem approachable to students.
5.) Proximity: Recognize the student’s space. Do not crowd them while they are working independently. Observe and add positive remarks or suggestions. In larger classrooms, where proximity isn’t an issue, make use of the space by moving around.
6.) Paralinguistic’s: Vary the tone, pitch, rhythm, timbre, and loudness of your voice to further improve your nonverbal communication.
7.) Humor: Laughter releases stress. Although humor is sometime not encouraged, it does in fact develop a friendlier classroom and greatly enhances your nonverbal communication skills.
Becoming aware of nonverbal behavior will allow you to not only better reinforce learning, but also become aware of the nonverbal behavior your student’s displays and furthermore, develop a teacher and student understanding. To improve your nonverbal communication, create a classroom that not only urges learning and retention, but also can feel comfortable to students.
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