The spark of positive communication

The importance of communication is significant to our everyday lives. It helps us to engage with others, follow instructions, and pick up on some ones mood for example, whether the person is happy, unhappy, angry, and sad with you or others. Communication can help with finding problems and resolving them and people can feel a sense of relief when speaking to another in whatever situation has occurred.

Martin Luther King Jr once said, “ Our Lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.” (http://quotations:about.com/cs/inspiratingquotes/a/communication6.htm.) Breakdown in communication or no communication at all can cause problems and a negative environment can manifest.

Having encouraging interaction and positive communication with pupils in education is important for them in learning, gaining skills and building self-esteem. Key features of positive interaction and communication are body language, eye contact, knowing pupils names, teamwork and being consistence. If we enter a room and it is silent and people just stare, we automatically feel exposed and aware of our own movement, which feels awkward, and the environment becomes negative. Classrooms can be colourful with pupils work on the wall and provides a warm and inviting space to learn in, but if the teacher or TAs body language is negative it then can dampen the pupils mood and make them feel on edge.

When I was seven I really enjoyed learning about the Egyptians and our classroom was decorated like a Pharaohs chamber it was just pure magic, my teacher at the time was very smiley and his body language was always welcoming. When he taught everyone in the class we all felt involved because his eye contact reached all of us. This was the one-year I felt very content in my learning and this was down to our teacher and his respect to us as individuals and as a whole. His positive interaction with the pupils allowed us, as seven year olds to feel respected in what we had to say and he allowed us to grow in our own ways with positive and balanced ways of teaching. Within this year our teacher became poorly and was off for about a month and we had a substitute teacher to cover. Obviously as a class we found it hard to adjust to another teachers way of learning and missed our current teacher, but the substitute teacher did not make this easier.

This particular teacher had a very cold manner about her and when we would enter the room (which we all loved because it was our own homemade Pharaohs chamber) she would not acknowledge us and if she did it would be ‘hello class’ which can be impersonal, especially two weeks into teaching us. It is important to know your pupils names as it makes the child feel known and acknowledged, it is a pleasant feeling that someone has bothered to learn your name in the correct manner.

As a child I was quite sensitive and aware of the ripples of change in the school environment. The dramatic change from happy bubbly children who could not wait to say hello to our expressive, jolly teacher turned into a class of nervous, quiet seven year olds who had become one dull, looming cloud in class. Our substitute teacher from day one had made an impact but unfortunately it was not a positive one. The lack of communication between her and us made the environment an uncomfortable place to learn, being referred to as ‘class’ and not by our names made the teacher and pupil relationship very disconnected and for myself I did not feel I could to talk to the teacher if I was worried with work or anything else. When we would work as team in class there was no interaction made from her to encourage our ideas and help us progress them, which is what we needed for us to know we were on the right tracks and doing the tasks correctly. The month this teacher was with us I felt like it was a chore for her, and because she had to cover only for a month, her communication had no importance to her, or body language, eye contact, knowing pupil’s names or consistency.

During that month I did struggle with work and I kept silent about it I worried so much that I was doing it wrong and to scared to say anything. Even though I knew I was in my bright classroom it did not feel the same when this teacher did not have positive interaction or communication with me. Pupils need to feel worthy in class and that they are respected by others. The importance of having a teacher giving me eye contact when I am speaking makes me feel that I am worthy of being listened to, a smile and my name being learnt makes me feel appreciative that a teacher or TA has made time to learn and make the lesson welcoming. When you feel comfortable in class with teachers or TAs a trust does start to grow and an understanding emerges along with boundaries.

E Phillips

The image represents our learners - sometimes they can feel switched on and electrified - other times empty. We must strive to light the charge.