Being, doing and sensing in class

As we know, body language accounts for a very high precentage of our communication.Messages are constantly transmitted by the way we sit, stand, look, gesture or even breathe and through the tone of our voices.We can even send messages by our skin in the form of scent and sweat.Some of this communication passes by unnoticed by the conscious mind;other signals we do pick up on.Mostly, the control of such transmissions is beyond our conscious will.

As teachers, we can learn to be more alert to these signs in ourselves and in others.We can start to pay attention to the totality of our message – words and paralinguistic features.There is much information to be had sensing the physical communication of another, not because we can tell exactly what is happening to that person, but simply that we can know more about the state they are in and when there are changes to that state.We can detect which sensory channels are being used to process information, we can identify when someone seems blocked and we can spot when the click happens to indicate understanding.This knowledge can be found without even having to ask.It is a worthwhile investment, therefore, to begin to register what is going on by opening our senses fully and using more finely tuned wavelengths.Here are a couple of ideas to get you started.

• Notice what your student or the person with whom you are communicating is doing. Establish physical rapport with the other with delicacy and respect, matching the other person’s posture or body angle and, as you become more practised, their gestures and breathing.Practise with others in informal situations of no consequence so that you can manage to do it unnoticed by others.

2.When we enter into rapport with another, it helps greatly to be on the same level as the other.Ideally, we will also be alongside the other person, sharing the communication and learning together.This can be difficult in some situations with fixed furniture.When we can achieve it, messages seem to flow much more fluidly than when someone is towering above you or face to face, especially when there is some element of confrontation.Kindergarten teachers get on the floor with children in circles or sit on low chairs at their level. The pedestal position, where a teacher rises above the class at the front is not very conducive to maintaining rapport for long.Obviously, it has the advantage that you can be seen and is therefore useful when giving instructions or leading into a new activity, but when problems arise, it can be counterproductive to stay up there.A lookout, way up a sailboat mast has a very different view of the horizon from that of the crew on deck and as much as he shouts down a description of what he can see, there will inevitably be points which those below fail to perceive in the same way.So, move about.Use height when it is needed, like the lighthouse casting a beam to illuminate the way and spend time down on deck with your students.This is particularly the case when correcting work.Being with your students will help you see how they interpret the errors and any correction will come more as help than as judgment from on high.It is a more cooperative stance.

3. Barriers

Desks can be a help and a hindrance in the classroom.They help establish clear territorial anchors such as student’s space, teacher’s space, resources corner, etc.For a teacher, her desk is a place to retreat to when she wants to take the focus off herself and signal to the students to work alone.Nevertheless, if we really want to be with the students and communicate with them, we are better off bringing our chair out from behind the desk to somewhere more physically and visually accessible to them.In business nowadays, there is a growing tendency for important conversations to be held at right angles around two sides of a table rather than across it or for parties to move to a sofa or armchair area.People feel more comfortable and unthreatened like that.Find a place that is comfortable for you ‘to be with’ your students and make sure that you have a place that is yours alone.

4. Congruent actions and words

Begin to notice what you do when moving from activity to activity or giving instructions.If you want stillness and quiet, are you still and quiet yourself or gesticulating furiously and shouting at the group to lower the noise level a few decibels?If it is the latter, it is a good guess that it will take a while for you to get what you want.Students need to be shown what to do just as much as they are told.This may not mean you have to do every action yourself but at least your behaviour should be relatively compatible with the objective you seek.Expecting the class to spend a quiet time reading is not likely to work if the teacher is bustling around tidying up.Read something yourself too and your body language will convey the attitude you wish your students to adopt.

To achieve a flow from activity, the golden rule is to begin from where your students are.If they are tired and floppy, your loud exhortations to wake up and be energetic will be met with rejection and resistance.Take time to join them in a quiet moment and then, when they are comfortable with you, adjust your own body posture, voice, speed of delivery, etc. to one that is faster and more appropriate for the new activity.Smoothly, they will follow you and settle into the desired rhythm with much less fuss than if they were ordered to do so.

Ó Laura Szmuch and Jamie Duncan 2001