Every time a teacher starts a lesson, edit or redirection, that educator thinks about his/her speak--they consider the time at hand, the focus of their discussion, and the motivation and instruction they want to impart? Rarely do teachers get to listen to each others' tone and discussion, and it's almost impossible to hear yourself as you teach, so I'm wondering how to best understand, develop and manage this aspect of lesson choreography.
If you're a visiting teacher, coach, mentor, leader or cooperating teacher, you've probably had the chance to hear many teachers during instructional endeavors--what are your thoughts on this topic? What aspects of teacher voice are most effective, and which are least effective?
As a student, which teacher's voice prompted your best listening and interaction? I bet answers to this question will vary greatly. I always preferred the professor who spoke quickly, didn't repeat, used visuals and was willing to say "no" when a student answer was wrong--I like the quick, exchange these professors provided (similar to a Twitter chat).
To start, I recognize the following:
- Positive environments create better brain-friendly learning environments.
- Storytelling sticks.
- Speaking more than ten minutes has been shown to be ineffective in most cases.
- Teacher modeling trumps teacher instruction.
- Letting students do most of the talking leads to greater learning.
Please send me your thoughts, links and ideas with regard to this important aspect of lesson choreography with students' success as the focus. I'm looking forward to understanding this area of instruction with greater depth.
