- The nature of classroom communication
- Ask for input from students about what they want to learn, how they want to learn it, and what kind of
evaluation they consider fair. Although using their ideas may feel at first as if you are giving up your
responsibility as the teacher, asking for students’ input indicates respect for students. It is likely that many
of their suggestions need clarification or revision to become workable, especially if the class must also cover
a particular curriculum during a set time. But even just the asking for input shows respect, and can
contribute to community in the classroom. - If conflicts arise between students or between a student and teacher, encourage respectful communication
as explicitly as you can. Some communication strategies about conflict resolution were described in Chapter
7 and are helpful in this regard: identifying true problem ownership, listening actively, assertive (not
aggressive) I-messages, and negotiation. - Find times and ways for the class to experience itself as a community. This suggestion may look a bit vague
at first glance, but in practice it is actually quite concrete. Any action builds community if it is carried out by
the group as a whole, especially if it is done regularly and repeatedly and if it truly includes every member
of the class. Such actions become rituals, not in the negative sense of empty or mindless repetitions, but in
the positive sense of confirmations by group members of their commitment to each other (Ehrenreich,
2007). In the elementary grades, an obvious example of a ritual is reciting the Pledge of Allegiance (or its
equivalent in classrooms outside the United States). But there are many other examples of classroom
routines that gradually acquire the (positive) qualities of ritual or community-affirmation, often without
deliberate intention or effort. A daily, regular time to work through homework problems together in class,
for example, may serve obvious academic purposes. But it may also gradually contribute to a classroom’s
identity as a class. With time and familiarity the group homework time may eventually come to represent
“who we are” and of “what we do here” for that class.
- Ask for input from students about what they want to learn, how they want to learn it, and what kind of
The bottom line: messages sent, messages reconstructed...........................................................................
As we have explained in this chapter, teachers and students communicate in multiple, overlapping ways.
Communications may often be expressed in words—but not necessarily and not completely. They may be organized
into lectures, questions, discussions, or group projects. They tend to be expressed in particular language registers
that we have called simply teacher talk and student talk. All things considered, communication obviously serves a
wide range of teaching and learning tasks and activities, from stimulating students’ thinking, to orchestrating
classroom routines, to managing inappropriate behaviors. It is an intrinsic part of the parts of teaching that involve
interaction among class members.
Note, though, that teaching consists of more than interaction among class members. There are times when
teachers prepare lessons or activities, for example, without talking to students or anyone else. There are also times
when they develop their own skills as teachers—for example, by reading and reflecting, or by attending professional
development seminars or workshops—which may involve communication, but not in the sense discussed in this
chapter. It is to these other parts of teaching that we turn in the next chapter.
Table 20: Year one: Kelvin’s lecture notes
Nature and Purposes of Children’s Play