Walking through corridors on a busy day it's easy to participate in shallow conversation with students and it's even easier to ignore them all together, put your head down and get to your next lesson (or the tranquility of the staff room!).
Students need to feel as if they are an important part of our lives. They want us to care and they want to have meaningful conversations with them. Unfortunately too many schools are rife with shallow and meaningless conversations that are more detrimental to student motivation than not speaking to them at all. Let me give you some examples of shallow conversations I've regularly heard during my time in education:
"Hey, how are you?"
"Are you OK?"
"How's your day going?"
Initially these appear to be absolutely fine comments to be saying to students. They seem pretty caring and considerate, however think about the responses you normally get from these questions? "Yeah, fine", "Not too bad", "Alright', etc.
These limited 'questions' allow for only superficial conversation to form and don't allow students to enter a genuine and meaningful dialogue with teachers who should be modelling the skills required to thrive in the adult world.
As adults we should be demonstrating our care to the students by taking a genuine interest in their lives and how their day is going. We should be able to stop and have at least a 30 second conversation about what they learnt in their last lesson, how they are coping with exam pressure or how they are settling into their first few weeks at a new school. We should ask open ended questions the provoke deep conversation that last longer than one quick question and one superficial response.
Communication shouldn't be a nicety, it should be meaningful and purposeful. Next time a child says hello to you, try and ask them something that demonstrates the genuine care you have for them and watch their face light up with joy as they realise that their teachers truly care about them.
Students need to feel as if they are an important part of our lives. They want us to care and they want to have meaningful conversations with them. Unfortunately too many schools are rife with shallow and meaningless conversations that are more detrimental to student motivation than not speaking to them at all. Let me give you some examples of shallow conversations I've regularly heard during my time in education:
"Hey, how are you?"
"Are you OK?"
"How's your day going?"
Initially these appear to be absolutely fine comments to be saying to students. They seem pretty caring and considerate, however think about the responses you normally get from these questions? "Yeah, fine", "Not too bad", "Alright', etc.
These limited 'questions' allow for only superficial conversation to form and don't allow students to enter a genuine and meaningful dialogue with teachers who should be modelling the skills required to thrive in the adult world.
As adults we should be demonstrating our care to the students by taking a genuine interest in their lives and how their day is going. We should be able to stop and have at least a 30 second conversation about what they learnt in their last lesson, how they are coping with exam pressure or how they are settling into their first few weeks at a new school. We should ask open ended questions the provoke deep conversation that last longer than one quick question and one superficial response.
Communication shouldn't be a nicety, it should be meaningful and purposeful. Next time a child says hello to you, try and ask them something that demonstrates the genuine care you have for them and watch their face light up with joy as they realise that their teachers truly care about them.
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