Communication

    It seems we live in a world where communicating with one another creates more anxiety and fear than it ever used to in the past. Remember the days when you’d just call up your friend, or walk over to your neighbour’s house to visit? You’d chat with whoever you encountered first, be it their mother, father, estranged relative….Now we tend to text people so we don’t actually have to talk. We call cell phones rather than the house phone because we don’t want to have to speak to anyone else. We send Facebook messages and iMessages because we can see when the recipient has viewed our messages. I’m not saying I’m not guilty of any of these examples. It’s not so much a matter of feeling anxious and nervous about the direct conversation, it’s moreso about the convenience of sending a message and not having to make sure the other person is there to respond. Although, I really hate leaving messages. I usually rehearse what I’d say in the voicemail before I call. Nothing’s more embarrassing than a bad voicemail.

    

    As a classroom teacher, communication is crucial, and communicating with parents is a biggie. The better your contact is with the parents, the stronger the support system you will have. Given the change in the way we teach mathematics these days, a lot of families struggle with how their kids are learning. Inquiry based math is very foreign to many parents, so the more you keep them informed, the smoother your classroom will run. After all, if you have a lot of support from parents, it is likely the same practices will be reinforced at home.

    It’s impossible to keep all parents up to date on a close, personal level. There’s not enough time to call every parent once a week. It’s too impractical. Newsletters are a great way to keep open communication with parents. It’s the best way teachers can consistently keep parents informed about the goings on in their son or daughter’s classroom. Providing a newsletter that outlines your programming is a great way to start off the year because it introduces and familiarizes parents with how your classroom will run. Here is an example of a newsletter I would send out to parents. I made sure I wrote it in family-friendly language so it’s inviting rather than intimidating.

    We’ve covered communicating with people outside the classroom. But what about communication among students? Specifically, what about how students communicate their learning? We all know that we need to differentiate the ways in which students are able to communicate their thinking for assessment and evaluation purposes. Let them be creative and represent their thinking in a style that works for them! I’m talking about something different. We need to encourage students to communicate their thinking processes so we can understand their misconceptions. This is a clever little video that shows how two men approach a division question. Notice how they communicate with one another:

    Neither man tries to understand the other’s thinking. We need to encourage our students to listen and question one another, rather than just trying to prove the correct answer. Of course, this is the destination at which we want them all to arrive; however we can’t fix the common misconceptions by simply ignoring them. When I congress with the class, I like modeling an answer that is incorrect. I have the student explain his/her thinking to the class. We all observe and follow his/her train of thought. Together, we determine why this method does not work, and we collaborate to find a strategy that does work. I think when we take the time to appreciate another’s efforts, the communication among students will grow to be more positive and helpful. It’s not a test to see who can get the right answer; it’s a test to see how we can work together and talk together to overcome challenges.