"Explain why developing effective communication skills is important for you."
My future career is to be a classroom teacher. This occupation requires me to interact with many people, namely my colleagues and my students. Developing effective communication skills is therefore essential for a couple of reasons.
Firstly, effective communication saves time. When the intended message is conveyed and received correctly, there is no need for communicator to repeat himself. For example, if a teacher can deliver a lesson pitched at the level of the students, effective communication can take place between the teacher and the student, reducing the need for the teacher to explain concepts time and again. In addition, instructions can be carried out in the right way, thus saving time for corrections.
Furthermore, being able to communicate effectively with others make me a more approachable person. When I can express myself clearly to my targeted audience, my audience will enjoy the communication process. This gives them a good impression of me and it is likely that they will find me an easy person to talk to. This could then create future opportunities for us to interact more.
Lastly, effective communication reduces the chance of being misunderstood. This is important in situations whereby a message needs to be passed down several layers. Often, the message becomes distorted when it reaches the last layer of audience. However, this problem can be avoided if there is effective communication between the layers of people. The consequence of misunderstanding may be undesirable if I do not know that people interpreted my message wrongly and no actions are carried out to clear the air.
In a nutshell, effective communication benefits both the speaker and the targeted audience. There are various areas to look into in order to develop good communication skills, such as the tone, specific words, etc. I hope that after attending this module, I can be both a good speaker and a good listener.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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7 comments:
I think that developing effective communication should not just be bound to verbal communication, but also communication through writing, especially in this digital age.
But I do agree that effective communication is vital when speaking and listening to someone; and this would be particularly important to a teacher since a teacher would have to deal with and communicate with many people who are not just comprised of his/her students.
Teresa, it is wonderful to know that you would like to be a teacher. That is a very high calling and it is good to have potential teachers like you who purpose to communicate effectively. Other than being careful with the use of words and tones, you might also wish to work on your nonverbal cues. When you use appropriate gestures, many students, especially those who are visual or kinesthetic learners, will be able to learn more effectively. Written communication is also essential for teachers because they need to draft consent forms and letters to request for excursions and many more. The good thing is that - in ES2007S, all these skills are covered. So let’s work hard and become effective communicators! =)
Teresa, I think you have communicated your ideas very beautifully and it was easy to follow your train of thought as you set out your blog so well. For what's it's worth, from what I've observed of you, I think you wull make a very good teacher as you seem to enjoy communicating and your blog shows you have an organised mind.
Teacher- Fiona
Hi Dominique and Sheila,
Yes I have realised that nonverbal cues are very important too. During my attachment to a neighbourhood secondary school where I had to teach secondary 2 classes, they could not understand my level of English and I needed to use pictures and actions to make them understand what I meant. It was a challenging job communicating with them.
Well done, Teresa! Teaching is one of the most rewarding yet challenging careers. You are giving guidance to the young. And, of course you need excellent communication skills. Most importantly, when dishing out punishments to students, you need to communicate your rationale & future expectations to your student. And, it is going to be difficult.
Teresa,
I think your writing is excellent because it is well organised and has coherence and concreteness.
My mother is primary school teacher in Japan and it seems there's lots of paper work as well as teaching itself.Thus you may have to get effective writing communication skills to get along with it.
Also,according to my part-time job experience as a tutor in cram shool for one and half year, I felt the most difficult but important thing was how to tell sudents off. The tone, facial expression and following massages after scolding etc. We need really high communicating skills.
I'm sure that you can be an excellent classmate teacher and this module shuold help you a lot.
A good in-depth analysis! well done
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