10.12.14Workshop Reflections: Using Non-Verbals on the Academic Side
Sunday evening in London, and I’m unwinding from an amazing two-day Train the Trainers workshop at Ark All Saints Academy on Thursday and Friday for top UK educators, co-presented with Erica Woolway (@EricaWoolway) and Colleen Driggs (@ColleenDriggs).
Before the workshop Lucy Frame, the principal at All Saints looked at the list of attendees and said, “Wow. It’s a pretty amazing group of some of the best and the brightest.” So expectations were high. And we were not disappointed–it was an amazing workshop, made so by the insight, wisdom and reflection of the people who joined us.
My biggest takeaway was from watching and giving feedback on practice–it was about non-verbals- but not non-verbals to correct low level behavior as we so often discuss (and which remain one of the most powerful tools for a teacher). As we practiced Wait Time and Cold Call and CFU skills, I was struck by how the most compelling instruction employed non-verbals to give powerful cues that built an academic climate or suggested academic behaviors to students. They were often simple things–a touch of a finger to the temple to suggest “use this wait time to think deeply”; the hint of a warm smile to show that a cold call was not a gotcha but an earnest inquiry regarding a student’s opinion. So many teachers were able to communicate high expectations about academic work through their non-verbals. With facial expression and small gestures that said “I am listening” or “I found that thought provoking” or “I called on you because I sincerely want to know what you have to say”–even just “This long awkward silence before I call on someone is a good thing…”
Non-verbals allowed teachers to intimate that they were listening carefully (a tilt of the head while they scanned the room for data). Even the pace at which teachers walked was a sort of non-verbal. When you move, make your way around the room at a slow and reflective pace–you showed you were thinking deeply, often about student ideas, and you could discipline yourself to wait several seconds for an answer if you were walking–you could say to yourself. I won’t call on a scholar until I get to that patch of sun by the window. You could seem professorial–relaxed and fascinated–just at the moment you cold called by strolling a bit.
It made me decide to start working on some materials about the way teachers use non-verbals to manage the thinking and academic side of the classroom, and of course I’d like your thoughts and insights. I hope you’ll share them!
As teacher, we all use non-verbal signals to our classes. It is a way of quietly getting students to complete tasks without disturbing the entire class. Examples of non-verbal signals are pointing, nodding of the head, pointing or looking at the desired outcome.