While much of education acknowledges the need for us to focus on literacy and numeracy, not everyone realizes that the paramount importance of listening and spoken language skills.   For example, I remember that when my wife and I were first married we arrived at home about the same time one evening.  We were both a bit worn-out, and feeling somewhat indecisive about what we should make for dinner.  At some point she asked me, “Well, what do you think we should have for dinner?”

It seemed like a simple enough question.  I took a few seconds, thought, and then confidently replied—“lasagna.”  To my surprise, she then looked at me, paused, and said…”no.”  At that point, I thought again and with a bit less confidence offered another suggestion…”spaghetti.”  Again she paused and then replied… “Nope.”   Confused, I offered up one final idea.  This time, though, it was in the form of a question.  “Want to go out?”  Her face changed, she smiled, and replied, “Sure.”

It was only afterwards as we were sitting down to enjoy our meal at the restaurant that I figured out what had happened.  You see, I thought my wife was actually asking me what it was that I wanted for dinner. But what she really wanted was for me to guess what it was that she wanted for dinner.

Many such misunderstandings at home, in the community, and in the workplace can be attributed directly or indirectly to some degrees of misunderstanding and miscommunication.  Sometimes the speaker is to blame.  Sometimes it is the person listening.  Most of the time it is a bit of both.  But in nearly every situation, effective listening and oral communication make it possible for us to understand and…to be understood...

References

Copeland, M. (2005). Socratic circles: Fostering critical and creative thinking in middle and high school. Portland, Me: Stenhouse Publishers.

There has been a lot of talk lately on how we might improve student learning and student engagement.   One widely accepted notion is that improving student engagement is likely to result in improved student learning.  But there hasn’t been nearly as much conversation—if any—about teacher engagement. 

Now, what do we mean by teacher engagement?  A handful of scholars and researchers have begun to draw attention to this very notion.  Cathie West (2013), for example, in her book The 6 Keys to Teacher Engagement asks…

What does teacher engagement look like?  Highly engaged teachers demonstrate best practice teaching, use data to verify instructional effectiveness, make changes in their teaching approach when student performance falters, and dialogue openly about their successes and failures.  These highly engaged teachers are professionally on fire and get solid results.

If I am understanding this correctly, that means that teachers who sit attentively at meetings and complete their reports on time may not be highly engaged professionally.  Instead, we would all do well to look at other indicators demonstrated by teachers—their conversations, actions, results, commitment to students, and intense desire to improve their practice (McEwan, 2005). 

I recently had a chance to visit with Dr. Jim Parson’s of the University of Alberta.  Dr. Parson’s has authored a number of articles…and over 20 books on learning and engagement.  He was also the director of the School Improvement Initiative in Alberta.  His latest research focuses on this emerging idea of improving student outcomes and engagement by focusing instead on the teacher…and…on teacher engagement. 

References

McEwan, E. K. (Ed.). (2005). How to deal with teachers who are angry, troubled, exhausted, or just plain confused. SAGE.

West, C. (2013). The 6 Keys to Teacher Engagement: Unlocking the Doors to Top Teacher Performance. Routledge.