CLARITY, CONCISENESS, CONSISTENCY.

Evaluating your own communication skills with your students is crucial. Effective communication provides vital information about the activities and skills, the expectations, and constructive feedback, all of which can impact a student’s learning experience.

Some people with disabilities may have processing challenges therefore the way instructions and information are delivered needs to be clear, and concise and possibly adjusted depending on the student.

Clarity – keep the message clear

• Can all the students hear and see what I am communicating?
• Is the demonstration correct?
• Are my expressions clear?
• Am I smiling to reflect a caring and positive atmosphere for the class?
• Is my body language clear and open?
• Is my feedback back constructive?
• Is my language appropriate for the student I’m communicating with?

For example, early primary school children will be able to understand “blow bubbles” but perhaps not the term “exhale”.

Conciseness – communication should be short and positive

• Do I know all of my student’s first names and am I addressing the student before providing the instruction?
• Is eye contact available with the other communication tools I’m using?
• Are my instructions short and positive for my students to build on?

• Avoid twisting instructions and provide positive directions for the skill required for students to practise.

For example, “blow bubbles into the water” is short and positive, whereas “don’t hold your breath” is unclear, maybe confusing and starts negatively.

Consistency – apply to behaviour and language

• Always re-evaluate your own performance as a program deliverer.
• Are your expectations of yourself reasonable?
• Are your expectations of your students reasonable and a reflection of the situation?
• Is the language for skills and activities uniform from lesson to lesson?

For example using “kicking” one week and then changing it to “flutter kick” can cause confusion for students.

• Is the language you are using for achievement, or a skill requiring a review?

For example if a student performs the same skill two weeks in a row, the first week receiving “Fantastic performance” and the following week receiving “Good performance”, by the same teacher without constructive feedback there may be some confusion about the performance or skill development.