I like to start every year by considering in more detail one aspect of my classroom practice. For 2022, I decided I wanted to reflect more on what I say - and how I say it - in the classroom.
Teaching is communication, and I often feel that I slip into a kind of mindless autopilot when I speak in the classroom, rather than being as reflective and mindful as I should be.
As teachers we are, to embrace a cliché, actors who are on stage all day, every day. We, however, have no lines to fall back on - we only have our toolbox of verbal and non-verbal skills.
A question we should perhaps ask ourselves more often than we do, however, is just how effectively are we using that toolbox?
It was this question I posed to the Twitter world recently: what are the most pointless phrases we use in the classroom? The fact that almost 100 teachers responded suggests that we are very conscious of our own teacher slips.
So, what are my own three pointless phrases that I am going to try and consign to the pedagogical bin over the next few weeks?
Teacher phrases I’m banned from saying
1. “Shhhhhhhh”
I found myself saying this more and more in my lessons, combined with an exaggerated frown and a single finger over my lips. It is usually received by my young customers with complete apathy and no change in the volume of the room whatsoever.
Instead, my noble intention this year is to mark out before a task exactly what level of noise I want: silent work, quiet conversation or students talking with each other.
I will have a very clear conversation with my classes about what that should look like - making the volume levels explicit rather than implicit. If the students don’t achieve that, I will stop the whole class and remind them, rather than being ignored and undermined with my ubiquitous “shhhhing”.
2. ‘Do you all understand?’ or ‘Are we all clear?’
Another of my classics. It is always followed by a room of completely bemused young people nodding earnestly. “Of course,” they enthusiastically nod, “Macbeth’s soliloquy and me are completely on the same wavelength!”
Instead, this year I will be spinning this gloriously on its head: I will ask a range of young people in the room, “What do you understand?” I will ask a terrified child whose neck muscles are pronounced because of all their nodding, “Can you clear this up for us?”
I will assume nothing, and probably save myself a huge amount of energy in asking young people to verbalise the understanding in the room.
3. ‘Is everyone paying attention/listening?’
In reality, the answer to this pointless question is often “no”, but before now I just would plough on with Macbeth regardless. The fact that some would be wilfully not listening would quietly undermine me in every lesson.
Instead, I want to make more use of the masterful teacher pause. I will ask for attention at the front of the room, silently wait, scan the room, then begin.
The non-verbal elements of this are particularly important and can save lots of energy, using the power of eye contact and posture to give the impression that what I have to say has importance. Then, the pouncing and checking for listening can relate to content, rather than a nodded affirmation.
There will be many more pointless phrases that I utter every day. It is what can make life particularly exhausting for us full-timetable teachers who are sweating it out in the classroom every day: we talk endlessly.
Giving that talk some of the attention it deserves can ultimately improve the learning that happens in our classrooms. Are we all clear? Shhhhh…
Jamie Thom is a teacher of English and an author based in Scotland. He tweets @teachgratitude1 and his latest book is Teacher Resilience: managing stress and anxiety to thrive in the classroom
