Body Language

I have a confession. I am one of those people who really likes that roughly 3 feet of space around me at all times. It's not that I am unfriendly (at least I don't think I am), it's just that personal space is important to me, I just don't need to be that "up close and personal". I have learned, however, in my never ending quest to determine the perfect combination of conditions to optimize classroom teaching, "up close and personal" is often preferred by students of certain cultures and especially at the middle school level. I have learned to adjust.

So, that's my body language issue—and we all have them. In my credential courses and while coaching classroom teachers, I spend time on this topic. Pre-service and in-service teachers are surprised to learn a few things that I am about to share with you. What follows is a brief, by no means complete (but it's a start) list of body language "messages" we send, here goes:

1. Shifting your weight to one side communicates being unbalanced, so center your weight.
2. One or both hands on the hips is "posturing" if you stand that way too long (especially with both hands and while raising your voice) this communicates agitation and is provoking.
3. If you want others to speak up, especially after you have been talking for awhile, "turn it over" to the class (or audience) by extending your hands, palms up.
4. Breath deeply and walk slowly when something goes wrong, class gets noise, kids horsing around, whatever—never rush over to an incident, or it will worsen.
5. Never touch a student, just make contact with the desk, you will get the compliance you're looking for, especially if you keep on teaching while standing there leaning against the his/her desk.
6. When you want someone's attention, like the kid in the back who just cannot reign it in and quiet down and stop talking, square your hips and shoulders toward that student and look directly at her/him without speaking. You'll get the compliance and most likely another student or the rest of the class will tell her/him to stop interrupting the class. Be sure to always say, "Thank you" when you get compliance you seek.

That's enough for now. There is a huge amount of research on this topic and some fairly good videos on U-Tube to illustrate some these points. Become a student of body language, observe your peers, both the "pro's" and the "strugglers", I'll bet their body language is very different from one another.

When you have moment, share some of your body language observations with us!

Stef