“Why should teachers stop talking? Teachers love to talk. That’s the problem. Some love to hear themselves more than… But what about pressing mute and teaching silently?”
As part of my micro teach planning, I carried out research on non-verbal teaching and found this very enlightening online article titled The Silent Professor. But first let me explain how I got to this topic in the first place. I was ruminating over what to do for my 20 min microteach when my mind drifted onto the ‘The Tracy Anderson method’ A Strengthening workout exercise that focuses on small movements Tracy does not speak in any of the sessions instead she repeats each movement upwards of 20 times.
“she learned that she can keep your brain more engaged if she does not speak to you during your workout and you follow her as if you would while playing a video game this has proved has proven to strengthen the mind body connection”
With that said, the micro teach would be a good way to test out this verbal vs non-verbal teaching. Sometimes whilst I teach my craft workshops some students get lost In the verbal instruction which is gets quite repetitive. I always follow up verbal instruction with demonstration and the two work in tandem to inform the student. However, there is always a lightbulb moment that happens when the student understands for themselves how to knit (or whichever craft I am teaching at the time). I want to explore non-verbal demonstration, verbal instruction or a combination of the two and how to use these tools to achieve improve student comprehension in my workshops.
The Silent Professor covered some great topics about the many different notions centered around the traditional teacher at the front of a classroom teaching a lesson from a hierarchical stance and, how that may create pressure to know absolutely everything and sound really smart whilst using overly complicated words because ‘the teacher is the expert and the student the humble learner’ The article further explores what can happen when professor’s voice is removed from the classroom and the kinds of learning takes place with the switch up. Identifying the different pedagogy styles in this article and in Tracy Andersons research gave me a good foundation to plan my micro teach and test out some of these theories for myself.
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