Body Language for Competent Teachers

Book excerpt: Non-verbal skills are invaluable for teachers in getting their own messages across to classes and understanding the messages pupils are sending them. Here an educational psychologist and a classroom teacher join forces to show new teachers in particular how to use gesture, posture, facial expression and tone of voice effectively to establish a good relationship with the classes that they teach. Each chapter is illustrated with clear drawings of pupils and teachers in common classroom situations and accompanied by training exercises aimed at improving the new teacher's ability to observe both her class and her own practice. A section at the end of the book gives suggested solutions to some of the exercises and the final chapter, addressed to staff responsible for their colleagues' professional development, provides suggestions for half and whole day courses.