Classroom Communication Teaching Resources

Explore classroom communication tools for teachers perfect for communicating with parents and students this school year.

This collection of teacher-created tools was built by the teachers of Teach Starter to help boost verbal and non-verbal communication in your classroom this year so you can build strong relationships with your students and their parents.

A crucial part of being a good teacher is being a good communicator, and we've built tools that can help you be just that. Even better? This collection is stocked with tools that will also help you teach your students to be more effective communicators.

Why Classroom Communication Matters

You likely already know that a teacher's communication in the classroom is linked with student outcomes, but just how much does it matter? A lot!

Education researchers have evaluated what happens when teachers are specifically trained in classroom communication, and the results are significant. Not only do teachers spend less time on discipline and more time actually engaging their students, but the students' behaviour mirrors that of their teacher.

Meanwhile, other studies have shown that a teacher's communication skills are just as important as their knowledge base regarding their effectiveness as educators, and even how we communicate with parents can boost student success.

So, what does good classroom communication look like? Both verbal and non-verbal communication, as well as written communication, play heavily here.

Read on as we break down each.

What Non-Verbal Communication in the Classroom Looks Like

When we talk about non-verbal communication, we tend to talk about things like body language and facial expressions. Everything from how we gesture to how our faces change when someone says something falls under non-verbal communication in the real world and, of course, in the classroom.

In the classroom setting, however, non-verbal communication is particularly important to create a safe environment for our students.

A warm smile on your face when a student enters the room is a non-verbal cue that lets them know you welcome them to the space. Similarly, when we turn our bodies toward a student who is speaking and give them our full attention, we show them we value what they have to say.

These behaviours also play into our important role as role models for our students who are still learning social norms and how to be good communicators.

Non-verbal communication in the classroom can also take the form of the visual media we provide to help our students learn, including learning aids like:

• Anchor charts
• Bulletin boards
• Posters
• Maps

This type of non-verbal classroom communication helps our students learn through the help of visual representation, and they can help supplement our verbal communication.

What Does Verbal Communication Look Like in a Classroom?

Of course, that brings us to verbal communication in a classroom. Again, there are direct ties to verbal communication as we describe it in a broader context.

Verbal communication can refer to the direct instruction that's core to teaching, but it also refers to things like the greetings we give children when they enter our rooms and the one-on-one conversations we have with our students.

Of course, these all help us build relationships with our students and serve as a means of providing students with information.

Being good verbal communicators isn't just being able to impart information to or chat with students. It's being able to:

• Appropriately engage the audience
• Transmit information in clear and understandable ways
• Speak in a tone that's appropriately assertive — not intimidating or abrupt but also calm and loud enough to be heard

It's a lot for teachers to juggle; we know! It's why we've created so many tools to help!