No teacher wants to use the teacher presentation skills of the Ben Stein character from the movie “Ferris Buehler’s Day Off.” However, if you aren’t thinking about using dynamic teacher presentation skills, you might be boring your kids to death. It doesn’t matter how sparkling your content if you don’t present it in an engaging fashion.
When a teacher uses engaging presentation skills, students respond positively. When you use these skills, students are much more likely to smile, make eye contact and lean forward. You feel like you are giving your energy, and students are giving you their energy for a positive learning loop. Get better classroom attention and participation with these teacher presentation skills that help students pay attention and learn.
Move
Pay attention to where you move in the room as you are talking. Do you stay seated in a corner behind your desk? (Who can really see you there?) Do you stay behind a podium? (Thus becoming a “talking head?”) Neither of these is effective for getting and keeping student attention. Instead, move around the room as you speak. This will make students stay on their toes. Every so often, try standing by a student who is notoriously disengaged for a few minutes. See what happens. When you move around the room, do it naturally. Pause in one spot for awhile, and then move to a new place. Experiment with movement as you present, and observe how your students respond.
Express
Express yourself more dramatically while teaching than you would in a person to person conversation. You are on the teaching stage. Your facial expressions need to be a bit exaggerated. For instance, when telling kids about how far it is to the sun, look astounded. Widen your eyes, and open your mouth in amazement after you tell the distance. You need to gesture more broadly with your hands also. For instance, if you are explaining how far away Mars is, spread your hands as far apart as you can.
Then there is the great teacher tool called your eyes. Use your eyes to will the attention of reluctant or unfocused learners. Make eye contact with these at risk students for a few seconds each. See if you can prevent student zone-out. Be animated with your entire body. Act things out, and do different voices. Have fun with it. When you use dynamic teacher presentation skills and use larger expressions of eyes, face, and hands, students engage better.
Voice
If you are naturally soft spoken, speak loudly enough. Sometimes your students literally may not hear you. If your voice tends to boom, make sure to soften it on purpose. No matter where the volume of your voice tends to be naturally, use dynamics to emphasize your points. Vary the speed and volume of your voice. Positive teacher presentation skills require that you understand the power of using softer and louder volumes and faster and slower speech as needed. Remember that using a soft voice can be a highly effective way to get your student’s attention.
Take the action steps described above to improve your teacher presentation skills. Be mindful of moving around the classroom, being dramatic and using exaggerated movements, as well as using voice dynamics. Observe how much more your students engage when you use positive teacher presentation skills.
Note: Few students want to stay in “listen to the teacher mode” for long, no matter how great your teacher presentation skills. Be sure to get students participating, creating, and moving as much as possible.
