Efficient use of eye contact as a non-verbal teaching tool

We teachers get the opportunity to participate in workshops, seminars or training sessions to improve teaching skills on regular basis. Effective use of eye contact is part of 'classroom management' techniques which every teacher should learn.

Eye contact is a very important non-verbal teaching technique, which not only enhanced students’ attention in the classroom but also helps teachers in the attainment of desired student results.

Efficient use of eye contact in the classroom as a non verbal teaching tool:

In classroom, eye contact performs a very significant function as non-verbal communication.

Eye contact makes so much difference: if students feel that the teacher is actually talking and engaging with them, they are more likely to engage with teacher and listen what they’re saying.

Eye contact also helps to convey that all-important enthusiasm and passion that can bring the topic to life.

Teachers can use eye contact for the enhancement of learning of the students in various ways. Wainwright also highlighted six different functions of eye contact: seeking information; showing attention and interest; inviting and controlling interaction; dominating, threatening and influencing others; providing feedback during speech; and revealing attitude.

Teachers often complain about discipline, about lack of attention, about the use of L2 in the classroom and many other problems, many of which amount to a breakdown in communication between teacher and students or between students themselves. It is well known that speech is only one part of communication, yet teachers often forget about or underestimate the importance of non-verbal communication in their own and their students' performance.


One aspect of non-verbal communication is the use of the eyes to convey messages. The eyes are a powerful tool for both the teacher and the learner, yet much classroom time is spent with eyes firmly fixed on the book, the board, the floor, the window, or roaming randomly around the teaching and learning environment.

Teachers working in all disciplines in secondary schools have always been advised to develop 'the look' as part of their teaching persona. 'The look' ranges from 'be quiet please', through 'I'm not going to tell you again' to 'don't mess with me, sonny', and in this respect is seen as having a disciplinary function. Meanwhile, the business world has accepted eye contact as an important component of achieving success in giving presentations and improving rapport between representative and client, while these days it is possible to find many websites offering advice on how to forge personal relationships through the judicious use of eye contact.

Researchers and practitioners in Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) have brought the notion of body language and eye contact back to the attention of language teachers, but largely in the context of providing clues to the nature of the learner rather than in terms of a teaching tool.

Establishing a management role in the classroom involves eye contact from the outset.

• Be in your classroom before your learners, and welcome them individually with a combination of eye contact and their name as they enter the room. 
• Talk to your learners, not to the book, the board or the screen. 
• Eyes can set the tone of a lesson. As the lesson starts, walk around the room looking to check whether the learners are ready -- books out, pens and paper handy, mobile phones off. 
• If not, eye contact should suffice to rectify the situation. Try teaching part of a lesson without saying anything. This should remind you of how important paralinguistics is as well as helping to control your teacher talking time.

Good eye contact does not mean staring or gazing. Many learners are likely to find this uncomfortable and consequently avert their own eyes and lose concentration. Neither does good eye contact mean eyes darting from learner to learner around the room -- this has no effect whatsoever.

• It is recommended that there should be three to five seconds eye contact for non-verbal communication to take place. Watch your learners as well as listen to them, particularly while they are performing tasks. Look for signs of being bored or being lost. 
• Encourage your learners to make eye contact while they are working together in pairs or groups. Start by training them to listen to each other using non-verbal responses only. 
• Research shows that there is a strong link between the amount of eye contact people receive and their degree of participation in group communication -- in the number of turns taken in a group conversation for example.

The NLP(Neuro-Linguistic Programming) approach to eye contact is holistic and individualistic, but is soundly based on the premise that good eye contact increases rapport. Save time and effort with specific messages delivered by eye and facial expression.
Show praise, encouragement often, and disapproval occasionally.
Remind learners that they ought to know an answer or that they could provide a response if they tried.
Use eye contact as a correction technique.
Nominate and invite responses by eye. If the nominee is not watching, someone will give him/her a nudge.

Eye contact is, fundamentally, time and effort saving. Teachers can use their body movements, eye contact, facial expressions; smile; anger; frown, pitch of voice, and spatial distance for better understanding of the concepts of students. In the classroom setting eye contact of the teacher, as non-verbal cue, is very vital and directly affects the learning of the students in addition to the classroom management. Eye contact is a tool of teaching, which a teacher can use very efficiently and effectively for the enhancement and achievement of students’ learning outcomes (SLOs) 

More reading and useful links:

* Eye contact as an efficient non verbal teaching technique

 * Eyes Talk Hongshen ZHANG Fujian University of Technology

 * The Importance of Eye Contact in the Classroom

* Non verbal communication (An article at 'Teaching English-BBC)

* Body Language- Speaking without words

Making crafts with paper strips and newspaper

Paper is easily available product which can be used in variety of ways. You can encourage and help kids in creating crafts with newspaper or paper strips. Usually I keep a stock of colorful paper strips. At crafts class kids love to touch and feel paper strips and they love to create shapes or different objects. This article offers few tips and ideas how you can keep your kids busy with these paper crafts or sculptures.

Newspaper can be used to create crafts and paper sculptures.  “Newspaper sculpture” is a way for kids to create an art piece with tightly rolled-up pieces of newspaper. 


With a “newspaper sculpture,” children will use their hand-eye coordination. Encourage them to make their own sculpture. 

Before you begin the activity, prepare by having several wands of tightly rolled newspaper pre-made. This way, the children can dive right into the activity. Place the wands of newspaper rolls standing up (like a flower arrangement) in a bucket or container so they are easy for the children to grab. Lay out lots of rolls of masking tape of different colors.


 Bring the kids over to your activity area and let the kids start creating their own sculptures. Encourage them to bend the wands of newspaper into different shapes. Have them use the masking tape to help retain the shape of their sculpture and to tape together different pieces of newspaper rolls. You may offer idea of making a weaving mat using newspaper wands.
Learn more at: 'A place of our own.org'

Children love to use the paper strips.   Many objects, figures, shapes or 3D shapes, or mobiles can be made by just tying strings to them. This is a great way to teach children about 3 dimensional figures and space…. not to mention teaching them their basic shapes.


Just show them a few examples of figures or shapes and kids would come up with more ideas. 

Stars and Stripes or Shape Sculptures:   Cut different size strips of red, yellow and blue paper.
Fold some strips into circles, some into squares others into triangles. Cut out large shapes for a base. Arrange shapes and strips on your base and glue into place. 


Cut free-form shapes of varying sizes from colored card stock or scrapbook paper (ours measure 3 to 5 inches wide and 3 to 8 inches long). Snip two to four 1-inch slits into the sides of each shape. Build a sculpture by interlocking the pieces along the slits. 


 Useful links: 
 * Paper Flowers – Anyone Can Do That 
* Recycled Paper Weaving in Grade Two 
* Art Lessons For Kids 
* Summer Crafts For Kids: Sculpting With Paper Strips

Role of classroom decor in classroom management

There are many elements of classroom decor that can affect a student’s ability to learn. Colors in a classroom can make you more receptive to be in the mood to study or learn. Classroom decor plays an important role in class management.

A mural at Play class wall- showing Islamic culture and nature

Simple and organized decorated classrooms enhance calm learning environments. Children are attracted to bright colors, but use the bold palette sparingly. Guide students’ attention to specific points you want them to retain, and use the bright colors there instead of anchoring the room in bold yellows or reds.

 A preschool classroom is a lively and energetic place. Preschool children are naturally curious and creative, so the decor of this classroom should showcase their creativity and challenge their curiosity. Make sure that the decor is colorful and placed at a level that makes it possible for small people to see and appreciate it.

You can notice the decor of play class in our school. Hanging paper plates are in various colors with numbers. Other resources and decoration around this classroom corner fulfill the purpose of interactive learning.

The artwork or posters on display on the classroom walls encourage learning and creativity, or act as a distraction. Most teachers carefully select this part of the décor and usually try to play towards their students’ imagination. Students need to feel comfortable with a nice balance of decor they can relate to. Students enjoy seeing their papers hung up around the room, reminding them of their other good grades.

The biggest focal point in the classroom is the bulletin board and it should be the backdrop for your room’s theme. Educational supply stores carry many popular theme kits, everything needed for decorating a classroom - borders, posters, bulletin board content and suggestions for fun classroom activities, but don’t go overboard with the decorations. Strike a balance between the décor, the color scheme and the educational information. 

Useful links and resources:

* What You See Is What You Get In The Classroom

*  Classroom Decor Themes and Tips DIY Classroom Decorations

 * Classroom decoration themes and ideas

* Classroom decoration ideas

* Creating a cozy classroom

Crafts and origami learning with kids

It is fun to teach crafts and origami to kids ( at early years).  I teach easy origami to kids in my Nursery class. I believe that origami helps in development of fine 'motor skills', intellectual abilities and creative abilities. As kids in our Nursery class are from the age group of 4 to 5 plus, even easy origami projects are sometimes difficult to follow, and kids need help at later steps for completing these tasks.

As you can notice from facing picture that I have mixed the drawing and origami together to make an interesting crafts.

As the outcome of this crafts was amazing, we selected it as a folder cover which we hand over to parents at 'Parents teachers meeting' as a record of kids learning.

How this crafts project was created?

1- First I teach them to make a simple house.
2- In second art/crafts class I told them to make a tree.
3- Third stage was to fix both origami projects at art book and finish it by drawing clods, grass, flower etc.
4- We fixed some pencil carving at the roof of the house to make it more attractive and appealing.

Early year display boards

In reception years, we teachers decorate our bulletin boards for display at the occasion of parent teacher meeting. Parent teacher meeting is held after every two months in a year. As we have completed our first term (Whole year is divided into two terms), our bulletin boards were showing the process of learning.

In our play class English board was showing 'Dolche Words':

These colorful display boards are used as a helping tool for learning. 

Why We Need to Appreciate Our Teachers and Celebrate Appreciation Day?

There are events and celebrations for every relation like fathers day, mothers, friendship day and occasion like birthdays or ceremonies etc.
How about celebrating teachers appreciation day and week?
and why we need to appreciate our teaches and celebrate appreciation day or week?

Teachers play a key role in every individual’s development and evolution. Showing appreciation to them is a fair reward and an act of gratitude that will also make you feel better. Teachers are that special part of the community helping us all to grow up and be better citizens. This is why most countries celebrate either the World Teachers’ Day (WTD) or their own national equivalents.

Schedule for teachers day and week:

Teacher Appreciation Day 2010 – May 4th

Teacher Appreciation Week 2011: 2nd – 6th May

UNESCO inaugurated October 5 as World Teachers Day, although in the USA, Teacher Appreciation Week is typically celebrated on the above May dates.

Teacher appreciation day 2011 is near and you should be thinking of the ways you can put a smile on your teacher’s cheek. Actually, there are millions ways you can do this, and it will always matter on how you offer this things than what you can offer.

Teachers will always be happy—no matter what you will have to give them.

Other times to honor our teachers is at the end of the school year, thanking them for all they’ve done for our children, at the holidays with a gift, on their birthdays or anytime you feel like thanking a teacher for his/her hard work. Teachers will appreciate all your efforts at any time of the year! Expressing your gratitude for all they do will is especially meaningful during Teacher Appreciation Week and on Teacher Appreciation Day each year.A week, and a day is not enough to thank your teacher for teaching your over 9 months. But you can always make very activity worth remembering if you present it with honest desires and the will to offer gratitude.

Traditionally we remember to show our appreciation for our child’s teacher either during "Teacher Appreciation Week" (in the US) or at the end of the school year. But there is nothing to stop you letting your teachers know how much you appreciate them at any time of the year!

Why we need to appreciate our teacher?

Teachers are one of the most important adults in a child’s life - and yet for much of the time we take them for granted. A dedicated teacher is one of the world’s most precious resources. Our children spend many hours a day with their teachers, who help mold them, shape their character and teach them academic subjects they need to survive in this world, plus they play mediator in many life lessons our kids face when we’re not there to help or untangle the complications of interacting with their peers.

If your child has the great fortune of having one of the really good teachers in our world, by all means, show your appreciation for their dedication and mostly thankless jobs. These special teachers deserve our respect and appreciation and reinforcing their good work will inspire them to continue in their profession, inspire other teachers and generally keep the tradition of inspiring teachers alive.


Sources: Teacher appreciation
- Rexanne

Useful links:
* Annie’s "National Teacher Day" Page


First published at 'factoidz'

How to Amuse Your Guests with Toilegami?

Toilegami’ is actualy is the origami-style folding of toilet paper.
Toilet paper origami is also called Hotel Toilet Paper folding as it is practiced in many hotels worldwide. You can also amuse and great your guests with this amazing origami style. This post offers enough online resources about basic toilet origami folds. Learn some basic and interesting facts about toilegami and start folding toilet paper to have fun.

Basically, the cleaning staff folds the first piece of toilet paper on the roll into a shape. The most popular is the triangle fold, and it’s a great way to greet your guests when they visit your bathroom.

Knowing a few simple techniques can entertain your guests and confuse family and friends when you visit.

How this origami style was created?

It is called origami style because it is an art form which is amusing and entertaining. The purpse or origin of this origami style is unknown but there are two basic reasons of this creative art:

As a way of assuring guests that the bathroom has been cleaned.
To impress or delight guests with the management’s creativity and attention to detail.
There are two ways to do toilegami:

- fold the toilet paper while it is still on the roll, or

- fold a single sheet of toilet paper.

The common fold normally involves creating a triangle or "V" shape out of the first sheet or square on a toilet paper roll. Commonly, the two corners of the final sheet are tucked behind the paper symmetrically, forming a point at the end of the roll. More elaborate folding results in shapes like fans, sailboats, and even flowers.

Few easy to learn toilegami folds are:

The Triangle Fold,
The Diamond Fold
The Pleated Fold,
The Pleated Tuck Fold
The Flourish
You can learn these folds from ‘Origami Resource Center’

Toilet paper folding or toilegami has attracted the attention of observers within the hotel industry and beyond it, involving both sober discussion of the practice as a marketing move as well as wry commentary with various degrees of seriousness. The practice has been considered an emblematic example of a meme copied across the world from a hotel to another until the point that most of them now do it.

Interesting facts:

Stephen Gill, a British photographer has published a book of pictures of folded hotel toilet paper from various nations.
Hotel toilet paper folding is such an institution that in the horror movie 1408 it is used as one of the eerie happenings noticed by the main character—after using the toilet paper, he finds it mysteriously has been freshly folded over.
The Tickle Pink Inn, a motel in Carmel Highlands, California, folds the ends of its toilet paper into fan-like designs, mirroring the folds of its bathroom washcloths.
One travel writer noted seeing toilet paper folded into flowers and sailboats at hotels in Costa Rica.
An automated toilet paper folding machine called Meruboa was invented in Japan. With the push of a lever the device folds the first sheet of toilet paper into a triangle.

Interesting links and online resources:
* Stephen Gill explains why he spent three years taking pictures of hotel toilet paper. The loo roll that says I love you
* Toilet paper origami pictures from many hotles around the world
* A blog ‘Toilet Paper Origami’ (Most pictures or this article are taken from the same blog)
* Learn two basic folds of toilegami from thissimple tutorial
* How to: Make Toilet Paper Origami

First published at 'factoidz'

What is Pygmalion Effect and How Teachers Can Use It to Achieve Better Performance Among Students?

We know that more positive you are in your approach towards your career or teaching, more successful and a better teacher you are. So having believe in what you are doing reflects in your behaviour and your dealing with students. Having faith that your students are cabable of doing better brings positive results and it is the term called ‘The Pygmalion effects’.

According to the definition by wikipedia: The Pygmalion effect, or Rosenthal effect, refers to the phenomenon in which the greater the expectation placed upon people, often children or students and employees, the better they perform. The effect is named after Pygmalion, a Cypriot sculptor in a narrative by Ovid in Greek mythology, who fell in love with a female statue he had carved out of ivory.

Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobson (1968/1992) report and discuss the Pygmalion effect at length. In their study, they showed that if teachers were led to expect enhanced performance from some children, then the children did indeed show that enhancement.

Research clearly depicts that teacher expectations can have both positive and negative effects on student learning and achievement. Ormrod (1999) insists that expectations influence the ways in which teachers evaluate students, behave toward students, and make decisions about students.

When teachers expect students to do well and show intellectual growth, they do; when teachers do not have such expectations, performance and growth are not so encouraged and may in fact be discouraged in a variety of ways. In the famous Oak School experiment, teachers were led to believe that certain students selected at random were likely to be showing signs of a spurt in intellectual growth and development. At the end of the year, the students of whom the teachers had these expectations showed significantly greater gains in intellectual growth than did those in the control group. This was especially pronounced in first and second graders and in fifth and sixth graders, though less so in third and fourth grade students

James Rhem, executive editor for the online National Teaching and Learning Forum, commented:

"When teachers expect students to do well and show intellectual growth, they do; when teachers do not have such expectations, performance and growth are not so encouraged and may in fact be discouraged in a variety of ways."

Praising your child results in that your child will believe that they are intelligent, it will become part of who they believe they are and they will act accordingly and you will find that this belief has a positive impact on those areas of your child’s school work that they may not doing as well as they could be.

Your child’s belief that they are intelligent will raise their performance in all areas of school life as they act on that belief. Not only teachers but parents can use it achieve better performance in all phases of life.

Useful links:

* The Pygmalion Effect: A Dramatic Study in the Classroom
* Pygmalion In The Classroom

First published at 'Factoidz'