6 Questions to Tackle When Communicating with Students
Communicating with students is the Danielson Framework component covering expectations for learning, directions and procedures, explanations of content, and use of oral and written language. The 2022 revision renamed it Communicating About Purpose and Content, though many districts still evaluate on the earlier version. Either way, the work starts with reading the room.
Actions speak louder than words! To connect with our students, we must think about the words and the actions we take in and out of the classroom. One of the first education books I read was Harry Wong's 1997 book titled The First Days of School. The accompanying videos brought Harry right into your living room. They created a classroom on stage that was similar to a late 1990's classroom. He then modeled what he was talking about…which was the next best thing to actually seeing Harry in real life. I saw what it looked like and sounded like to be an effective teacher… my career started in 1998…perfect timing!
One thing that really stood out in the videos and his book was communication. One of the strategies he is most known for is what I call the "doorway strategy." Harry would stand at the door and greet every student that came into his classroom. This personalized greeting made each student feel cared for and respected. He modeled how we must take time to connect individually with every student that walks into our classroom. As I started to use this strategy from my first day of teaching, I realized how powerful it was in getting to know the students. It was my thermometer and barometer.
The thermometer check (hot or cold temperature) was one of my greatest tools for individual students. I would make sure to connect and add specific praise and generalized positive comments, especially with the students that needed it the most. Every student received a comment, question, or a positive. I knew I had better check in before instruction started with specific students that I knew came from trauma, anxiety, or struggled with behavior. I would build the proverbial bank account in order to be able to deposit, and more importantly, to withdraw from the bank account when something needed to change.
The doorway strategy also gave me a barometer check for the overall feeling (or barometric pressure) of the class. I quickly would adjust in my mind what I had planned for during the instructional day. If students came in overly talkative, I knew I had better plan for more "active participation" or "learning structures." If I had to deal with behavior problems that occurred before school even started, I knew I had better start with a class meeting or some calming activity to lower the anxiety. Likewise, if students came in relatively happy and positive, I knew I could start with difficult learning tasks.
The ability to be flexible comes from communication. We must master the ability to communicate effectively by listening to and reading our students, then choosing the correct words and actions (or non-actions). The old adage, "People don't care how much you know, until you show them how much you care," is very true in the education setting. Many teachers start with the most difficult curriculum right away in the morning without a thermometer or barometer check…they do not care….they have a district-mandated pacing guide, and they feel the need to meet those expectations above everything else!
Being an exemplary communicator is much more than how well we relay content to our students; it is about reading our students and being flexible to refine our expectations immediately. The clarity of our learning goals, the ability for students to follow directions, and the ability for a student to connect to prior learning through our words and activities we chose are the primary elements in Charlotte Danielson's Evaluation Model, Communicating with Students.
Two clarifications before the questions. First, on names. This article describes the version of the framework most districts adopted, where Domain 3 is Instruction and component 3a is Communicating with Students, built from four elements: expectations for learning, directions and procedures, explanations of content, and use of oral and written language. The Danielson Group revised the framework in 2022 and renamed that component Communicating About Purpose and Content, placing it under a Domain 3 now called Learning Experiences. Plenty of evaluation systems still run on the earlier version, so check which one your district has adopted.
Second, on ratings. The earlier rubric scores each component on four levels: Unsatisfactory, Basic, Proficient, and Distinguished. When I name the framework's ratings in this piece, I use those four terms.
The classroom portraits that follow are my own examples of practice, drawn from years of teaching and watching other teachers work. They are not rubric language and they are not scoring criteria. Words like "exemplary" and "developing" come from local adaptations rather than from Danielson, and they mean different things in different districts. Score yourself against the evaluation instrument your district or state has actually adopted, not against my descriptions.
Here are six questions that will support your growth in this domain, whether you are working toward Proficient or already pushing at Distinguished.
1 - How Well Do You Create Relationships with Students, and Do You and Your Students Contribute to the Classroom and School Culture?
Trust Comes Before Content
Communication begins with the ability to create trust. Trust between the teacher and the student is the foundation created from the first day of school, and many master teachers start even before this. These master teachers connect with students through summer letters or even learn their names in the hallways before they even attend the class.
Trust is give and take; those teachers who earn respect as compared to commanding respect are more revered. Listening, researching, and learning more about our students are a few strategies that can support communication. When we spend time listening to learn, and not speaking to be heard, students learn fast that this teacher cares about me, as well as my likes and dislikes. A teacher can then use that information to continue to connect with individual students. Asking about hobbies, movies, family, sports, and music are all great topics to use when communicating with students. Many educators stay up on the latest information from these areas, as they are easy conversation starters, even when they do not prefer the topic. Teachers do this in order to connect and create genuine trusting relationships.
Some teachers have one group of students for over 1000+ instructional hours a year, and they get quite close with students and their families. Then there are teachers who have 200+ students for less than 180 hours of instruction a year. Inherently, the middle school and high school teachers have a more difficult task in creating strong relationships due to the lack of time with students as compared to their elementary partners. Tips, tricks, and strategies should be shared among teachers, especially when connecting with behaviorally challenged students, introverted students, or students who are ridiculed for their beliefs and even bullied.
The effectiveness of a teacher in creating strong relationships is proportional to how students treat each other. The teacher models language and actions and allows and permits conversations that are positive and proactive. The teacher ultimately creates the classroom culture. How the students treat the teacher, as well as how they treat each other, is important to the communication process.
Two Classrooms, Two Cultures
Here are two classrooms I have watched many times over. Read them as illustrations of practice, not as a scoring guide.
A teacher who is still developing this skill does not worry about the classroom culture. They begin class when the bell rings by opening a book, turning to the next page, reading the content, assigning a task, and then proceed to sit at their desk, not feeling a need to further support students. Technically, this teacher is following the district curriculum, "teaching" the content, and assigning a "task." How well a student does in that environment is unpredictable.
A teacher working at a high level greets students at the door, connects with almost all students as they enter, and creates a culture of learning. The teacher adjusts curriculum, instruction, and even assessment delivery based on what the students give him or her that day as they walk into the classroom. The teacher communicates exactly what they will be doing for the period, how they will be assessed, and what they will know by the end of the lesson. The teacher then engages students in the content, discusses misconceptions, continually checks for understanding using questions and discussion, allows for students to create questions that take the concept further, allows for partner or group discussion, allows for self-reflection and self-assessment, and assigns a task or assignment. At the end of the lesson, the teacher gathers feedback: the teacher summarizes what they have learned, what they should be able to do because of the new information they garnered, and gives a quick formative or summative assessment to determine how well the students met the learning objective. Students contribute to the feedback through self-assessment. This data is used to determine the next instructional decisions, as well as individual needs. This cycle is repeated with some variation each and every day. The teacher builds on prior learning, and the students know where they are going with instructional goals. The culture of learning is visible and communicated to students daily.
That same teacher also plays a role in developing, sustaining, and changing the culture of the school. Though the principal and leadership of the school drive the overall culture, a strong teacher and his or her students can help change a negative culture. They can also raise the level of positive culture in a school by developing and implementing ideas that celebrate and extend student opportunities for success. A teacher who has not built this skill can create a counter-culture that can break down a school's overall positive culture. This can be a vindictive plight formulated by the teacher, or it can even be done without the teacher understanding it is occurring. It is the leadership and the teacher-leaders that take this counter-culture on positively!
One Way to Reset a School's Hallways
For example, when a successful school is having trouble with the hallways, the leadership or teacher-leaders can implement a positive praise system. Instead of teachers going after each other negatively with rumors or other passive-aggressive acts, starting the Golden Soul Award might be a positive spin for a solution. When you dig into the hallway problem, you find that there are many small things not being done by most teachers: teachers dropping off or picking up their students late, teachers not proactively teaching hallway expectations, teachers not visible in the hallways, and teachers not supporting one another's students in the hallway. The Golden Soul Award (idea from Tammy Good @TCGood1) is a spray-painted shoe that is given to a classroom, or grade level, that exemplifies what it looks like and sounds like in the hallway: 1) appropriate voice level, 2) everyone safely travels throughout the hallway, 3) teachers pick up/drop off students on time, and 4) teachers celebrate their students and other students doing their job. A small number of Golden Souls can be given out according to grade levels, parts of the building, teams, etc. Each week, the awards are given to classrooms by an anonymous staff member. Teachers and students do not know who the person giving the award. After a class or grade level has received the Golden Soul Award, a picture of a Golden Soul is put in their room. The purpose is to empower the students and teachers to do the correct thing.
2 - How Clearly Do You Set Expectations, and Do Your Directions and Routines Hold Without You?
Expectations for Learning Come First
Before directions, before procedures, students need to know what they are supposed to walk out knowing. This is the element teachers skip most often, and it is the easiest one for an observer to check. They ask a student what they are learning and why it matters. If the answer is "page 47," the expectation was never communicated.
Posting an objective on the board does not do it by itself. Students have to be able to say it back in their own words, and they have to be able to say it at the end of the lesson even if you never stated it at the start. An inquiry lesson can withhold the goal on purpose, and that is a legitimate choice. What it cannot do is leave students unclear when the bell rings.
Giving Directions Once
Once a teacher has built trust with their students, getting them to follow directions the first time becomes second nature. Students understand that you are only going to give directions once. Their respect and revere for the teacher is evident by watching them listen. Likewise, students understand, follow, and help refine the routines and procedures of the classroom. When you visit a classroom where these ideals are present, one would say the class could run itself. Nothing is more evident than when there is a guest teacher in the classroom. Everyone understands their job and supports the guest teacher in having a pleasant and well-organized time in the classroom.
Master teachers understand the importance of giving directions that are clearly stated, age-appropriate, and have a real-world purpose or rationale. They give directions one time, and the students understand and are able to complete the task with a high level of completion. There are many strategies a teacher can use in order to get students to follow directions the first time given. One strategy is a simple "repeat and reteach a peer" strategy. The teacher gives a direction and then has the students repeat it as a whole class. Lastly, the teacher has them pair share why they are completing the task. The students get the same direction three times, as well as rationale in student language from a peer. If done correctly, this strategy can support your students completing a task with the teacher only stating the directions once.
Routines That Run Without You
The strongest teachers I know spend an abundance of time teaching routines and procedures. These teachers can give a simple direction to get a Chromebook, and all students will be able to be on their computer in under two minutes. For example, "One's, you may get your Chromebooks. Go!" From a simple observer, you would never know how much time and practice the teacher and students have put into doing this routine. The class is broken into four groups, one to four. In a class of twenty-eight, seven students may pop up from their desks to get a Chromebook. They walk over to the Chromebook cart, take their turn in getting the designated Chromebook out of the cart. Students have been taught how to unplug it from the cart, grab it with two hands, and carry it successfully back to their desk area. This is all timed and done in under 30 seconds. Students practice this and set goals. Students know to start the Chromebook right away and wait for the next direction. Then, "twos" would then pop up out of their desk and do the same routine. All students will be at their desk in under two minutes with a Chromebook and ready for the next direction.
A teacher without a set routine runs into the opposite. Students jostle for position, even push to get their way. Chromebook security is in jeopardy, and there may even be Chromebooks that have been dropped or marked up. Students may not have their Chromebooks on, and they are not ready to begin instruction in under five minutes. Teachers who have invested in this have several routines and procedures where one word or one sentence puts in play a plethora of practiced tasks. Students even play a role in discussing and deciding how directions, routines, and procedures could be even more efficient and effective.
3 - How Well Do You Know Your Content, and Can You Explain It So It Connects to What Students Already Know?
Know Your State's Standards Before the District's Curriculum
First-year teachers are at a disadvantage with curriculum. As they learn and understand what they are supposed to teach as well as how it builds on prior learning, they also must start deciding on how the content can be taught to the specific students seated in front of them. The proverbial laminated lesson plan from the years before should be a joke of the past. Each class is different from the last set of students. Yet, as you gain more teaching experience, you start to learn about the difficulties most students have with the curriculum you are teaching, as well as the difficulties of specific students in the class.
As you move toward Proficient, you will learn about the strengths and weaknesses of the curriculum that you are required to teach. You may also find holes in it. A district curriculum may not fully address every applicable state standard, so teachers should understand both. Though a few textbook companies advertise that they cover all Common Core Standards, your state may have additional standards that are required. Know your state's standards first, and then know your school district's curriculum. How much latitude you have to supplement or substitute materials is set by district and state policy, and it varies widely, so check yours before you plan around it.
As you move from Proficient toward Distinguished, you will learn how to add in other curriculum to fill the holes of both the district curriculum and the state standards. You may even find better materials that meet the needs of the students in your classroom. Make sure you are always communicating with your grade level team, vertical team members, as well as your administration when you veer away from the required curriculum components. Again, this may be necessary to meet the specific needs of the students in the classroom.
Connecting to Prior Learning
Strong teachers connect to prior learning, or schemata. First coined by Jean Piaget, schemata is from the constructivist theory of learning, where students learn best through scaffolding the concepts introduced. These teachers link the lesson's instructional purpose or rationale to the larger curriculum. The teacher is very thorough with teaching the content, using precise vocabulary, and scaffolds the information. They also connect many of the learner objectives to students' interests. In this fashion, student engagement is increased.
Students are allowed, even encouraged, to ask questions, provide their input on the topic, as well as opportunities to teach other students the content. In my experience, the highest level of understanding is the ability to teach someone else. If asked by an observer or the teacher, students are able to explain what they are learning and how it fits into the curriculum overall.
4 - Do You Know Your Content So You Can Proactively Communicate and Remediate the Possible Areas for Misunderstanding?
New teachers can be at a disadvantage when teaching the curriculum, especially with the common misunderstandings or misconceptions students will have with the content. New teachers can research, learn as much as they can about their students, and team with colleagues to address these misunderstandings as they arise. Unfortunately, much of the learning in this area comes from experience in the classroom. Individual students will have misconceptions that may not be evident with the rest of the class. Communication plays a vital role in changing these misunderstandings.
The teachers who handle this well find out which specific students have misunderstandings of the curriculum. They ensure that students change their thinking and reconfirm that their misconceptions have been changed through discussion, instruction, and assessment. These teachers have students discuss the questions pertaining to the content more than the time allotted for direct instruction from the teacher…in essence, more student-talk than teacher-talk! The teacher knows that this discussion can be powerful, and they must spend time listening, coaching, and reframing vocabulary and thinking.
5 - What Role Does Vocabulary Development Play in Instruction, as Well as with Students' Generalized Vocabulary?
Academic Vocabulary
The words teachers use are the magic that can support student learning. The art of choosing the right words at the correct time comes from experience with students, as well as knowing and understanding the curriculum masterfully. Using precise vocabulary supports students' learning and helps them connect to prior learning.
Development of academic vocabulary has been researched extensively in recent years by many education gurus. They are studying the amount of vocabulary, as well as the precise vocabulary, necessary at different age levels in order to be successful. Robert Marzano has done extensive research on academic vocabulary. He gives a six-step strategy for learning vocabulary in an article titled "The Art and Science of Teaching / Six Steps to Better Vocabulary Instruction."
- Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term.
- Ask students to restate the description, explanation, or example in their own words.
- Ask students to construct a picture, pictograph, or symbolic representation of the term.
- Engage students periodically in activities that help them add to their knowledge of the terms in their vocabulary notebooks.
- Periodically ask students to discuss the terms with one another.
- Involve students periodically in games that enable them to play with terms.
Register and General Vocabulary
A skilled teacher also works on a student's general vocabulary through discussion, modeling, and casual conversations. They understand that there are different registers of vocabulary and conversation. A teacher conveys that vocabulary and conversations are different from when you are at school as compared to when you are at home. Students talk differently with friends than when they talk with adults. A student's ability to understand what register they should be in will support their job employment, as well as with other relationships. Ruby Payne talks about this change in vocabulary register in her work titled, "Understanding and Working with Students and Adults from Poverty."
Master teachers are also challenging the thinking of their students by increasing their precise knowledge of the discipline, as well as their generalized vocabulary in multiple ways. One strategy they use is rich language with brief lessons when appropriate. They use imaginative language full of metaphors and analogies. Rick Wormeli provides great strategies across disciplines in his book titled Metaphors & Analogies: Power Tools for Teaching Any Subject. He states that metaphors and analogies are
"…"power tools" that can electrify learning in every subject and at all grade levels. Metaphors show students how to make connections between the concrete and the abstract, prior knowledge and unfamiliar concepts, and language and image."
Inquiry and Socratic Structures
Two learning structures that stand out in the classrooms I admire most are the use of inquiry-based learning and Socratic methods. They are powerful tools in a vocabulary-rich learning environment. Neither is required by the framework, and neither one on its own moves a rating from Proficient to Distinguished, but both are strategies that stand out when implemented well. The depth of conversations, self-reflection, and curiosity automatically increase engagement.
- Inquiry-Based Learning - The 5 E's
- Engage
- Explore
- Explain
- Elaborate
- Evaluate
- Socratic Learning Method
The true test is sitting in a classroom and listening to the conversations between students. Not only listening to their academic vocabulary, but also their general conversations. The teacher is the conversation leader, and what he or she permits is allowed in these conversations. An observer can learn a lot about both the students and the teacher through observation.
6 - What Role Do Students Play in Supporting Learning Through Their Communication?
Gradual Release of Responsibility
Empowering students to take a major role in communication and their own learning is a teacher's goal. If we can step aside and facilitate learning rather than being the sage on the stage, we have done our job. Agency is the ability for students to take ownership of their learning progression. We can build agency through effective communication and handing over many of the procedures, routines, and curriculum instruction to students. The teacher does not just hand over all components of the classroom to students, but uses a gradual release of responsibility. When students are ready, they are given the opportunity to prove they can handle each component. It may take the whole school year, but the teacher's goal is always to transfer the power back to students.
Student-Led Strategies
There are a number of strategies that support student-led conversations in instruction. Kagan Learning structures empower students and use the gradual release of responsibility (read my past blog: 5 Questions to Tackle in Organizing the Physical Space of the Classroom). Another strategy teachers can use is having students support each other academically before coming to the teacher. The strategy called "Three Before Me" allows students to talk to three different students before coming to the teacher. This allows teachers to spend more time with students who need support, and allows students who may need a little support to get it right away. The teacher has to monitor this strategy, as there is always re-teaching that needs to take place, as well as refining associated procedures and routines.
Another academic strategy is the use of student mentors. Partnering a student who is proficient in an area with a student who needs more support can be powerful. Students teaching other students concepts in "kid language" can be the trick sometimes when a teacher has used several different instructional methods already.
Where Technology Fits
The use of technology has changed this domain in the past few years. The use of social media and Web 2.0 tools has been evident in many classrooms. One such elementary classroom uses the Seesaw application. This is an online portfolio. Students must defend why they put each artifact in their portfolio with the teacher, as well as their parents who have access at home. Screencastify is another powerful tool that teachers can use to support students. Teachers can create tutorials, direction instruction segments, and even have students create their own Screencastify that can be viewed by other students. The transfer of who provides the content is powerful when students are given this role. Technology has made student communication limitless.
MORE ROCK MY EVALUATION RELATED READINGS:
- Being Exemplary When Communicating with Students (Currently here)
- Using Questioning and Discussion Techniques
- Engaging Students in Learning
- Using Assessment in Instruction
- Demonstrating Flexibility and Responsiveness in the Classroom
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the four elements of communicating with students?
In the version of the framework most districts adopted, component 3a covers expectations for learning, directions and procedures, explanations of content, and use of oral and written language. The Danielson Group's 2022 revision renamed the component Communicating About Purpose and Content. Observation forms built on either version cover much of the same ground, so it helps to know which element a piece of feedback is aimed at before you try to fix it.
What is the difference between Proficient and Distinguished on this component?
Both levels describe clear, accurate communication. In the earlier rubric, Distinguished performance is assessed across all four elements of the component rather than on any single behavior, and evaluators weigh a range of indicators. Greater student ownership of the talk is one signal that often appears at that level, but more student-talk on its own does not establish a Distinguished rating. Your evaluator is working from a specific rubric, so read the one your district uses.
Do I have to state the learning objective at the start of every lesson?
No. An inquiry or discovery lesson can hold the goal back on purpose, and that is a defensible instructional choice. What matters is that students can say what they were learning by the time the lesson ends. If they cannot, the expectation was never communicated, whatever was written on the board.
Can an observer really judge my communication from one lesson?
One lesson shows a slice of it. Routines, trust, and the vocabulary students use with each other are built over months, and they show up in that slice whether you plan for it or not. That is the argument for working on this component all year rather than the week before an observation.
My district uses different rating labels. Does that change anything?
Possibly quite a lot. Districts may be working from the 2022 framework or from the earlier version, and those that adapt either one may change the terminology, the rubric wording, the scoring system, and the evidence you are expected to produce, so do not assume their labels map one-to-one onto Danielson's four levels. Many adaptations retain similar elements, but teachers should use the exact rubric adopted by their district or state. If you are unsure which instrument applies to you, ask your evaluator before your next observation cycle.
- Read the room before the lesson - A greeting at the door gives you a per-student temperature check and a whole-class read, and both should change what you do next.
- Expectations come before directions - Students should be able to say what they are learning in their own words by the end of the lesson, even if you withheld the goal at the start.
- Routines are communication - A procedure students have practiced replaces a paragraph of instructions with one word, and it holds when a guest teacher is in the room.
- Precise vocabulary is the work, not decoration - Marzano's six-step sequence and Wormeli's metaphors give students a way into content that a definition on a slide does not.
- Hand the talking back - Planning for more student talk is worth doing on its own merits, though ratings rest on every element of the component in whichever rubric your district uses, not on that one shift.
Teachers who want to go deeper on instructional practice often do it through a master's in education or curriculum and instruction, and many programs are built around a full-time teaching schedule. The sponsored programs on this page include online and hybrid formats, and some are designed for already-licensed teachers rather than for candidates starting over. Endorsement requirements vary by state and by endorsement area, so verify that the program meets endorsement requirements in your state.
As a 5th grade teacher, in 2010 Jon won the Presidential Award for Elementary Math and Science Teaching (PAEMST). As a principal, his school won the 2012 Blue Ribbon Award. In 2018, he won the National Distinguished Principal Award (NDP). In 2019 he won the National No Kid Hungry Breakfast Hero Award.
Jon is the author of three guides published on teacher.org: An Educator's Guide to Combat Bullying & Bully Prevention; Teacher Evaluation: A Transition Guide to Exemplary Performance; and You are the Wild Card: Infusing Fun Back into Curriculum. He has authored a children's picture book that was released January 2019 titled Benjamin’s Visit to Principal Reads Office…again! (available at www.archwaypublishing.com)
- Learning How to Say No and Set Boundaries with Parents - November 21, 2022
- How to Implement a Check-In, Check-Out (CICO) Behavior System - September 26, 2022
- Teacher Core Values: 7 Strategies for Living Your Code - August 15, 2022
