When your audience changes, do you shift in accord?
We asked this question in Council on Tuesday after reviewing videos from Interns working with primary students at Delacorte then reporting their results to the entrepreneur reps on their councils. We are asking this question to raise awareness of need to look at ourselves fom third person perspective -particularly when we shift audiences and the impact of our presentation matters!
Head of Teacher Apprenticeships, Professor Byron Fogarty, reports comprehensive research that indicates elementary teachers (who excell in communicating with and motivating young students) are devalued and discounted when they publicly address parents, businessmen, and politicians. WHY?
While research cannot "prove" anything, the results indicate that teachers who are exceptional at drawing out top performance from young learners may actually "turn-off" adults who have not learned to appreciate rapport-building skills of primary and elementary -even some middle school teachers!
The stylistic features mastered from rapport-building and instructing from a zone that facilitates success in young learners (facial expression, body posture, voice tone, wide-eyed explanations, encouraging gestures, tempo, and tendency to model childlike qualities of wonder and enthusiasm) seems out-of-sync with adult audiences from "other" fields.
We have heard the saying,"Don't mistake my kindness for weakness." In light of master teachers at elementary levels, we might begin to include synonyms for kindness - gentleness, youthfulness, wide-eyed enthusiasm, soft and encouraging voice, tone of wonderment ...etc.
Let's hear more from our audience of professional teachers, apprentices, interns (all school levels, please), principal teachers, council representatives, global parents, students...
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