So we’ve got a passionate, knowledgeable professional. Does that automatically make them a good teacher? Not if they can’t communicate what they know.

Communication is more than just sending words out into the aether and expecting some response. It is a two way exchange. One person shares their thoughts and gets feedback from another. The words we use make up a very small portion of the communication channel we typically use. Non-verbals dominate any communication between humans.

Here is a brief list of sub-bands that we communicate through.

• Words – vocabulary, jargon, language patterns
• Tonality – pitch, tempo, timbre, tone, inflection, emphasis
• Body – posture, positioning, balance
• Hands – relationship to space, gestures to hallucinations, motion
• Eyes – accessing cues, focal depth
• Skin – muscle tone, color, temperature

Almost all of this communication takes place out of conscious awareness. Very rarely do people notice more than vocabulary or particularly bad tonality. Most of the other aspects often need to be very blatant for people become consciously aware.

Your assignment today is to choose one of the six examples and observe within that channel as many responses as possible.  Report back below.