Charles M. Galloway

Nonverbal communication and the study of teaching

ever, nonverbal researchers have not provided educators with a uniformly accepted definition of the role of nonverbal communication in teaching or even with clear directions and priorities for future investigations (Galloway, 1984; Smith, 1984; Woolfolk & Brooks, 1983). This has raised questions about the value of nonverbal research for the study of teaching. We believe knowledge from research on nonverbal communication can serve to extend and ex-

Nonverbal Teacher Behaviors: A Critique

For more than two decades, teacher behavior research focused on the significance of verbal communication patterns. Potential studies of the teachers nonverbal influence were considered unnecessary and irrelevant. Research studies of the past few years have changed this view, and we are beginning to recognize the importance of nonverbal behaviors between teacher and student. Nonverbal influences do seem to have an effect on the

Nonverbal: Authentic or Artificial.

The Ohio State University Editor, Theory Into Practice W W e are sitting in a typical classroom, watching the teacher talk and instruct students. Multiple stimuli bombard the eye and ear. Some students listen to teacher instruction and explanation; some look at their books: others seem bored and disinterested. One student appears enthusiastic and happy; another looks puzzled and uncertain. The teacher continues to talk in the midst of these varying responses. A student leans over to a neighbor to say something, but quickly resumes faithful attention at the sight of teacher disapproval. Another student is reminded with the flick of a hand to get out the text. The signals and signs between teacher and students increase until the entire class seems attentive. This orchestration requires several minutes as individual students respond in turn to the conductor at the front of the class. What was multiple signaling a short time before now becomes a coordinated theme of direction and control.

Exchange and Mutuality: Growth Conditions for Teacher Development.

Efforts to improve teaching are often initiated without teacher involvement and understanding. Teachers are too frequently viewed as nothing more than technicians who implement the objectives of schoolwide curriculum guides and textbooks written by experts. All the while teachers cope with their own pedagogical questions, while attempting to be on top of the latest demand, pressure and cry from constituents. In the face of conflicting expectations, teachers create a balance between what others de-

Interpersonal Relations and Education.

John Dewey wrote over two dozen books on the relationship of the individual to the group and the group to the individual. In spite of the brilliance of his philosophical explanations, he never solved the problem. His words provide little solace for our current plight; for school systems are divided within themselves. Boards of education banter with administrators and oppose the practice of the school system; teachers have been tutored by their professional associations to distrust principals; parents blame teachers and disassociate themselves from the school; students learn to disrespect teachers; superintendents can be fired at a moments notice; and teachers can strike against the school system at the drop of a hat. These are negative occurrences, but they reflect a common characteristic. All of this has rarely been a personal attack on a single individual. Its group against group. In professional sports a coach may be fired for the good of the team and for the sake of winning. A college president resigns for the betterment of the institution. Whether its team play or institutional achievement, the organization comes first, the individual second. One might hypothesize that when person to person contacts within organizations are rich and fully developed, groups could never get away with such impersonal dealings. In todays world we have a profound challenge: the relationship of the person to person. How do we let another person

Individualized learning in a school for tomorrow

More words have probably been expressed on the need to educate the individual, to humanize the person, and to focus on individual growth than perhaps any other concern in education. More innovative ideas on individualized instruction were introduced in the fifties and sixties than in all of the years past; yet, the question of personalized instruction and individualized learning remains unanswered. It was thought that the difficulty was easy to identify: organizational arrangements had merely not been flexible enough. The tricks were to change the self-contained classroom to departmentalized programs, to non-grade the school, to team teach, to program instruction, and to adopt modular scheduling. Changing the structure of schooling was considered the key, and it was thought that individual learning could be assured. The lesson is all too clear: organizational changes do not ensure individual approaches to learning. What was considered to be one of the poorest arrangements for learning-the one room school house-is now nostalgically remembered for its emphasis on individual learning. In any effort to educate the young, the willingness or ability of the teacher to relate individually to the student is the vital essential. Such contacts and displays of interest toward the student exact toil and demand commitment. For

Love is what it is

What is love? The Writings say that everybody knows that love exists, but find it difficult to define what love is. If you think about it, there are so many different kinds of love. Theres romantic love. You see that on television, read about it in books today, and see it in the movies. Theres love for children, parental love. Theres love of self, love of goods, and love of possessions. Theres a love to God, a love to the neighbor, a love of life. There are so many different kinds of love. The Writings say that if you want to take one all-encompassing definition of love it would be this: that love is the life of man. Love is life and life is from God, so it follows that God is love itself.