Everyone leaving school needs communicating skills that build success in life. Here are 21 of the most practical and versatile our learners can have.
Communicating skills that truly matter help us develop significant relationships, find meaningful answers, and solve important problems. The way we represent ourselves through the ways we communicate also can mean the difference between success and failure when it comes to our goals. We can do our learners a great service by ensuring we focus on the importance of having good communicating skills.
The infographic below from The Daring Librarian is based on educator and author Lisa Ann Johnson's book Cultivating Communication in the Classroom. It offers practical advice on designing classroom instruction for helping learners master their communicating skills. Johnson's book also reinforces the need for us as teachers to ensure that we are helping our students develop communicating skills for success, as a transparent part of regular instruction:
"Knowing how to share ideas is as crucial as the ideas themselves. Unfortunately, many students don’t get explicit opportunities to hone this skill."
According to leadership expert Shirley Taylor, communicating skills are indispensable in the workforce of both the present and the future. Employers want the kinds of people that can think independently, make tough decisions, solve on-the-spot challenges, and take the lead in any situation. Developing useful communicating skills can help to imbue any learner with these crucial capabilities.
The benefits of such skills for our learners can include:
- Stronger decision-making and problem-solving
- Increased productivity
- Convincing and compelling writing and speaking
- Clearer, more streamlined workflow
- Enhanced professional image
- Sound business relationships
- More successful teamwork initiatives
- Higher levels of self-confidence
The 21 communicating skills featured below are must-haves for any student. What can you do to make sure that your students are experiencing opportunities to develop them in their own learning?
