Skilled communication in action

  • 10 minutes

Being able to communicate clearly and persuasively is a crucial skill for our young people. Strong communicators will have more success in the workforce. Educators must therefore thoughtfully design learning activities that promote communication skills. 

Use the rubric or decision tree to design learning activities that incorporate skilled communication. Focus on planning for the next month or term and set a goal to incorporate opportunities for learners to develop their communication skills. Methods of communication differ, and learners need to develop a range of skills to communicate effectively. Think about learners and their experiences to date. Their current experiences will impact the learning activities we design. It's important to be clear about: 

  • How we want our learners to communicate their ideas
  • How different audiences shape this communication 

To begin, select a learning activity that learners will engage with soon. Use the skilled communication decision tree to guide the design of the activity. We need to ask ourselves questions about the opportunities we design:  

  • Are learners asked to produce extended or multi-modal communication? 
  • Is their communication substantiated with a logical explanation, examples, or evidence that support a central thesis? 
  • Do learners craft their communication for a particular audience? 

Answering these questions will inform the design process and help define the type of skills necessary for the activity.  

Not all skilled communication learning activities will have each of the levels, but strive to include learning activities of all levels over the school term. If the upcoming activity doesn't warrant skilled communication at a deep level, consider upcoming activities in the term that might be suitable. What learning activity later in the term might provide an opportunity for learners to: 

  • Practice extended or multi-modal communication? 
  • Support their communication with sufficient evidence? 
  • Design their communication for a particular audience? 

Take notice of those activities now so future planning incorporates the communication skills necessary to build on the dimension. If other colleagues have participated in this 21CLD module and understand the skilled communication dimension, ask them for advice or feedback on the learning activity. Based on the feedback, adjust the activity and put it into action. Once learners have completed the activity, reflect on the following:  

  • What happened? 
  • How did learners practice their communication skills? 
  • Were there particular skills that learners demonstrated? 
  • Did they need extra input that wasn't anticipated? 
  • What worked? 
  • What didn't work?  

Based on observations and reflections about the learning activity and learners' actions, consider: 

  • Does the learning activity need improvement?  
  • Is there a way to further develop learners' communication skills? 

For inspiration: 

  • Learn how Aaron Bates, an educator in Australia, incorporates skilled communication in a learning activity.
  • Review Kate Murray's learning activity Using Chekhov Story Author App to explore and develop language in a primary classroom on the Skilled communication in action page in the Skilled communication section of the OneNote (link on the OneNote page). Note the skilled communication skills practiced throughout the activity.