Curriculum and

communication
Nishit Kumar
Curriculum
● what students are expected to learn, how they will be taught, and how their
learning will be assessed, roadmap for educators.
● Components of a Curriculum
● Content: knowledge, concepts, skills, and information that students are
expected to learn, organized by subject areas like mathematics, science,
language arts, history, etc.
● Objectives or Learning Outcomes: what students should know and be able to
do by the end of a course or program, categorized by cognitive (knowledge-
based), psychomotor (skill-based), and affective (values and attitudes)
domains.
● Pedagogical Strategies: methods, approaches or instructional techniques
such as lectures, discussions, group work, hands-on activities, and
technology integration.
● Assessment and Evaluation: methods used to measure students'
understanding of the content, formative assessments (ongoing assessments
during learning, like quizzes and homework) and summative assessments
(final evaluations, like exams or projects).
● Resources and Materials: textbooks, digital media, articles, visual aids, and
other learning tools that support the curriculum content.
● Time Frame: time that should be dedicated to each subject or topic on a daily,
weekly, or yearly basis, schedule for teachers and students.
Importance of Curriculum
● Guiding instruction: curriculum provides teachers a clear framework and
learning objectives to follow.
● Ensures Consistency and Standards: ensures that all students receive a
standardized education, set by governments bodies with consistent quality
across different schools and regions.
● Promotes Holistic Development: it focuses on not only academic but also
social, emotional and physical development, including problem-solving, critical
thinking, creativity, collaboration, and ethics.
● Addresses Social and Economic Needs: reflects the values and needs of
society, prepares students for work, higher education, and responsible
citizens by teaching them relevant skills and knowledge, addresses global
challenges like environmental sustainability, and justice.
Communication
● Exchanging information, ideas, emotions, or messages between individuals or
groups.
● It involves a sender transmitting a message through a medium or channel to a
receiver, who then interprets and responds to it. Medium can be auditory or
visual.
● Effective communication: understanding both the content of the message,
context in which it is conveyed and getting a response.
● Message sent by the sender should be clear and comprehensible.
● Message can be verbal (spoken or written words), non-verbal (body
language, gestures), visual (charts, images), or symbolic.
Communication
● Medium/Channel: The method through which the message is transmitted.
● It can be spoken, written (e.g., email, letters), non-verbal (e.g., gestures,
facial expressions), or digital (e.g., social media, phone calls).
● Choice of medium: depends on factors like the type of message, urgency, and
the nature of the relationship between sender and reciever.
● Reciever: the individual or group who receives the message and interprets or
decodes it.
● Receiver’s ability to understand the message: prior knowledge, language
skills, and attentiveness.
● Reciever’s response shows whether the message was conveyed as intended
or not.
● Response can be verbal(spoken, written) or non verbal(gesture, facial
expression) etc.
● Noise: factors which negatively affect communication process.
● Can be physical, environmental, instrumental, psychological (biases,
emotional, stereotypes), misunderstanding or non understanding of words,
symbols.
● Context: the situation including cultural, social, and emotional factors for
which the message was conveyed.
● Context can affect interpretation of a message.
● Purpose/objective: message typically has a goal like whether to inform,
● Persuade, request, entertain or build relationship. Understanding the goal can
help in crafting appropriate message.
● Types of communication:
● Verbal Communication: either spoken or written, includes conversations,
speeches, phone calls, Emails, reports, letters, etc.
● Non-verbal Communication: Body language, facial expressions, gestures, eye
contact, posture etc. Often complement or modify the meaning of verbal
messages.
● Visual Communication: images, diagrams, charts, videos, and other visual
aids, making it easier to understand or more engaging.
● Interpersonal Communication: One-on-one direct communication.
● Mass communication: addressing to a large number of people by broadcast,
radio, internet etc.
Communication skills for teachers
Importance of communication skills for teachers:
● Clarity in Instruction: Help in conveying complex concepts in a simle
way,using age-appropriate language, ensuring that students grasp the
material easily, reducing confusion or misunderstandings.
● Individualised Learning: a teacher with good communication skills can modify
its tone, language, speed and way of explanation for different students.
● Interactive Learning: Teachers who use methods like storytelling, humor, or
real-world examples can capture students’ attention, making the learning
process enjoyable and relevant.
● Encouraging Participation: A teacher’s communication style can encourage or
discourage student participation. By fostering an open and supportive
atmosphere, teachers motivate students to ask questions, share ideas, and
actively participate in discussions. Asking questions helps assess student
understanding and promotes critical thinking. It encourage shy or less
confident students to participate more in classroom activities.
● Building relationship: Communication helps teachers build positive
relationships with their students. Students who feel understood, respected,
safe and gets supportive environment are more likely to engage and perform
well.
● Empathy and Understanding: it encourages students to trust their teachers,
seek help when needed, and take risks in their learning.
● Setting Expectations: Clearly communicate classroom rules, procedures, and
expectations. When students understand what is expected of them, they are
more likely to follow guidelines.
● Conflict Resolution: addressing and resolving conflicts in the classroom
between teacher student and between students.
● Guiding Improvement: Feedback by teacher in the form of constructive
criticism delivered in a clear and supportive manner can motivate students to
work on their weaknesses while acknowledging their strengths.
● Ongoing Assessment: Through open communication, teachers can
continuously assess student progress, offering guidance whenever needed by
students.
● Teamwork: Good communication Teachers often collaborate with other
educators, administrators, and support staff.
● Parent-Teacher Communication: Clear, regular and respectful communication
with parents for addressing students academic progress and behaviour, builds
partnerships with parents, ensuring they are involved in their child’s learning
process.
● Cultural Sensitivity: In multicultural classrooms, teachers must be sensitive to
cultural differences and communicate in ways that respect diverty to promote
inclusivity and helps all students feel valued and understood.
● Addressing Special Needs: Communication is crucial when working with
students who have special educational needs or disabilities.
● Positive mindset: Communication skills to motivate children to do hardwork,
helping them understand that mistakes are part of learning, fostering
resilience and perseverance.
 Good communication ensures constructive feedback for teachers by students
like how they can improve their teaching methods.
● Knowledge sharing: effective communication skills helps in better delivery of
knowledge, information and discussion. Students are actively involved in
learning and finds it more enjoyable.
● Decision making: through effective communication, teachers can help
students to take better decisions in life, quit their bad habits and workhard to
their full potential.
● Body Language and Gestures: Non-verbal cues, such as facial expressions,
eye contact, and hand gestures, enhance understanding and convey
enthusiasm or seriousness. A science teacher demonstrating an experiment
will use gestures to highlight key steps.
● Communication involves both speaking and listening. Good listening skills
enables a teacher to assess where a student is lagging by listening to his/her
responses carefully.
● Written communication is considered more effective and permanent than
spoken. Teachers should write every instructions, assignments, projects,
questions, answers on blackboard rather than simply dictating them.
● Comments given to a student should be specific, constructive, and supportive
rather than discouraging.
● Digital Tools: Educational apps, online forums, or interactive whiteboards can
be used for more interactive teaching, getting instant responses and
feedback.
Improving Communication Skills for Teachers
● Workshops, courses, or seminars that focus on communication skills.
● Improving command on a language or script.
● Observing peers or receiving feedback from colleagues.
● Regular self-reflection on what communication techniques work.
● Analyzing student feedback.
● Improving gestures, facial expressions, non verbal expressions.
● Being polite, humble and listening to students also.
● Respecting receiver’s socioeconomic background, culture, religion, customs,
traditions.
● No use of derogatory words.
Effective communication
● Active listening: concentrating on the speaker, understanding their message
responding thoughtfully, asking/clarifying doubts, and avoiding interruptions.
● For teachers: Eye contact, facial expression, body movements or gestures,
paraphrase or summarize after every topic, ask questions.
● Clear and Concise: without unnecessary detail or jargon. avoids overloading
with too much information at once, Use simple language, Organize thoughts
logically before speaking or writing.
● Non-Verbal Communication: body language, facial expressions, eye contact,
gestures, posture, and tone of voice can support verbal communication.
● Empathy and Emotional Awareness: Understanding and considering the
emotions, perspectives, and needs of the person you're communicating with.
● Imagine yourself in the listener’s condition to understand their feelings or
concerns. Use statements like "I understand how you feel.”
● Adaptability in Communication: adjust your communication style based on the
audience, context, situation, background and needs of your audience, flexible
to adjust your style mid-conversation if needed, Pay attention to feedback.
● Constructive Feedback: welcoming suggestions for improvement given in a
supportive and respectful manner, warmly, without becoming offensive.
Feedback should focus on behaviors rather than personal attributes. Use the
"feedback sandwich" method: start with a positive, provide the constructive
point, and end with another positive. Be open to receiving feedback.
● Supporting communication with visual elements like charts, diagrams,
presentations, or illustrations.
● Confidence and Assertiveness: Speaking in a confident manner and
expressing your thoughts, feelings, and clearly and respectfully. It builds
credibility and trust.
● Maintain eye contact, use a steady tone, avoiding filler words like “um” or
“like.” Stand or sit up straight, Speak with conviction and clarity.
● Avoid mistakes: prepare before writing or speaking, make a draft or script,
avoid mistakes, errors, Use bullet points, headings, and short paragraphs, do
proofreading.
● Time Management: be mindful of the time, Get to the point quickly, Schedule
time for more in-depth discussions, avoid unnecessary interruptions by other
students, don't get involved in unnecessary discussions.
● Storytelling: sharing information in the form of a narrative or personal
anecdote to make the message more relatable, reliable and interesting.
Barriers to communication
● Physical Barriers: physical environment, such as distance, noise, or technical
issues.
● Psychological Barriers: arise from the emotional and mental state of the
sender/reciever, such as stress, anxiety, or lack of attention.
● Preconceptions and Assumptions: If someone assumes they know what the
other person is going to say, they may not listen fully, leading to
misunderstanding.
● Factors ike anger, frustration, or sadness can affect communication.
● Language Barrier: sender and receiver speak different languages.
● Jargon or Technical Terms: can confuse listeners who are unfamiliar with
them.
● Accent and Dialect: Differences in accents or dialects can make
communication difficult.
● Misinterpretation of Words: Certain words may have different meanings in
different languages, leading to confusion.
● Cultural differences in values, beliefs, and norms can create barriers in
communication. What is considered polite in one culture may be considered
disrespectful in another.
● Gestures, body language, or facial expressions can be interpreted.
● Attitudinal Barriers: person’s attitude, behavior, or mindset, which can
negatively affect communication. Closed-Mindedness: When someone is
unwilling to listen to new ideas or perspectives. Lack of Interest: If the receiver
is disinterested in the topic, difference of hierarchy or position.
● Perceptual Barrier: sender and receiver interpret information differently.
● Stereotyping: Preconceived notions about people based on gender, race, or
age.
● People may focus only on information that aligns with their beliefs, ignoring or
distorting the rest.
● Fear of Rejection: A person may hesitate to communicate openly if they fear
their ideas will be rejected or criticized.
● Mistrust: If there is a lack of trust between the communicator and the receiver,
then receiver will not take message seriously.
● Lack of Transparency: When there is lack of transparency in an organisation,
people may not get information when needed.
● Physiological Barriers: physical or biological limitations of the communicator
or receiver, such as hearing loss, speech disorders, or visual impairment.
● Technical problems in communication like defective device, system, poor
internet etc.
Thank you