The IB Learner Profile (4) – Communicators

Communicators.

The first thing that springs to mind (for me anyway) is talking – and as teachers, we all the know importance of talking! We need to ensure that our instructions to students are clear, concise and to the point in a very complicated system.

But after thinking about communication more deeply, it is also important (arguably more so) in the way we communicate the written word. How clear our writing is on the board? How concise it is? How precise it is? And what about those worksheets? Are they well written, are all the formula and names correct.

Communication in Chemistry is more than just a case of writing the correct name or formulae. A forgotten ‘-‘ sign in an enthalpy change can have enormous consequences on an answer.

Finally, as teachers, our communication needs to be good when we are marking and feeding back to students about their work. If we really want them to achieve and to better themselves, this is also a valuable communication skills that we need to be good at.

And if we are not good communicators, how can we expect our students to be good communicators themselves?

Good luck – the challenge seems quite daunting!!