Talk Ain’t Cheap: Why Effective Rhetoric and Communication is Vital for English Teaching Majors

Introduction

            In second grade, I had a particularly horrible teacher.  I cannot remember his name, but I do remember his complete and utter incompetence at explaining even the simplest concept to our class in a way we would understand.  One day, after a particularly ineffective lesson on verbs in which I was

Don't let a second grader take over your class.
Communicate!

being an extreme smart aleck, he snidely asked if I would like to teach the class.  Fully valuing the fact that he had finally recognized and accepted his own teaching ineptitude, I readily agreed, got up from my seat, strolled to the front of the class, and began to teach my second grade pupils on the value of verbs.  Needless to say, the subsequent events did not go well for me, and I was shoved back into my seat.  I realized much later that his unsuccessful teaching method came from the fact that he could not communicate with and engage his students.  I also realized much later what a rhetorical question was.

My experience illustrates an intriguing dilemma about teaching, especially English teaching: in a field all about communication, participation, and learning, why are so many teachers so ineffective at communicating to their students in a way that engages and endears them to their teacher?  We have all had terrible teachers.  Why, when they have chosen the profession of education and have all the necessary qualifications, are some so bad at what they do?  There might be several answers to this quandary.  For one, communication is not the only way to be successful in the classroom, so it can sometimes be forgotten as truly important.  Other ways to be a successful teacher are to grade quickly, enforce classroom rules, understand material completely, get along with staff, devote time to self-improvement, and love what you do.  These do not involve communication that much.  However, by far, the most important method for success is communication.  It governs nearly everything you will do as a teacher.  Your work is literally communicating and persuading students about literature, writing, and grammar, which are, in themselves, subparts of communication and persuasion.  Thus, communication is absolutely imperative to effective English teaching.  Without

These students are engaged in their English
           teacher's lesson because he can communicate
effectively to them.

effective communication, no teacher can be truly excellent.  The teachers might know the subject matter by heart.  They may have carefully constructed lesson plans.  But if teachers cannot engage students in learning the material, every carefully learned and crafted lesson goes to naught.  A bad teacher is usually a teacher who cannot communicate successfully.  Although teaching is more than just successful communication, as prospective English teaching majors, it is completely and utterly essential that you learn how to communicate and persuade well in your classes.  Learn these skills of communication now, and you will not be frustrated with your students later on.  In order to be the most effective teacher you can, you need to be able to effectively communicate on a general classroom level with the skills of clarity, arrangement, and entertainment, and on an individual basis with persuasiveness. 

Clarity in the Classroom

The most important communication will be in your classroom.  You talk the most in the classroom, and you affect the most people in the classroom.  The most important aspect of any teaching method is simply clarity.  The sign of any true comprehension of material is if you can teach it simply, carefully, and fully without any confusion, so teaching with clarity demonstrates how well you know certain material.  Simplicity is especially important when talking to a large group because the message must be comprehensible to everyone in the room, from the student with a knack for English to someone who cannot seem to grasp English concepts of grammar, literature, or writing.  This idea of clarity as the best means of teaching exists throughout history.  For example, in his De Doctrina Christiana, Saint Augustine instructed readers that the best way to teach a sermon to a large

Saint Augustine allows us to see the
               historical context and importance

of talking clearly without condescension 

group is to use simple language, but to not be tedious or over-repetitive (81).  The same principle applies not only to sermons, but also to English teaching.  You can easily slip into unwanted condescension about which St. Augustine so carefully warns us if you talk clearly but repetitively and below the level of your students.  Thus when teaching a lesson, you should always keep in mind your students as your audience and change how you teach a concept respectively.  For example, how you would explain a concept to an AP English classroom would be perhaps a more deep and complex explanation than how you explain a concept to a regular English class.  Although you will probably learn how to address different class scenarios when you do your teaching classes and student teaching, the course outcomes usually lack any mention of effective communication.  Thus, it is up to you to recognize the need for clarity when teaching.  When you use clarity and firm simplicity, your students will appreciate your teaching style and will respect you more for teaching effectively.  You will build up your character (known as ethos in rhetoric (Burton)) and admiration from students because you are concise and clear without any arrogance.

Arrangement in the Classroom

To communicate and persuade your students to learn, you need more than simply clarity.  How you arrange your lesson is also vital to effective communication.  Arrangement, in ancient Greece and Rome, was chiefly concerned with the exact order used in a usually persuasive oration (Burton), but today, arrangement is extremely important to all large-scale speaking and writing.  The importance of arrangement extends from the fact that the best way to competently teach is to form arguments and ideas that follow a logical and clarifying organization.  Many English teachers, especially those who only lecture, do not practice effective arrangement.  Even with carefully planned lessons, some teachers get easily sidetracked or jump quickly from one idea to another without any transitions or real arrangement.  I had one teacher my senior year of high school whom I regard as one of my worst teachers.  She knew her material and was highly intelligent, but she was so scatter-brained that I learned nothing from her.  Even if concepts are explained clearly, if your transitions between thoughts and ideas are as sudden, scatter-brained, and confusing like my teacher’s, all the clarity in the world will not really help successful communication in the classroom.  One of the best ways to help your arrangement is to use

We as teachers can use PowerPoints to assist
           our arrangement of our lessons.

technology such as PowerPoint and Prezi.  These presentations can add an entertainment value to your lessons, while also keeping you focused.  In order to avoid boredom, PowerPoint should be a guiding mechanism for an already basically memorized presentation, not just read out loud slide by slide.  By already knowing your own material well and by keeping to a logical and clear arrangement that moves from one idea to another, you will better help your students learn.

Entertainment in the Classroom

Today's students want instant entertainment
from their classroom experience.  We can
use entertainment to further the class
engagement levels and help classrooms learn!

Teaching high school students extends far beyond simply relaying information to your students.  In today’s world of easy and quick gratification and social media, everyone, especially teenagers, requires instant entertainment.  A huge conflict (called a stasis in rhetoric (Burton)) with teaching today is engaging students in a lesson while still maintaining a stimulating curriculum.  The best way to have the best of both worlds is to simply combine rigor with entertainment.  Thus, while your classes can still be challenging—and they should be challenging—your lessons should also have an element of entertainment.  For example, in Roman antiquity, Quintillian in his progymnasmata, writing exercises that taught grammar and how to speak and write effectively, made sure that his drills were entertaining as well as informative (Burton).  Today, our entertainment value can come from technology such as social media or videos.  However, because new technology is usually just a fad that passes rapidly, quick wit and humor inserted into your lesson is often the best way to engage students.  While you always want to remain authoritative, a pleasing and humorous speaking style (called middle style in rhetoric) will never go amiss in a classroom where students often demand entertainment.  English classes can include a ton of entertainment through wit in lessons.  For example, students might be required to diagram sentences to learn grammar, but diagraming “Josie engulfed the giant pickle into her pudgy pie hole” is much more entertaining than diagraming “Josie ate the large pickle.”  Entertained students will be usually be far more engaged in a lesson than those who are not entertained.  Teachers must always meld entertainment and engagement with the curriculum to truly help students learn.

Persuasion in One-on-One Situations

Parent and Student Meetings with you do not need
to be heated or angry experiences.  Through
persuasion to your side of a situation, parents
and students will be appeased and respect
you as an authoritative figure.

Although most of your time will be spent in the classroom, and thus most of your university learning will be geared to teaching whole classes, we often forget that we must also communicate with others on an individual basis, either with parents, students, or faculty members.  Without knowledge of persuasion as well as communication techniques, you will not be able to successfully solve issues with individuals.  Your audience has changed from a large group of people to a few or one.  How you approach individuals versus an entire classroom must also change.  Clarity and arrangement are no longer essential for your argument, but rather frank but appeasing talk is vital to convince individuals about your point.  This switch in communication is due to the fact that the context of your situation has changed, and your language must also.  For example, much of the time, the people, especially parents and students, you will be dealing with on an individual basis will be angry or frustrated at grades, behavior in the class, or other problems that classrooms typically encounter throughout the year.  Large classrooms usually do not present heated situations.  Thus, the language you use in a large classroom will be much different than the language you use to address angry individuals.  This change in language often involves an increase in persuasion for individuals.  Persuasion rather than just simple communication is much more important on an individual basis than with classrooms.  In the classrooms, your job is to teach and instruct while engaging the student’s attention and learning.  Individually, while you might be still instructing if a student has a question about an essay or assignment, you will most likely be convincing someone of your side of a situation in order to explain a bad grade or horrendous behavior.  You will be using rhetoric, the art of persuasion (Burton).  Successful individual persuasion will allow parents to accept a bad grade as reality without making you the “bad-guy.”  However, without successful persuasion on an individual basis, students and parents will likely still be angry, and you will not garner from them the respect as a successful teacher you deserve.  I have seen teachers both convince and fail to convince me that I deserved an unwanted grade.  I respected the persuasive one and continued to be frustrated with the unconvincing teacher.  Although, not commonly part of an English Teaching major’s university courses, in order to be a respected and successful teacher, it is imperative that you learn how to persuade individuals to accept your side of a situation. 

Conclusion

With successful communication and persuasion,
you can become the best English teacher you
could ever be!

Communication and persuasion are essential to the English teacher.  Although we teach communication, we are occasionally surprisingly ineffective at communicating effectively to our class and individuals.  However, in order to teach well, as we all want to do, we must be able to master the art of communication and persuasion through clarity, arrangement, entertainment, and persuasiveness.  With effective communication and persuasion, students will listen and learn from you, and a second-grader won’t try to take over your lesson. 

                                                   Works Cited

Augustine, Saint.  De Doctrina Christiana. Grand Rapids: Christian Classics Ethereal Library, n.d. Online Christian Library. Web. 13 Dec. 2014

Burton, Gideon.  Silva Rhetorica. Brigham Young University, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2014.

Writing Plan for a Writing Clan (a.k.a English Teaching Majors)

Audience Profile

With my essay, English Teaching majors will be able to
understand why rhetoric and communication is vital in
the classroom!

            A typical English Teaching major will take many literature, English language, grammar, and teaching courses to prepare them to teach in a secondary education setting (high school).  Almost all curriculum will address communication in some way.  Communication will be found through literature and the importance of literature on communication, how to communicate correctly with grammar, and how to teach effectively to adolescents.  The teaching classes are by far the most suited toward rhetoric because teachers must develop ethos, pathos, and logos in order to help their students learn.  Furthermore, classes like History of the English language will provide a context or overview for the profession.  Following these courses, there is a professional element, which includes student teaching or an internship as well as classes on special teaching topics like teaching in a multicultural setting or teaching those with disabilities.  The student teaching portion of the major is the best time to get a hands-on experience on how to communicate well to perform effectively as a high school English teacher.  In preparation for getting a job, BYU’s university career services can help English teaching majors apply for jobs, write an effective resume, and interview well.

Context

            The most meaningful context I can provide for someone who might be considering an English Teaching Major is to expound upon the noble virtue of teaching.  Although teachers are neither the most paid nor most revered professionals in the world, there is something highly gratifying and noble about teaching.  Students can be inspired to go on to be successful simply through a great teacher.  Sticking to the focus that teaching is a noble and wonderful profession will be the best way to persuade readers to focus on my essay.  To persuade readers to pay attention to issues of communication in the English teaching major, I will remind them of bad teachers that they have had.  Most bad teachers lack basic knowledge of how to communicate and persuade effectively.  They do not understand the fundamental issue between learning and engaging the student.  They do not know how to add personal touches to curriculum.  They often do not know how to dress to fit the part of a personable professional.  Everyone wants to be successful, so I will convince them that the best way to be a successful English teacher will be to communicate effectively.

Rhetoric

            I will need to present in my paper the general ideas of ethos, pathos, and logos in my paper and how each applies to effective communication in English teaching.  General methods of high, middle, and low style should be addressed so that the teachers can know what style to address their students at a given time.  They should know both when to listen to the students and when to be the speaker.  Specifically, persuasive strategies in regard to effective e-communication (email, blog, social media and other effective technologies) should also be addressed.  How to teach personally with an impersonal curriculum is another specific topic that is needed for effective persuasion and communication.  I can address the 3 different persuasive appeals and the 3 different levels of styles without necessarily naming them in rhetorical jargon.  Rather I can use synonyms like “logical argument” for logos and “an entertaining style” for middle style.

History

            To give useful perspective, I can focus on how language and grammar teaching has influenced history.  I can focus on the Sophists’ speech writing instructions and handbooks and Quintillian’s progymnasmata.  This historical focus will allow readers to see the scope of how important and ancient the art of teaching language is. 

Developmental Plan

            I will divide my paper into three distinct sections—persuasion and communication in the classroom, persuasion and communication on an individual basis, and persuasion and communication with the staff and faculty.  In order to be a successful professional and teacher, English teaching majors must be proficient in communication to these three different groups.  For each of these groups, I will explain the different styles and ways of communicating that will be most effective per group (for example, clarity and repetition in a lecture might be extremely helpful in the classroom, but it might be better to have a dialogue with little repetition for individual communication).  I will attempt to add a little historical context if it applies.  I will need to add some new information that is not taken from my blog posts in regard especially to faculty interaction.  I will need to know how faculty communicates effectively.

            The section on in the classroom and to the individual will be the most important sections.  The people you will influence the most as a teacher will be the students, not the faculty.  Telling the stories about Ms. Evans and Mr. Rice will be the most effective in explaining how to communicate well to students and to faculty.

Engaging in English Education: The Similarities and Differences between Modern and Ancient English Education Systems

English education (or language education; not everyone speaks English) has been a crucial part of learning ever since the ancient Sumerian schools 4000 years ago (Lemke 53).  This vital field teaches reading, writing, grammar, and argument.  Greeks and Romans placed high value on English education, especially on rhetoric and literature.  In both English education’s structure and curriculum, many parallels exist between ancient Greece and Rome and the modern U.S.

Structure

Modern English studies focus on essay writing more
than speech-writing.

            The structure of Ancient Rome and Greece is surprisingly similar to ours.  According to Jay Lemke, a professor at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, like today, students of all sorts, English and grammar included, would gather together in a group with one or a few teachers and learn with a more or less structured curriculum.  The students would mostly listen, and the teacher would mostly do the talking (53).  To Lemke, the only really significant changes in education over 4000 years is that we now separate students by age and give them new teachers every year or sooner (54).  While separating students and having new teachers have their modern benefits—they keep peers within the generally same learning capacity and let new teacher teach new ideas—the ancient Roman and Greek system of realistic mixed ages and teachers as supportive, long-term mentors also have their plusses. 

Ancient Roman Children at School

Another difference between the ancient and modern is that there was no public or state controlled education (Too 263).  If one wanted to learn, one would have to pay a tutor.  Paying for education made academics something available only to the elite.  Since one usually had to know classic literature before starting an education in rhetoric or grammar, the rich, who had the time and means to read the classics, held another definite advantage (Too 279).  Today, primary and secondary education is virtually free through public, state mandated schools. While the rich still have the advantage of early support and private schooling, education is easily available to all.

Curriculum

            Today, almost every high school English class has a set curriculum.  In ancient times as well, English teaching had a strict curriculum set forth in a handbook of writing exercises called progymnasmata.  The Greek, Theon, authored the earliest known progymnasmata while Quintilian from Rome authored the most famous set of handbooks.  According to Yun Lee Too, a former professor at Colombia University, progymnasmata, were seen as “overly pendantic and sterile for composition” (313) but set the stage for curriculum used today because they showed an incredible amount of order for something so ancient (296).  Furthermore, the ancient curriculum was much more focused on imitation, speech-writing, and oral listening than our English education is today (308).  Today, English curriculum is looser and more engaging than the strict progymnasmata and has changed to accommodate students the face of exploding technological advances (Marlow-Ferguson 1504).  We might use PowerPoint, blogging, and social media to create English education in a modern world, but still hold to the tradition of English education set forth by the ancients. 

Work Cited

Lemke, Jay. “Focus on Policy: Re-Engineering Education in America.” Language Arts 85.1 (2007): 52-60. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.

Nuwer, Hank. "United States." World Education Encyclopedia. Ed. Rebecca Marlow-Ferguson. 2nd ed. Vol. 3. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 1491-1519. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 4 Dec. 2014.

Too, Yun Lee. Education in Greek and Roman Antiquity. Leiden: Brill, 2001. 261-316. Web. 3 Dec. 2014.

These Boots were Made for Thanking

My One True Love

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