As a teacher, when you walk into your classroom, you are expected to talk, talk, and probably talk some more. This can lead to vocal problems which over time can cause further damage and lead to reduced interaction and engagement with your students in an effort to ‘save your voice’. Beyond using your “outside voice” in the classroom, what can you do to manage your vocal health so sore throats and sick days are minimized?
To support vocal health and prevent decreased conversation and interaction with students, try these 5 tips that can help ‘save your voice’.
1. Drink that water!
Keep a bottle of water nearby and take regular sips throughout the day. Also, limiting your caffeine intake (yes, that means YOUR coffee) will help, as caffeine dehydrates, which is the opposite of what your throat needs. Sipping is also a better alternative to clearing your throat.
2. Plan breaks for the voice.
When planning your lessons, think about which activities will require more vocal effort and which will not. Try to space these activities out throughout the day to rest your voice. Or use tools that require less vocal effort during class interactions. For example, when using a class front interactive visualization, engage with students using a screen sharing app to encourage active participation through annotations and polls on the go.
3. Avoid extremes.
When we shout or *whisper*, this can stress our vocal cords. Believe it or not, a whisper contains more breath, and this extra breath adds pressure to our vocal cords. There are tools that can help save your voice in the classroom, like a teacher microphone.
4. Grab the mic!
Using a teacher microphone will amplify your voice, helping you do more with your students without strain or pain. For example, him Action! FrontRow by Boxlight’s microphone is optimized so that every soft consonant sound and resonant vowel can be heard clearly from anywhere in the room.
5. Use nonverbal cues.
Get in the habit of using nonverbal cues and cues to get your students’ attention and/or give instructions. Some of these may include clapping rhythms, hand signals, using a bell, playing music, etc. For classrooms that have interactive displays, a timer app can signal transitions between activities. teachers who use MimioConnect You can also use the Focus feature that turns off student screens until the class is ready for the next activity.
As with anything new, it takes effort and practice to turn these helpful tips into daily habits. Print and post these tips and refer to them often as you plan and teach. For more information on saving your voice with state-of-the-art technology for the classroom, click here.
Explore classroom and campus audio solutions here: FrontRow Audio Communications.
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