"Teaching Your Students How to Have a Conversation"
I found this Edutopia article written by Dr. Mendler to be applicable to the Patient Management dental hygiene course that I teach. In this course we focus on effective interpersonal communication techniques. In his blog, Dr. Mendler notes that some students don't know how to carry on a conversation and through my observation of students or from reviewing their appointment taping with clients, I have found that statement to be true as well.
Dr. Mendler gives 8 tips for speaking and listening that I wish to share with my class. The ones that I especially liked are to ask open ended questions, make eye contact, and encourage turn taking. Asking open ended questions will get the patient talking and then the student hygienist will be able to gain a clear understanding of the patient's concerns that they have. Some students talk to their patients while they are filling out paperwork or doing some other task, which does not give the patient the impression that the student truly cares or is listening to what they say. In addition, some students get so excited to share information with the patient that they forget to let the patient interject questions when they have them.
Another tip that Dr. Mendler shares, that I plan to personally demonstrate with my class is the first tip, Model a Good Conversation. It is my job to model behavior that I want my students to demonstrate and effective communication is key. We do role playing in this class so this is a good time for me to demonstrate effective patient communication for my students.
References: Mendler, A. (2013, November 5). Teaching your students how to have a conversation. Retrieved from: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/teaching-your-students-conversation-allen-mendler
Samantha, I can use those tip during my staff meeting because I have technician you does not like to speak in public and I also like the listening tip.
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ReplyDeleteI find that many of my students have the same issues- it's amazing how that can go from middle school to post-secondary education and never get addressed. Too often, I think, our students are task-focused (which I suppose I shouldn't complain about) and not focused enough on the relationships on the people they are interacting with. I think both are equally important in most, if not, all professions.
Wow, Sam you hit this article right on the head! I have found this problem more and more within my classrooms and I believe it is becoming an even larger issue with incoming freshmen. I believe you brought up some very good points in trying to develop these public speaking habits within our students. Thanks for the great article.
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