The idea of ‘talk types’ is loosely related to Cooperative learning group roles, though the functions described in ‘talk types’ are less based on leadership skills, and more based on communication skills: both of which are vital in any workforce. There are six talk types that your students can use as a supplement to their

During your course, it’s always good to get to know your students. In a class of 24 students, you can do this activity to start your first 50-minute session and end your second 50-minute session. It’s quite simple. For each of these sessions, one student shows two to three artifacts that are personally important to

There are times when you have to work with students and introduce new terminology and new concepts. Sometimes, there are many new items to learn all within the course of a class or two. Your students can get very easily overwhelmed, not just with the new content, but with the language. Remember, they might not

A long time ago (20 years), in a country far away (Japan), I was an associate professor of communication studies at a brand new university. Most of my colleagues were Japanese, and most were in the hard sciences, including things like robotics and computer programming. One day, a younger assistant professor came up to me. He