Speaker ↔ (Eye Contact) ↔ Audience
Eye Contact
Objective: The students will be able to make eye contact with the audience.
Steps:
1. Introduction
A. The teacher enters the classroom five minutes before the class starts. During this short period, the teacher does not make eye contact with any students even if they speak to the teacher.
B. The teacher still does not look at the students after starting the class. The teacher explains the content of this class.
2. Discussion #1: A Lack of Eye Contact
A. The teacher makes eye contact with the students at this time and asks the students how they felt when the teacher did not make eye contact with them.
B. The students answer the question, and the teacher writes down the students’ opinions on the blackboard.
3. Discussion #2: Importance of Eye Contact
A. In this discussion, the students talk about the positive meanings of eye contact between a speaker and his or her audience, such as: honesty, openness, and respect.
B. The teacher writes down the students’ opinion on the blackboard.
C. The teacher summarizes both discussions and moves to the exercise.
4. Exercise: Making Eye Contact with Classmates
Each student stands in front of the class. He or she first smiles, makes eye contact with the whole class, and says a couple of sentences, whatever he or she wants to say to the audience.
5. End of the Class
A. The teacher summarizes the whole class.
B. The teacher dismisses the class.
Result: The students learn the importance of eye contact, and the exercise will help them give speeches more effectively
Emi Nishimoto
The Eyes are the Windows of Communication
Practicing Effective Eye Contact with an Audience
OBJECTIVE: The students will serve as an audience to a speaker who does not make eye contact and a speaker to an audience who gives their undivided attention. They will be given note cards labeled on the front with different symbols and directions written on the back of them. In order to know which role they will play in this activity, the students must pay attention to the labeled symbol and follow the directions carefully. After completing this activity the students should feel more comfortable making eye contact with their peers when they give their speeches, and the students will understand its importance for conveying a message in a speech.
MATERIALS: Enough 3×5 white note cards for each student to have (One half of the note cards will be labeled on the front with a window picture that has its curtains closed and the other half of the note cards will be labeled on the front with a capital A. The back of each note card will have specific directions explaining what the students will be assigned to complete. There will be different directions for the two groups of note cards.); classroom clock
STEPS:
1. As the class enters the room, greet the students. Tell them to take their assigned seats and proceed by taking roll.
2. Explain to the students that you will be giving each of them a note card and that it will remain on their desk until you instruct them to pick it up. Take the two groups of cards and randomly place one note card on each of the desks with the labels facing up and the directions facing down.
3. Tell the students to flip over their cards and to read the instructions that are written on the back to themselves without speaking aloud or showing their cards to the other students. (The back of the cards with the window illustration that has closed curtains will have instructions telling the student to tell his or her partner about something that he or she values. For instance, the student can talk about his or her choice of religion, family traditions, or morals. As the student talks about his or her topic of choice they must avoid making eye contact with their partner by either looking down or by looking around the room. The back of the cards that are labeled A will have instructions telling the student that they will listen to their partner talk about their values, while making complete eye contact with his or her partner.)
4. Then have the students flip the cards back over to the front side.
5. Tell the students who have the window illustration with the closed curtains to make one group on one side of the classroom and the other half with the capital A’s to make another group on the opposite end of the classroom. Have them leave their cards on their desks.
6. Randomly assign one student from one group to partner up with another student from the other group. Continue doing this until all the students have a partner and the students are paired up in groups of two.
7. Once all the students have a partner, have each group of two scatter themselves around the room. When all the groups have found a designated spot have them take a seat on the floor to where they are facing one another.
8. After all the students are positioned, explain to them that when they hear the word go they must begin by doing the instructions that were on the back of their cards and that they must stop when they hear the word stop.
9. Ask the students if they have any questions. Answer their questions and then begin by saying go. Watch the clock and once three minutes has passed tell the students to stop.
10. Have the students go back to their desks to get their cards. Tell them to pair up with a student who has a different label on their card and to exchange cards with that student. Have the students read their cards to themselves without reading aloud or showing their cards to other students.
11. Repeat steps seven through nine.
12. Have all the students return to their desks with their note cards. Tell them to place their note cards back on their desks with the label facing up.
13. Ask the students to raise their hands if they felt uncomfortable when they had the card labeled with the capital A and have them explain why.
14. Then ask the students to raise their hands if they felt like they were not connecting their message with the students who had the card labeled “A” and have them explain why?
15. After hearing their comments explain to them that the window illustrations with the closed curtains represented poor eye contact and the capital A’s represented the audience. Then clarify that a person’s eyes are windows where their audience can look in and understand the message of the speech that is being delivered. Make it clear to the class that if they avoid making effective eye contact with their audience then they are closing the curtains on these windows of communication.
16. Explain to the class that eye contact suggests honesty, openness, and respect and that if they practice it during their speeches their audience will feel comfortable and cared about. Make it clear that eye contact reinforces the meaning of words and gives credibility to them. In addition, note that it is crucial to make eye contact with all sectors of the room in order to involve the entire audience, to identify their reaction and to hold their attention.
17. Have the students hand in their cards and ask them to practice maintaining eye contact with their fellow peers and others in the school building for the entire day.
RESULTS: Students will understand the importance of making eye contact with an audience as an effective way to make their audience feel involved and cared about. The students will also realize that the effective use of eye contact will give their speeches credibility and help them identify their audience’s reaction to it. When it is time for them to give their speeches, they should make an honest attempt to practice eye contact with their audience.
Abby Wolf
September 2, 2009
It’s All in the Eyes
Maintaining Eye Contact with an Audience
Topic: Eye Contact
Objective: The students will serve as an audience to a speaker that does not make eye contact, then discuss why eye contact is important to maintain. After playing a game to practice eye contact, the students should begin to feel more comfortable looking at their peers while speaking to them.
Materials: N/A
Steps:
1. At the beginning of class, walk into the room, greet the students, and do all other typical beginning of class activities, such as roll call. Do NOT look at any of the students- completely avoid eye contact! Make sure that you avoid eye contact long enough that students should be feeling slightly uncomfortable, but not so long that they decide to take naps.
2. When routine beginning of class activities are finished, look at the students. Ask them to raise their hands if they felt uncomfortable during the first few minutes of class.
3. Then, ask the students to explain why they felt uncomfortable. (If no students actually admit to feeling uncomfortable, explain to them why they may have. For instance, they may have felt that, although you were talking to them, they were being ignored.)
4. Explain that eye contact is crucial to maintain during a speech if students do not want their audiences to feel uncomfortable, ignored, or bored. Eye contact also establishes a speaker’s credibility with the audience. Audiences may not believe what a person says if they do not maintain eye contact with the audience. Also, speakers are unable to gage how their audience is reacting to their speeches if they do not make eye contact.
5. Begin a game. Split the class into pairs and have them look at their partners, trying not to break eye contact. As soon as a student breaks contact, he/she is disqualified. Winners move on to the next round and receive a new partner, until only two students are left. The student that holds eye contact the longest is declared the champion. If the rounds take too long to complete (more than a couple of minutes), keep all students in the game and just have them switch partners a couple of times and try not to break eye contact with their various partners. In the end, declare everyone a winner.
6. Ask students to practice maintaining eye contact with people for the rest of the day.
Results: Students will realize the importance of maintaining eye contact with an audience in order to prevent the audience from becoming bored or uncomfortable feeling. By the time they give their next speeches, they should make a visible effort to make eye contact with their audience.