The teacher’s voice: the most powerful tool we have?

Teachers as professional speakers

In the early days of my teaching career, I didn’t give my voice much thought, after all, my lessons wouldn’t be dominated by me speaking. This quickly changed as I soon discovered that the more I spoke, the more my students seem to learn!

When we think of the voice for teachers, we tend to usually focus on strategies to prevent voice loss. It’s an important consideration. After all, it’s almost impossible to teach without the voice!

I believe, however, there is far more potential in the teacher’s voice. In fact, it is one of our most undervalued resources. It is a vehicle that transmits powerful knowledge from the teacher to the pupil and a tool that helps to manage behaviour within a classroom. We are professional speakers and so it is vital to consider the power and potential of our voice.

Teachers aren’t actors… or are they?

As a lover of the theatre, I’ve always been fascinated by the voice. The way actors bring meaning to words and use them to tell stories on stage. When I attended drama school, I benefitted from 3 years of intensive vocal training and have been fortunate to put that training to good use. The problem is, most teachers aren’t trained actors! The question then is how do we support teachers to hone their vocal skills?

Most people would say they dislike their voice. However, in order to improve our voice, we need to become familiar with what we sound like. Below is a quick vocal audit to help you consider the various aspects of your voice.

Vocal skill audit

As a drama teacher, I spend a lot of time getting my pupils to consider their vocal skills and how to use them on stage to convey meaning. What they don’t always realise is that these skills help to improve their quality of spoken communication. Check out some of the questions below and consider how you would answer them, reflecting on your own teaching voice. Even better, film yourself and make notes in response to the questions. Better still, observe a colleague and audit their voice!

Articulation

Do you ever have to repeat an instruction? Can you be understood at the back of the classroom? Do you mumble?

Emphasis

When asking a question or explaining a concept, what are the keywords or phrases that you emphasise? How do you emphasise words? Do you change your tone, pitch, or volume?

Pace

Do you talk too quickly? Do you talk too slowly? Do you need to slow down at certain points of the lesson to give pupils more time and space to take in what you’re saying?

Pause

Do you pause to allow thinking time? Do you pause to leave a question or statement ‘hanging in the air’?

Pitch

Are you aware of your pitch as you speak? Is your voice monotonous? Do you vary your pitch as you talk?

Resonance

Where does your sound come from? The chest, the mouth, the nose? A mixture of the three? Does the sound you make draw your pupils in or push them away?

Tone

Is your tone of voice accurately conveying how you feel? Do you know when to use a serious tone and when to use a lighter tone? Does your tone vary?

Volume

Do you speak at one volume level when you teach? Do you shout to gain attention? Could you try lowering your volume to draw your listeners in? Do you need to make a sound at all? Could you find physical gestures to gain student attention?

Practical steps to optimise the voice

1. Posture

The voice and the body are inextricably linked. Whether you are stood or sat, be conscious of your posture and physical alignment in order to improve your breathing and ability to make sound.

2. Breath

Speaking requires breath. It may not be flattering but your abdomen shouldn’t be tense when you’re speaking. When you breathe in, the stomach should expand, providing space for the ribs to swing. The greater your breath capacity and control, the better your ability to vary pitch and tone.

3. Making sound

A rich sound requires a good connection at the vocal fold level. Dame Judi Dench swears that humming is the best warm-up before going on stage to perform Shakespeare! (I love to quietly hum on my commute into work for 30 minutes each morning as a great way to improve vocal fold connection!)

4. Sirening

Sirening is a vocal exercise where you slide up and down in pitch (like a siren) in order to develop range. This helps to give you a more interesting sound.

5. Articulation

The final part of optimising the voice is ensuring effective articulation. Tongue twisters are great to warm up the articulation muscles such as the lips and the tongue!

Avoiding vocal fatigue

There are times when the voice doesn’t do what we want it to. It gets hoarse and raspy, or deeper than usual. Oftentimes this is a sign of vocal fatigue. There are many factors that cause vocal fatigue in teachers and sadly, sometimes it’s unavoidable. If you’ve got a cold or flu then the best thing you can do is stay in bed! If you need to be in school, avoid talking where possible. Pushing your voice when it’s strained will only cause more damage.

There are, however, occasions when vocal fatigue can be avoided. Are you straining in a room with poor acoustics? Are you screaming over a noisy class? Are you just misusing your instrument? A newborn baby can scream for hours on end without losing their voice. The reason we lack their vocal stamina is due to the poor vocal habits we develop as we get older. We constrict and strain. The best way we can overcome this is to practice good vocal technique and proactively avoid damage in the first place.

Hopefully, some of the tips in this article are useful. Remember, if you have a drama department at your school, the chances are you have some resident voice experts in your midst! Give them a shout and ask for some feedback on how you’re using your voice in the classroom!