Interpersonal Communication Skills Posters

Inside: Interpersonal speaking skills rubric and posters to help with classroom management in a deskless CI classroom. 

This post has actually been in my drafts for almost a year! I have been meaning to blog about it forever because it has been a game changer for me in classroom management and participation in my classroom without desks.

This whole post centers around Grant Boulanger’s Interpersonal Speaking Skills Rubric. Make sure you check it out before you go on. Also, Grants’ blog has tons of information and he was my original inspiration for going deskless after seeing him present at multiple conferences. Here you can see all of my posts about being deskless as well.

When I went to not have student desks in my room, I immediately went to Grant’s Interpersonal Speaking Skills to help come up with my expectations of a deskless class. At the time I quickly came up with some basic posters that have been in the front of my room ever since. I just made a more jazzy version that you can print in black ink on colored astrobrights or with colored ink for your own room for FREE. Thank you to Grant for allowing me to share them with you here. 

The posters are in English, as I want the expectations to be perfectly clear. I can make eye contact with a student and point to “contain the urge to blurt in English” without even having to say anything. Also “clear hands, clear lap” basically takes care of cell phones for me, without having to make a big deal about it. In a deskless semi circle of chairs, it is pretty darn obvious if someone gets out a phone. (At our school they get one warning and then it goes on the teacher’s desk). It also makes it very clear that I expect students to interact and engage in Spanish. This is an expectation from day one and I want everyone to be on the same page as well.

Not only are these an expectation, but I have had students self-assess using the Interpersonal Speaking Skills Rubric. It is nicely aligned with a four-point Standards Based Grading scale as well. For my exploratory and Spanish 1, I also used this as an interpersonal grade. They self-assessed and then I went through to adjust as needed. But, overall most students were spot on with their self-reflection of their interpersonal speaking skills in class. I also kept these sheets to have at parent-teacher conferences, as they very much reflect the overall student grade as well. If a student rarely listens to understand and rarely clarifies meaning, they are probably not up to expectation just yet and there is room to improve. There is even a spot if you want to send these home for a parent’s signature.

If you want to see my room, check out my Classroom Tour. Make sure you download the Free Editable Posters to help with setting expectations this year.

Are you looking for more back-to-school resources?

This is the time to get Money Saving Bundles, including Mega Bundle – Spanish 1 or novice Spanish  & Mega Bundle Spanish 2 or 3. If you are jumping on the CI train, I HIGHLY recommend my High Frequency Words Bundle focusing on the Super 7. Bell ringers or brain breaks for a year will keep you organized and can be modified for all levels. Finally, do not forget to let your French teaching friends know I now have some of the most popular resources in French too! It is time to move that wish list to your cart and check out!