Watch Day 1 of RCM’s 5-Day Faculty Development Program on mastering communication and classroom presence, capturing attention, engaging students, and teaching with purpose.
5-DAY FACULTY DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM · DAY 1
Mastering Communication & Classroom Presence
How can faculty capture attention, create stronger classroom engagement, and leave a lasting impact on students?
Regional College of Management
SESSION OVERVIEW
Teach for attention. Communicate with purpose.
Day 1 of the 5-Day Faculty Development Program focuses on Mastering Communication & Classroom Presence—helping faculty rethink how they enter the classroom, engage learners, communicate with confidence, and hold attention in an increasingly distracted world.
The session explores the “game of attention” and introduces practical approaches for making classroom communication more engaging, purposeful, and impactful.
Key Takeaways
What you’ll learn
01
Define the teaching requirement
Identify the learning objective, topic, audience, and type of academic resource needed before starting the AI-assisted workflow.
02
Classroom Presence
Learn how energy, posture, eye contact, and the way a faculty member enters the classroom can influence the learning environment.
03
What Not to Do
Move beyond classroom-opening techniques that can create distance rather than engagement.
04
Survival → Pleasure → Passion → Purpose
Explore four levels of teaching motivation and the shift toward teaching with a deeper purpose: creating meaningful change in students’ lives.
05
The OPENS Framework
Discover practical ways to open a classroom and capture attention through surprising facts, puzzles, and deeper questions.
03 · CLASSROOM PRESENCE
What not to do
The session challenges several familiar ways of beginning a class.
01
Don’t enter with low energy
Avoid entering with your chin down, shoulders falling, and eyes toward the floor. The session emphasizes entering with energy, confidence, and eye contact.
02
Don’t stand silently waiting for attention
Simply standing still and waiting for silence is presented as an outdated classroom-opening technique.
03
Don’t demand energy before creating it
Rather than asking students to show energy immediately, create an opening that gives them a reason to engage.
04
Don’t let the PowerPoint become the teacher
Do not begin by struggling with a pen drive, PowerPoint, or video. The faculty member should be the first source of attention.
05
Don’t become a “check check” faculty
Avoid repeatedly opening with checks such as “Am I audible?” The session presents this as an ineffective way to begin.
04 · TEACHING WITH PURPOSE
Four levels of teaching
A progression from practical motivation to purposeful impact.
01
Survival
Teaching primarily as a method of earning and meeting practical needs.
02
Pleasure
Teaching because it feels good and brings satisfaction.
03
Passion
Teaching because it is something the faculty member genuinely loves.
04
Purpose
Teaching with the intention of changing students’ lives and leaving them better than they were found.
Your focus has changed from me to we.
Effective classroom communication is not simply about delivering content. It is about earning attention, creating engagement, and using teaching as a means to make a meaningful difference.
05 · ATTENTION FRAMEWORK
The OPENS Framework: Hooking Attention in the First Minute
For classroom management that works with short attention spans, the session offers an acronym for how to open a class.
O
Oh-my-god fact
Start with a genuinely surprising statistic or fact.
P
Puzzle
Introduce a paradox that reframes what students think they already know.
E
Explain with a why
Tell students why the topic matters before teaching it.
N
No-nonsense (what the audience wants)
Anchor content to what students actually need, not just the syllabus order.
S
Storytelling
Open with the story's hook directly — never “once upon a time” or “let me tell you a story.”
06 · RESOURCE PERSON
Meet the speakers
Dr. Sanghamitra Pal
Director, RCM Global B-School
Dr. Itishree Devi
Professor, RCM
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QUICK ANSWERS
AI for teaching: FAQs
Q01What is the Day 1 session of the Faculty Development Program about?
Day 1 of the 5-Day Faculty Development Program focuses on Mastering Communication & Classroom Presence, with emphasis on capturing attention, improving classroom engagement, strengthening communication, and teaching with purpose.
Q02What is the OPENS Framework for classroom attention?
The OPENS Framework is a classroom-opening approach designed to capture attention in the first minute. It stands for Oh-my-god fact, Puzzle, Explain with a why, No-nonsense (what the audience wants), and Storytelling.
Q03How can faculty capture students’ attention in the classroom?
Faculty can capture attention by creating an engaging classroom opening. The session highlights techniques such as using a surprising fact, presenting a puzzle or paradox, explaining why a topic matters, connecting content to what students need, and opening with a strong story hook.
Q04What are the four levels of teaching discussed in the session?
The session presents four levels of teaching: Survival, Pleasure, Passion, and Purpose. It describes a progression from teaching as a way to meet practical needs toward teaching with the purpose of creating meaningful change in students’ lives.
Q05Who is the resource person for the Day 1 session?
The Day 1 session is led by Dr. Sanghamitra Pal, Director of RCM Global B-School. The session introduces her as a leadership coach and faculty-development professional with expertise in leadership, communication, decision making, team building, and high-impact presentations.
