Warm-up:
Communication poll

[Give students Handout] We are going to do a quick poll. Please raise your hand if you agree with a response option [Read through the items and responses options and tally raised hands for each response option.]

Materials/Notes

Handout 1

Powerpoint

Content

Brief discussion of survey results:

1. Why is [XX] the favorite way to communicate with a friend? What positive or negative impact can [XX] have on the writer/speaker and the reader/listener?
2. Why is [XX] the favorite way to communicate with a teacher? What positive or negative impact can [XX] have on the writer/speaker and the reader/ listener?

Materials/Notes

PowerPoint Slide #2

Content

Listening can be more important than talking. Let's review responses to the remaining survey items.

• [Review responses to survey item 3 with students. Query why they chose specific responses]
• [Review responses to survey item 4 with students. Query why they chose specific responses}

It can be difficult to listen at times. Let's take a look at this clip from The Big Bang Theory. Consider words and body language when Sheldon communicates with Amy."

Brief discussion:

1. How can you tell Amy is listening? How can you tell she is not listening? How is Sheldon impacted by what Amy does?

[As appropriate, lean into "authentic" vs. "inauthentic" communication, active listening.]

2. Have you been in a situation where you felt unheard? What happened? What would have made the situation better?

Materials/Notes

YouTube video at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_dAkDsBQyk

PowerPoint slide #3

Content

Role Play: How we communicate can depend on who we are talking to. This is called code-switching. Let's do a role play. We need 5 volunteers. [4 students to put on a name tag, 1 student to greet each student based on their title.]

Debrief role play:

1. How did the greetings differ?
2. In what situations do you find yourself code-switching?

Materials/Notes

Name tags

PowerPoint Slide #4

Content

Classroom Circle: Go over circle guidelines:

• Respect the talking piece
• Listen to understand
• Speak the truth as you know it
• Be respectful
• Respond to the prompt, not to each other
• You may pass

Prompt 1: Who is one person you know who you consider to be a great listener?

Prompt 2: What does the person you gave as a response in round 1 do that makes you think of them as a great listener?

Prompt 3: What mode of communication do you prefer to use for sending an important personal message?

Materials/Notes

PowerPoint Slide #5.

Ask students to stand in a circle.

Content

Role Play about Listening

Have you ever been in a situation where you felt people didn't listen to you, or where you could not get your point across? What happened?

What could have made the situation better?

Let's role play what happened, and what could have made the situation better.

• Ask for volunteers to act out the situation someone described.
• Then ask the volunteers to act out the same situation so that the speaker feels heard and gets his/her/their point across.

Materials/Notes

Ask students to volunteer for the role play.