THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map
Communication Day 1 Circle Up Group and individual goals Name, emotion, PMA Prompt: If you could have a conversation with anyone (living or already deceased), who would you choose and what would you want to talk to him or her about?
*Introduce for new students: 6 P’s, Attending Skills and Redirect Procedure (I included the Power Points for the 6 P’s and Attending Skills. Use them or parts of them if you think they are needed for the new students.) *Tell them about learning classmates names
Quote: The real art of conversation is not only to say the right thing at the right place but to leave unsaid the wrong thing at the tempting moment. –Dorthy Nevill (1 April 1826 London- 24 March 1913 London), was an English writer, hostess, horticulturist and plant collector.
(Have students discuss quote and give examples)
Introduction: Briefly introduce the topic of communication by explaining that it involves two main parts, speaking and listening, or in other words, sending and receiving. Sometimes we can send a message but the other person does not receive it in the same way it was sent. Why might that be?
Activity #1: Purpose: To demonstrate that communication is a two-way process. Materials: Unlined paper and pencil for each student Instructions to students: You are going to draw a picture. (Do not tell them what it is a picture of.) You want to know what it is, but you just need to listen to my instructions. You may not ask me any questions during the exercise. Instructions for teacher: Read out the instructions to describe the picture of the chicken. Students should work on their own to draw what they hear, but may not ask questions. When you are finished, use the big picture of the chicken to show students what they should have drawn. Discussion: Ask students what made the task difficult. Bring out that they couldn’t check the information they were hearing. Communication has to be a two-way process. THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map
Activity #2: Pass the Stone Objective: Communication and collaboration Materials: one small stone, marble or coin for each group Group size: Divide the class in half (groups need to be equal in size) Set up: Have the participants sit in two parallel lines facing each other about two feet apart. Instructions: Each line receives a small stone which is passed (or appears to be passed) down the line. Each person can pass the stone or just appear to pass it on. Hands must be kept in front of the body. Both lines “pass” at the same time. Participants should be watching the other team, not their own, to see if they can figure out where the stone stops. When the “passing” reaches the ends of the lines, each group huddles to choose who on the other team has the pebble. The first person in each line presents the team’s choice and if they guess right, their team gets a point. Then they come back and sit in their original lines. The head of the line gets up and goes to the end of the line. This is repeated until everyone has a chance to lead the line. After completion, have teams share how they communicated in order to determine who had the stone and what they could have done better to figure out who had the stone on the other team. THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map Day 2 Grounding: Name, PMA, Emotion
Quote: "Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak. Courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen." -- Winston Churchill
Show Communication Slides 2-10 (Quote is Slide 1) Give out handout—pg. 60—explain history and discuss
Activity: Divide students into 5 groups Assign one of the Transactional Analysis modes to each group. Groups will create a PowerPoint, which they will use to teach the rest of the class the characteristics of their mode. (Encourage them to make their PowerPoint and presentation interesting and informative) Students will present their PowerPoint on Day 3. (This may be unrealistic. You be the judge on how much time the groups need.) THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map Day 3 Grounding: Name, emotion, PMA
Quote: Heaven is a place where the wicked cease from troubling you with talk of their personal affairs, and the good listen with attention while you expound your own. Ambrose Bierce
Activity: Students complete their PowerPoint presentations and then present them to the class. THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map Day 4 Grounding: Name, emotion, PMA
Quote: Isn't it surprising how many things, if not said immediately, seem not worth saying ten minutes from now? Arnot L. Sheppard, Jr.
Activity 1: (Review role play rules before activity) Materials: Scenarios and modes of communication on index cards Divide class into groups of 3 or 4 Have each group select a scenario (fold so they can’t see what they are getting) Have each group member choose one mode of communication (also folded) (If group members end up with the same mode, you can have them draw again.) Groups will have 5-10 minutes to prepare a role play using the chosen scenario. Each member of the group will act according to the mode of communication he or she has chosen. Each group will perform the skit for the class. Before the group begins, one member will explain the scenario and who each member is portraying but not the modes being used. After the skit has been presented, the rest of the class will try to guess what mode each character was using.
If time, each member of the group can draw a new mode and prepare and perform a new role play using the same scenario.
Activity 2: Word Search Puzzles: Parent Modes THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map
Day 5 Circle Up Group and individual goals Name, emotion, PMA Prompt: Think of a time when something you said made a difference .
Quote: Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around. Leo Buscaglia Activity 1: Objective: To communicate ideas with others and make group decisions based upon discussion Group Size: 4 or 5 Materials: paper, pens or pencils, colored markers, crayons, or colored pencils, glue Instructions: Supply each person in each group with a piece of paper and writing utensil. Instruct the groups that they are to create an original comic strip and each person in the group must draw one frame of the strip. They must decide what to draw, the story line and who will draw what. (You can give them some ideas about what characters or settings they could use in their comic strips if you think they need them.) Once the discussion has taken place about the comic strip and the decisions have been made, each person draws the frame he/she is responsible for on his or her own paper. Everyone should be drawing at the same time and not taking turns with their group members. (To make it challenging, don’t allow group members to see each others’ papers when they are drawing.) After group members have finished their drawings, they tape their papers together to form a comic strip. Groups share their comics with the class. Discussion questions: What different communication skills were needed for this activity? How important was communication during this activity? What was the most difficult part of this activity for you? Did your comic strip flow? Why or why not? In your life, when is it important to be able to communicate clearly with others?
THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map
Activity 2: Purpose: To demonstrate how important words are when the person talking and the listener cannot see each other. Materials: Small pieces of paper with one of the following words on each: book, apple, sunset, pizza, grapes, box, children, flowers, summer, Ohio, garbage, ice cream Instructions: Have the students take turns taking a paper with one of the words on it and give a verbal description of what is on the paper (no hands allowed). Tell them to concentrate on the careful choice of words, avoiding non-verbal signals. Tell them to use descriptive words relating to all five senses (smell, touch, etc.) Have the rest of the class try to figure out what the word is. Discussion Questions: How efficient were words alone in expressing ideas? How did you feel doing this activity? (talker and listener) What does this remind us to in our own communication?
Activity 3: Word search puzzle (adult mode) THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map
Day 6 Grounding Name, emotion, PMA
Quote: "Your next interaction hasn't happened yet therefore anything that happened in the past has nothing to do with it. Leave the past behind and enjoy the moment like a new born baby" --Lance C. Beste
Show PowerPoint on Hidden Agendas and discuss
Activity 1:
Stand in a circle with one person in the middle. The goal of the person in the center is to take another participant’s place in the circle. Members of the outer circle attempt to switch places without losing a spot to the person in the middle. To switch places, a participant on the outside makes eye contact with another member of the circle and then both members run across the circle and switch places. Additional rule: The person switched with must be at least two spaces away. No talking or additional gestures can be used
Activity 2: Word Search Puzzles (child modes) THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map
Day 7 Grounding Name, emotion, PMA
Quote: “To effectively communicate, we must realize that we are all different in the way we perceive the world and use this understanding as a guide to our communication with others.” Anthony Robbins
Communication Unit Review Activity 1: Give review sheet and have students work in groups to complete.
Activity 2: Review Game Materials: blank index cards (5 for each student), 1 score card for each student, strips of paper with characteristics from the modes of communication written on them. Give each student 5 index cards on which they write the 5 modes of communication (using markers so the words can be easily seen). Give each student a score card. Put the strips of paper in a basket or other container and draw them out one at a time. When you draw a characteristic out, you read it to the students. The students decide which mode it is and put the index card for that mode face down in front of them. Have them turn their chosen cards over at the same time. If they chose the correct mode, they give themselves a check on their score card. If they miss it, they give themselves an x. When all strips of paper have been drawn (or when you run out of time), have them count the number they got correct. You can have suckers or candy for the winner/winners. THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map
Day 8 Grounding Name, emotion, PMA
Study Time
Communication Unit Test THE DISCOVER PROGRAM Unit Map