Overcoming Obstacles
Listening
Young scholars boost communication skills with a lesson plan that explores what it looks like to listen with the whole body. Through modeling and practice, pupils observe what it looks like and then practice. A friendly game of "Simon...
Overcoming Obstacles
Listening
The big idea in this resource is that listening and hearing are not the same things. A lesson on active listening has class members generate a list of listening techniques that focus on the speaker, confirm what they say, and respond...
Overcoming Obstacles
Understanding Nonverbal Communication
People communicate in all sorts of ways. As part of a study of nonverbal communication, teams of three must complete a puzzle without speaking to one another. After debriefing the activity and analyzing the messages nonverbal cues...
Nebraska Department of Education
Reflective Listening
Reflective listening is not casual! After learning about the practice of reflective listening, middle schoolers practice reflective listening skills in a role play activity that has them take turns being a speaker, listener, and observer.
Nebraska Department of Education
Communication Skills
It's not just what you say but how you say it! That's the take-away from a lesson plan about verbal and non-verbal communication. An engaging activity has middle schoolers demonstrating how tone of voice and body language can totally...
Nebraska Department of Education
Work: Love It or Hate It?
Future job seekers interview adults who love their work and ones that dislike their work. After reflecting on what they learned in a whole-class discussion, participants create a mission statement that details what they want and don't...
Nebraska Department of Education
Writing Emails That Matter
LOL! BRB! :-) The rules for business and professional emails differ significantly from online communications among friends. As part of a career readiness study, pupils learn the do's and don'ts of writing professional emails.
Newseum
Civil War: Encoding the News
Young journalists learn to appreciate the advantages of how modern media technology enables rapid news delivery as they compare today's media revolution to how the telegraph and Morse Code revolutionized news coverage during the Civil...
Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library & Museum
Role Playing Relating to Big Decisions
While most high schoolers are too young to vote, they still need to learn the skills needed to solve problems. The ninth resource in a 10-part civics series presents class members with four "What Would You Do?" scenarios that have them...
NASA
Missed Messages
Learners investigate the challenges of space communication with a kinesthetic modeling activity. Group members In space must communicate one word to other members on Earth while overcoming barriers such as distance, gravity, and physical...
NASA
Feel the Noise
Can you hear it now? Young scientists experiment with sound waves using metal objects and string. They strike metal objects while they hold them and as the objects hang from a string to compare the sound. They discover that sound travels...
Bonneville
Setting Expectations for Science and Engineering Projects
What is science? Sitting in a whole group discussion, scholars first share their ideas on science and how to conduct investigations. They learn about the steps for scientific inquiry and experimentation. Once finished, individuals then...
Health Smart Virginia
Communication
In preparation for a game in which they guess the type of communication used in a scenario, scholars examine and discuss the four types of communication: passive, aggressive, assertive, and passive-aggressive. Learners identify "I"...
Health Smart Virginia
Conflict Resolution
A lesson introduces the Peace Corner—a safe place to communicate feelings and problem solve. To gain practice, scholars role-play scenarios that require conflict resolution. Peers speak, listen, brainstorm solutions, shake hands, then...
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Managerial Communications
Communication is key. Pupils receive direct instruction about managerial communications and then independently research communications careers. Scholars then complete exit tickets, answering questions about what they learned.
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Communication at Work - Soft Skills in the Workplace
Don't get stuck between a soft and a hard place. Scholars conduct research about business leaders, typing a report to analyze the leaders' hard and soft skills. Additionally, pupils create an instructional manual for either assembling a...
Health Smart Virginia
Wrinkled Heart
Contrary to the old saying, words, like sticks, can hurt. That's the central idea in a lesson about the importance of considering another person's perspective, stopping, thinking, and listening before responding in anger to a conflict....
Health Smart Virginia
The Do Over
Middle schoolers are offered an opportunity to use what they have learned about effective communication in a "Do-over." First, they create a storyboard of an argument they had with a friend or family member that wasn't productive. Then,...
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Incorporating Varied Resources
Learners hone their business communication skills by creating a newsletter based on a chosen topic. Using the resource, pupils research, gather information, take notes, and develop their newsletters.
Health Smart Virginia
Relationship Skills and Communication
Relationship and communication skills are the heart of a lesson that focuses on passive, aggressive, and assertive communication. After examining examples of each type, teams develop an assertive, win/win solution that resolves a conflict.
Health Smart Virginia
Summative Assessment
As a summative assessment of the Health Smart unit, middle schoolers create a five-chapter autobiography demonstrating what they have learned about self and social-awareness, decision-making, and communication skills.
Health Smart Virginia
Effective Communication Skills
As part of a review of concepts taught in the Health Smart unit, individuals fill out a chart contrasting passive, assertive, and aggressive behaviors. They then practice their assertiveness skills by craft "I" messages and responses to...
Health Smart Virginia
Emotional Intelligence Quotient
As an end of the Health Smart unit self-assessment, scholars design a cup with a logo and motto that reveals their emotional intelligence. To prepare, individuals complete a worksheet describing the seven Emotional Intelligence Quotients...
Department of Education (Ireland)
Assertive Communication
Assertive communication is an acquired skill. Teaching young people to ask for what they need and to believe that they have a right to ask is at the core of a unit on assertive communication. Over the course of the unit, middle and high...