Title – Do You Hear What I Say?

By – Heather Spivey

Primary Subject – Other

Secondary Subjects – Language Arts

Concept / Topic To Teach:

Listening and Communication Skills

Standards Addressed: Learning to Live

• Students will understand and appreciate others
  
• Increase use of effective communications skills with peers and adults.

General Goal(s):

• To have students be aware of their communication skills.
  
• To have students evaluate their spoken language and the perceptions that others may have based on what they say.

Specific Objectives:

Students will be able to communicate with someone else using only their verbal communication skill, and then evaluate the success of their skills. They will also be able to discuss how communication skills apply in everyday life

Required Materials:

Multiple sets of blocks {enough so that each pair of students will have a set (each set should contain 2 identical sets of blocks so that each student in the pair has a set)},

Paper,

Pencils,

A positive attitude, and

Listening ears

Anticipatory Set (Lead-In):

The teacher will discuss with students how they communicate with others. They also will allow students to do a verbal pre-evaluation of the effectiveness of their communication skills. The teacher will ask questions like “How well do you communicate with others?”

Step-By-Step Procedures:

1) The teacher will gather the attention of the students.

2) The teacher will conduct the anticipatory set as a discussion with students.

3) Students will be divided into pairs by the teacher. Each pair will get a set of blocks (each set containing 2 smaller sets). The students will decide amongst themselves who will act as the “listener” and who will act as the “talker”.

4) The “talker” will build something with his or her set of blocks. When they finish they will carefully describe to the “listener” in detail what they have built.

5) The “listener” will attempt to build what the “talker” is describing so that the two students have the same block structure in front of them. However the “listener” may only ask the “talker” to repeat what they said or explain to the “talker” that they did not understand a direction. The “listener” may not ask other questions.

6) If time permits the two will trade roles and do the activity portion again.

7) The teacher will lead the students in the closure described below.

8) The teacher will have students write a paragraph applying this activity to their everyday life. The students will discuss in their paragraph what they learned, and how they may use this knowledge in everyday situations with others.

Closure (Reflect Anticipatory Set):

The teacher will ask the following questions of students:

What did you think about this activity? Did you enjoy it? Why or why not? What are some feelings you had as “talkers” and “listeners”? How did you express those feelings? Was this more difficult than you thought? What did you learn from this activity? How can you apply what you learned in everyday life?

Assessment Based On Objectives:

The teacher will have students write a paragraph applying this activity to their everyday life. The students will discuss what they learned, and how they may use this knowledge in everyday situations with others.

E-Mail

Heather Spivey

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