Summary
The students will engage in a lesson that explores speaking and listening in a variety of circumstances. Students will discover how successful speaking and listening can influence our discussions with other individuals and how it can affect the success and clarity in which we share information and ideas with each other. Students will learn about communication in a range of ways, from playing a game of telephone to considering real-world school problems. This lesson is infused with activities involving hands-on experiences, peer discussions, exploration, and opportunities to apply learning to real-world situations.
Essential Question(s)
Why is effective communication through the use of speaking and actively listening important?
Snapshot
Engage
Students engage in a game of "Telephone" to highlight the need for effective communication and the frustrations of ineffective communication.
Explore
Students explore various types of communication to discover the traits that make an effective/ineffective listeners and speakers.
Explain
Students identify positive and negative speaking/listening traits while small groups apply effective speaking/listening skills during role play discussions.
Extend
Students identify a problem within the school that could be solved through effective communication. They use a template to devise a plan to rectify the problem.
Evaluate
Students use exit tickets as a reflection and/or assessment tool.
Materials
Chart or poster paper
Walkie Talkies (This item can also be eliminated if not available.)
Cup/string phones
Student devices with internet access
Art supplies/paper
3-2-1 Exit Ticket handout (attached)
Communication Tools Instructions handout (attached)
Easy Scripts handout (attached)
Exit Ticket handout (attached)
Presentation Sample Scripts handout (attached)
School Problem Identification Template handout (attached)
Statement Ideas handout (attached)
Engage
Begin by teaching students about the game of "telephone". The goal of the game is to communicate a set of instructions through multiple people, in this case the students in the classroom, so that the last person is able to repeat or perform the instructions just as they were given originally. Let the student know that if they pass along the instructions accurately, they will be rewarded.
Organize students so that they can whisper to each other. Model the activity by hiding your mouth and whispering a set of instructions to the first student. Then have that student whisper the instructions to the next student and so forth until the last student has received the information. Be sure to write the instructions down beforehand to show that they were delivered accurately to the first student after the task is completed.
After the message has been passed through every child, the last student completes the task and reveals the interpreted message to the class.
Ask various students in the chain what they heard when the information was communicated to them. Use an Anchor Charts strategy to record each answer on chart or poster paper for the class to see and reference. Next, show students the instructions you wrote down and said to the first student. Ask students to consider and discuss why they ended up with such varying pieces of information.
Introduce the essential question, which will guide the lesson: Why is effective communication through the use of speaking and actively listening important?
Explore
Group students in pairs or small groups to explore various ways to communicate with each other. Arrange stations around the classroom, each with one communication tool or strategy (and instructions for use) and two copies of a chosen script. At each station, the students must communicate the message in the script to each other using the tool.
Communications tools and strategies include walkie-talkies, cup and string phones, closed and monitored online chats. drawing/graphic tools, and vocal discussion.
Explain each method of communication, being careful to not offer too much information on how to use the items. Allow the students ample time (approximately 20-25 minutes) to explore the various tools using the given scripts at each station. This can be done as a free choice exploration or as a timed rotation (five to seven minutes per rotation) depending on your classroom needs and schedule restraints.
After exploring the stations, lead the students in a discussion about what they noticed, what was frustrating, and what worked well. What factors made communication easier or what made it harder in each scenario?
Ask students to list the traits of a good listener and poor listener, as well as a good speaker and poor speaker. Create another anchor chart to list and organize these observations. Ask students, “How could each of the traits help or hurt someone who is trying to communicate important information?”
Now, allow the students to explore the communication tools again, this time without a script. Instruct students that they must have a continuous conversation with their partner for an extended length of time. Allow 15–20 minutes for this activity.
After the students have had an opportunity to explore communications without a script, pose the following questions:
"What caused discussions to last longer?"
"What caused the discussions to be shorter?"
"How could your discussion have involved more information?"
Add any new information from students to a new anchor chart.