Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Session 1 - Question 3

The title of Chapter 3 is “Communication: The Key to Relationships”. Select two points of interest from this chapter and tell how you will apply those ideas into an educational setting. Include page numbers for fellow participants.

20 comments:

  1. Initial post: I can see application in the classroom in many ways in Chapter 3. Just two points are:
    1. Acting out voice inflection, loudness, body posture, and gestures to convey feeling by using the first 4 letters of the alphabet. (page 34)

    2. Naming developing vocabulary for assorted feeling words. (page 35)

    Both of these fit beautifully in the language arts curriculum. It will help with oral language, written language, reading, and understanding of characters.

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  2. Page 41: "Listen to Communicate: when you actively listen, you convey to the child that his ideas, feelings, and values are worth listening to. Listening is the single most important element of commmunication" This is extremely important for any child, specially gifted children. Building trust and a safe environment will allow the teacher to understand better the insights of the gifted child, his fears, interests and wonders; it will allow the teacher to work with him and develop his abilities.

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  3. Page 51: " Usually, when you already know that a child has done something against the rules, you are better off simply letting him know that you know, rather than asking him to confess. Avoid creating a situation that might encourage him to lie or deny it. Otherwise the child is in a non-win situation in which hw ill be punished if he is caught laying, but he will also be punished if he is honest with you".... I agree with this statement; I also agree on moving straight to a reflection stage and determining consequences. I think as a teacher the child should be able to reflect on the what, why of his/her behavior. I asually aske them to write about it and write also an idea on How can they correct that behavior and grow as a person.

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  4. "What communication skills are you modeling?" (pg 32) I think it's important to model proper interpersonal communication in front of all students, but, from reading this, it seems even more important to do so in front of gifted kids.

    "Other obstructions to communication" (pg 39) One thing I try to do in class (physics) is to answer every question, no matter how far away from what we are talking about. I may delay the answer until a more appropriate time, but I want to make sure all the kids know I will do what I can to answer any question. This applies especially to gifted kids because they tend to ask the questions that are furthest away, while still applying somewhat, to what we are learning about.

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  5. @AlvaradoO: I agree that confession isn't always necessary. Often their knowledge that I know what happened is enough to modify future behavior in the right direction.

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  6. The multiple intelligences ch.1,pg.8-9 give ways for educatiors to reach out in areas other than the mundane ones they are used to. The intrapersonal intellignece may be the most difficult and the teacher needs to really open the communication lines for the gifted learner. I feel it is the role of the educator to provide a safe environment so that expanded learning can take place emotionally and socially as well as academically. The teacher iw with her student more than the parent five days a week.

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  7. This chapter has great information to apply in the classroom.
    1. Teach Interpersonal skills: It is very important to teach empathy and patience to GT students as they sometimes don't understand why others don't work as fast as they do.
    2. Assess Emotinal temperatures: GT kids often react in negative ways if they don't feel undetstood, so just a simple question of how do they feel can make a big difference on their reactions.

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  8. @ David O: I agree with your idea about answering every question, if a child doesn't believe you care about them and what they want to know, they will block out much of what we want to communicate to them, including content.

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  9. pg 42: Create an atomosphere that promotes communication. You can't force communication but you can create an envirnoment that promotes it by altering your tone, gestures, and body language in a way that will be more understanding towards the sensitiviy aspect of giftedness.

    pg 47: Separate the behavior from the child. "Remember during communication to praise or reprimand the behavior rather than the child." You can do this by rephrasing your comments from "You really have a talent for doing things" to "I admire how you completed that science project on time."

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  10. @Adriana: I agree with both of the topics you chose as interesting. In the classroom I felt many times that my GT students lacked empathy and patience for students who weren't like them. It was a social skill that needed to be taught and reinforced daily.

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  11. Page 31 - communication is a fundamental component of any relationship - getting students to communicate with a teacher and other students is fundamental in enhancing achievement as well as social skills.

    Page 34 - all communication has an emotional component - I would do a lesson with all the components listed (voice, inflection, loudness, body posture, gestures) where students could understand that some communication is non-verbal.

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  12. PV: Page 41. Listen, if you want to communicate. When you actively listen, you convey to the child that his ideas, feelings, and values are worth listening to. Listening is the single most important element of communication. To listen is to be silent. Active listening helps build a foundation of trust and openness.

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  13. PV: Page 43 - Use of reflective listening. Reflective listening helps the child clarify his feelings, as well as think through how he might decide to handle those feelings so he can solve problems on his own. Listening and paraphrasing the statements denotes acceptance of the feelings. Focus remains on the child and in talking him through the situatiion, you enable him to consider other options.

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  14. PV: I agree with Adriana and JBrown as regards the impatient nature of gifted kids. Gifted kids are unaware that they see the world differently than how others do and become impatient or frustrated.

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  15. When will the next set of questions (lesson 2)appear? Trying to get ahead as of school committments, deadlines etc.
    Thank you!
    barbieb

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  16. In response to Daryl D on September 22 @ 10:31 PM

    I taught such a lesson regarding non-verbal communication. It is a lesson that is short, sweet, and students told me it was a powerful learning moment. I called for a volunteer (in most classes) and/or selected student(s) to participate with this lesson. The two of us stood at the front of the room and I had a prop…a book or cell phone. The student is asked to think of an exciting event or personal item that they would share with me and the class. Some examples are a pet (describing it, its name, age, why they like the animal, etc) or a sports play they executed proudly. I ask the student what topic they selected and then we began. I would look at them for only a second or two and then open my book and begin to read occasionally looking at the student at first with an “ahhmmm” being uttered at times. When the student finished talking I would ask the class and then the student if I had been listening. The usual response is that I was not listening. I asked the student how they felt while they spoke to me and I read the book. I then share everything that I heard…sometimes to the amazement of the class. We repeat the activity with the student getting my attention by saying my name and stating they would like my attention for a few moments because they would like to tell me something. The student would ask if this is a good time for them to share. The results are different and afterward the student always states they felt heard and listened to rather than just me listening while I did something else non-verbally.

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  17. The first paragraph under the section “Communication Is the Lifeline” on page 40 is powerful. One statement that resonated with me was, “…communication is so important psychologically for gifted children, and…where honest and safe communication is honored and is the norm.” I witness adults who speak as if children will not hear or understand them when talking to another adult. Children especially gifted children, feel tension in a room or household. Not all gifted students are the same when it comes to feelings. Some may have intense feelings where others are wanting feelings to be more logically. As educators it is important for us to remember we and our communication style are models for children.

    This leads to my second point of interest found on page 49 in the fourth paragraph, beginning with the words, “Tone of voice matters”. Beginning with the fourth sentence I opted to read the word "teacher" in place of the word "parent". It definitely made for an interesting read and created some food for thought for this individual. I challenge others to read sections of this book interchanging the word “teacher” for “parent” and see if other ideas come to mind about this reading.

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  18. @ JBrown Creating an atmosphere that promotes communication is so important. Also remembering how to praise your gifted child.

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  19. Both Daryl and Tigger mention how important communication is. I totally agree because a gifted child has a higher way of thinking and honesty I feel is important to making them feel secure.

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  20. Anonymous talks about reflective thinking. I hear that more and more from sessions such as Love and Logic, that use this as a means to clarify the feelings that are coming out in words. I think respeaking of speakign the words is important to let the gifted learner understand what it is that is coming across.

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