Self-Management
Family Resources on Communication: Top Skill Wanted - Lesson 1 of 4
Project and Purpose
Students analyze communication skills through a partner work in an art activity and in discussing an article
Essential Questions
Why are soft skills like communication important for school and career?
If this lesson was used in the classroom: Students analyzed their verbal communication skills. In class students discussed the importance of being able to communicate effectively and learned that working collaboratively is often more important in career success than technical knowledge. Students practiced their verbal communication skills with a drawing exercise and discussed an article about successful workplace competencies.
Getting Ready for the Conversation
Career success is often determined more by communication and working well with others than professional or technical knowledge. Employers frequently cite poor communication skills as a reason for employees not having success and employees frequently cite poor communication from employers, managers, or coworkers as reasons why they are not satisfied in a particular organization. Learning to speak clearly, listen, and understand others is an essential skill for success.
Conversation notes:
While adolescents learn to communicate in a variety of contexts – home, school, the community, and with friends – communication skills for the workplace are often different. Learning why it is important to communicate in a professional setting is something that many high school students should start learning at this stage in life.
For more in-depth background, share this post for Coursera:
https://www.coursera.org/articles/communication-skills
This career guide post from the internet jobsite indeed.com could also be helpful:
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/resumes-cover-letters/communication-skills
Constructive Conversation Starters
The first item is for follow-up after participating in class activities.
Describe the drawing activity. How did you and your partner(s) do? What did you learn about communicating with others? Did you find the exercise helpful? Why or why not?
Tell us about an adult you know who communicates effectively. What can you learn from this person? Why do you think so?
Tell us about an adult you know who communicates poorly (you don’t have to share a name). What can you learn from this person? Why do you think so?
Assess our family communication. What works well? What can we improve on? Develop a plan to improve communication and re-assess in a few weeks.
School to Home Resources on Communication: Top Skill
Materials
- Unlined paper, pencils, and something to lean on to draw (desk, clipboard, hardcover book, etc.)
- Copies of 3 images (projected or individual copies for teams of students)
- Copies of Note: “ 10 Skills and Competencies for Science Majors ” by Ian Render
Lesson Plan
Teacher
1. Ask students to list what they consider to be the five most important communication skills. This list might include: speaking clearly, using appropriate and specific vocabulary, active listening, using eye contact, patience, being open to new ideas, refraining from criticism, trying not to talk at the same time, asking clarifying questions, etc.
2. Explain that students will test a few of their communication skills by working in pairs to draw pictures that appear on the screen/board. One person will be the communicator, and the other will be the artist. The communicator will look at the picture and accurately explain to the artist, who may not see the picture, what and how to draw the picture.
3. Have the artist face away from the projection and have the communicator sit back-to-back facing the projection. If using paper copies, have the pairs sit back-to-back and give the communicator the copy of the picture.
4. Give the communicators two (2) minutes to describe what and how to draw the picture to their partners.
5. At the end of the two minutes, have each artist show their partner the picture. Have pairs discuss what communication techniques were used, which worked, and how they can improve.
6. Have the partners switch roles.
7. Show the second image and allow communicators three minutes to describe this new image to their artists. At the end of three minutes, have the artist show their drawing to the communicator and once again discuss the communication techniques used as well as what worked and what needs improvement.
8. If time, have students switch partners and try one more round of the activity and discussion with the third image.
9. Ask partners to share one thing about the experience with the larger group. Consider using the questions below for discussion:
- Which skills from the list generated at the beginning of class were used in this exercise? Which were not? Why?
- What specific communication skills did each person in the pair need to use?
- What other skills were necessary to do this activity? Why?
- What was the most important skill to use in this exercise? Why?
10. Distribute copies of “10 Skills and Competencies for Science Majors” by Ian Render, one to each pair of students. Tell partners that they are to use the skills they discussed and practiced in the back-to-back drawing activity to determine how they will read, take notes, and discuss the article with each other, and then share their thoughts with the larger group.
11. At the end of the work time, ask students to discuss the article and the communication skills they used to discuss the article with their partner.
Conclusion
Post the slide about the studies of soft skills and employers and explain that soft skills are, in general, defined as personal attribute-driven general skills that are usually self-developed (as opposed to hard skills, which you typically acquire in school or on the job). Ask students to respond to the question on the slide as well as discuss their thoughts on the essential question: Why are soft skills like communication
important for school and career?
