"COMMUNICATION" CURRICULUM
Trainer's
guide
(February 7, 1996)
This curriculum has been designed to heighten the awareness of different kinds of communication and its importance in closing the gaps between diverse and distant groups of peoples. It will also hone the computer and critical thinking skills of the students. The classes and exercises are designed to build upon the skills they have already acquired and are set up to challenge new thoughts and creativity. Some of the activities will be completed individually and others will require team-based initiatives.
The students will be creating a communications magazine on video tapes. They will explore various types of communication technologies and learn to use them.
Days 1-4
Introduce the new curriculum of COMMUNICATION. Ask if anyone knows what the word means. Brainstorm some definitions. Select one student to look up the definition of the topic. Make sure that the idea of information transfer is understood from this definition. Then move to a brainstorm or design a game show/jeopardy type activity to flush out the idea of different types and ways people communicate.
Exercise: As you have the students move to the computers, have them create a quick slideshow of "Ways to Communicate" from the brainstorm above. They need to create a title page, draw 4-5 scenes illustrating the concepts. Do not allow students to use more than 3 or four colors. Make the exercise very concrete and focused on the concept of communication.
Days 5-6
Set up the Encarta'95 CDs and prepare individualized scavenger hunt searches for information on different communication devices and systems such as Morse code, Braille, Television, Newspaper, International Signals, etc.
Begin with a training on the Encarta and talk about Encyclopedias. What they are, what you use them for and stuff. Compare and contrast it to the Encarta. Talk about how things are set up and how to search for what you want.
Exercise: After they search for their topic and found all the answers to the scavenger hunt. They must copy and print any graphics and captions, Switch to Microsoft Word and then write in complete sentences what they found.
Day 7
Usher a student to the dry erase board without using words. ONLY the use of hand gestures, taps on the shoulder, light switches, banging on the table or stomping of the feet if need be. Once the entire class' attention has been corralled, then proceed to lecture them in sign language and have a conversation and try to get them to learn and pick up some signs. (American Sign Language, ASL, deaf, hi, no, yes).
After approximately 10 - 15 minutes of this, begin talking and debriefing the warm-up exercise. Points to hit upon should be what I was doing (communicating - remind them of the last class and all that we discussed about the topic and how it relates to this), with what (my hands, using American Sign Language), who uses this (deaf people, what is the definition of deaf and what does it mean), do a little history of deaf culture and when it first came to America and when the first deaf school was established and who were the three founders of this school.
EXERCISE: Have two students type up a little paragraph of the history of deaf culture and the three men. Next, have the students draw a picture a map of France and three men traveling and building a school, children doing some learning, etc. to go along with the writing project. Once again the assignment has to be very directed, focused and prompted.
Another pair should write about how deaf people communicate.
A drawing(s) or tracing their hands and scanning them into kid pix to decorate and focusing on this tool of communication.
Days 8-9
Teach the students some more signs. These signs should cover introductions such as:
Ask each student to go to the Proshare computer and sign this into a file and then go to a computer to transfer each pic into Kid Pix slideshow and design a title page and a paragraph or a caption under each photo and a "the end" page.
*As a side project, students could be coloring and designing the title or "the end" pages on paper or first on the computers while they wait for the Proshare.
DAY 10-13
Move into the next topic in Communication: facial expressions. Review first the different ways to communicate, languages through American Sign Language and then finally move into body language, esp. facial expressions. What are they? How do they transfer information? and When do we use them? How do they express how we feel?
Begin with Charades with specific emotions to relay, such as angry, scared, surprised, happy, sad, confused.The second component is to have them write about a time that they would have communicated that facial expression.
EXERCISE: Have the students take quick picts of their facial expression, import these into KidPix and decorate.
*The images and text are all compiled into a group slideshow on facial expressions and how they feel.