Exploring Communication Lesson Plan

Standards Addressed

• Self-Awareness: The ability to identify and manage emotions
• Self-Management: The ability to demonstrate skills to manage stress and anxiety
• Social Awareness: The ability to recognize and understand the emotions, perspectives, and social cues of others
• Relationship Skills: The ability to build and maintain healthy relationships through communication, cooperation, and conflict resolution

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Explore different communication methods
• Identify their preferred ways to communicate in different situations
• Practice choosing communication strategies that work for them
• Build language for describing their communication needs

Assessment

Students can be assessed on:

• Communication Profile showing student self-awareness
• Participation in the scenario activity
• Reflection responses

Materials

• Communication Profile sheets (one per student)
• Scenario cards (or the ability to display scenarios)
• Optional: whiteboard or chart paper

Activating Prior Knowledge

Ask students “How many different ways can people communicate?” As students share their answers, write them on the board. Encourage ideas beyond spoken language, such as texting, drawing, gestures, pointing, facial expressions, or using a device.

Explain that communication includes many different methods and that people often prefer different methods depending on the situation.

Then ask students:

• Have you ever had trouble finding the right way to communicate something? What happened?

Have students share their experiences if they are comfortable and explain that everyone struggles with finding the right way to communicate sometimes.

Lesson Steps

1) Explain that communication is any way we share information, needs, or feelings. Emphasize that different methods work for different people and situations.

Share the following examples:

• Written communication: writing, typing, texting
• Visual communication: drawing, pointing
• Body language: gestures, facial expressions, nodding or shaking head
• Technology: AAC devices, text-to speech apps
• Other: music, silence

Remind students that all communication methods are valid.

2) Students will create their own communication profiles. Give students a few minutes to answer the following questions on their own Communication Profile sheets. They may write, draw, or use bullet points to answer:

• When I feel excited or happy, I like to communicate by...
• When I feel stressed, overwhelmed, or unsure, I prefer to communicate by...
• At school, the ways I usually communicate are...
• With friends and family, the ways I usually communicate are...
• One communication method I have not tried but might want to try is...
• One thing I wish other people understood about how I communicate is...

Collect them to help you learn more about your students’ preferences.

3) Divide students into small groups (2–4 students). Give each group 2–3 scenario cards, such as:

• You feel overwhelmed and need your teacher to know.
• You want to show support for a classmate’s idea.
• You need a break but don’t want to interrupt the class.
• You want to share something exciting but the room is loud.

Groups identify two or more ways someone could communicate in that situation.

Encourage creative thinking and remind students that there are many valid responses.

4) Invite a few groups to share their scenarios and ideas. Ask the class:

• What are other ways someone could communicate in this situation?

Reflection

Have students draw an emoji on the back of their Communication Profile sheets to express how confident they are about communicating their needs. For example:

‍😊 = very confident

‍😐= somewhat confident

‍☹️= not very confident

Provide additional support as needed to students who are only feeling somewhat confident or not very confident.

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Here is the printable version of Exploring Communication Lesson Plan.

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