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Hi friends,
Today’s Education Blog by DUO Inspirations isn’t going to be about anything academic. It may be argued that the topic of today’s post is meant for parents alone. However, colleges teach courses on communication strategies and tactics, why not think that elementary schools or high schools can do the same? Also, communication is an important skill that many of us are not taught, because our parents didn’t think of it or didn’t have the skill themselves. I don’t mean just talking and saying words. I am talking about healthy and effective ways to speak. Often, we don’t know or think about how we say something. Although, most of us tend to recognize that two people will ask for basically the same thing in two different ways and one person will get it and the other not. Communication isn’t just the words we speak, but also the tones, mannerisms, behaviors, and all that goes with them. Some teachers and parents may already do this, but I think that teaching healthy and effective communication skills to children should be a widespread and integral part of any upbringing and schooling. Even very young children, if put in a way that is at their level, will understand that the need to communicate in a healthy and effective way. Role-playing in conjunction with some basic conversation might be helpful. For, example, if you first role-play shrieking, trying to grab something, saying, “Give me _____. I want it!” Then, you role-play, saying in a nice, warm tone of voice, “I would like the ___________. Could you give it to me, please?” Many times, a child will understand that the latter is kinder and will more times than not be more effective than the former. Even a young child will understand that it “feels” better, even if he or she really can’t understand or communicate why it feels better. Young children can sense, if not understand, that it “feels” better to have someone speak with you in a kind and pleasant voice with kind words than to have someone try to grab at you and shriek at you in a loud and unpleasant voice with unkind words. Healthy and effective communication includes many things and this is only a very basic and general point on just one part of it. However, I hope it is enough to get you thinking of the importance and viability of teaching it to people from a very young age through all ages. Now, it is your turn. Do you teach healthy and effective communication skills as part of your class or homeschooling? What are some things that are encompassed in healthy and effective communication skills? At what age do you feel healthy and effective communication should be taught? Do you think that healthy and effective communication should be taught in school as a course, in the home, both, etc.? Would you like an entire blog series on teaching healthy and effective communication to children? I look forward to your thoughts. Thank you for being here. I appreciate your kindness and support. If you find value in the Education Blog, please share it with family, friends, and coworkers, so they may find value as well. Also if you haven't done so already, please consider signing up below to receive the Education Blog and other education topics in your inbox. Thank you. Please note: Education Blog by DUO Inspirations has been weekly up to this point. My plan at the moment is to go from weekly to first and third Wednesdays through July or August. At that point, I will re-evaluate the situation and see what the most effective use of my time seems to be and how I can bring you the most value. Please, keep me and that focus in your prayers. Also, if you have questions, comments, or suggestions, as well as requests for specific topics, products, or services, please feel free to comment or contact me. Thank you.
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Hi friends,
How are you? Today is a writing prompt day. I hope you are enjoying the writing prompts here at the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations. I would be interested in knowing if you are trying them out and what you think of them. Please, let me know in the comments. Anyway, today’s writing prompt is a little bit different. Today, your writing assignment, if you choose to take it is this: Start with an animal, any animal. For example, I will choose a rabbit. Now, add a word to describe the animal. So, I could say “a furry rabbit”. Yes, I know I added the indefinite article “a” to the phrase without telling you. That is okay. You can do it too. LOL. I wonder what you chose for an animal and what word you chose to describe it. Okay. Where are we at now? Yes, we started with an animal and a word to describe it. Now, choose something the animal was doing and make it into a sentence. I will say, “A furry rabbit was nibbling on some leaves.” I wonder what your animal is doing. We aren’t done yet. Now, let’s add a place. I will say, “A furry rabbit was nibbling on some leaves under a tree.” What do you think? I wonder where your animal might be. You might think we are finished, but we aren’t done yet. The next step is to rewrite the sentence to be more specific. In my case, I need to try to make the rabbit easier to recognize if you were reading my sentence. I can also say what kind of leaves it was nibbling and what kind of tree it was under. We want to create as clear of a mind picture as we can for our readers. They should be able to practically paint the exact picture we are describing just by reading our sentence. Let’s see. I can say something like, “A small, furry, brown rabbit was nibbling clover leaves under a tall oak tree on the other side of my lawn.” What do you think? Now, you try it. I would enjoy reading your sentence. If you choose to try it, feel free to leave your sentence in the comments. I am sure it is a good one. The fun part is that we can do this exercise as many times as we want. It is short and fun to do. Likely, it is something that may intrigue the timid writer when other writing prompts seem more lengthy or difficult. Not only that, but also this exercise helps to teach many skills about writing descriptions, being specific, and adding details. These are skills are powerful tools for a writer. This could be the end of the writing prompt and turn it into something more. This could be the start to a paragraph or even a story. (Don’t be surprised to see more on this in the future.) Now, it is your turn. I am so glad you are here. I value you and I also appreciate your kindness and support. Are you enjoying the writing prompts? Did you try this one? Have you shared your sentence with us? Do you know a writer, writing student, or writing teacher? If you do, please share this post with him or her. As a matter of fact, if you are finding value in the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations, please share it with friends, family, and coworkers. Also, if you haven’t done so already, please consider signing up below to receive the Education Blog by DUO Inspirations and other education content in your inbox. Thank you. |
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