Connecting with Others

LESSONS

Preliminary Lessons

• Theoretical Frameworks
• Stop and Relax

Skill Area 1: Awareness of Self and Others

1. It’s Great to Be Feeling
2. I Believe in Me
3. Winners and Nonwinners
4. I’m Like a Bouncing Ball
5. It’s OK to Be Different—Sometimes

Skill Area 2: Communication

1. Actions Speak Louder Than Words
2. You Talk, I’ll Listen
3. Put Your Own Spin on It
4. Look at Me, Hear Me Out
5. Let’s Not Fuss, Let’s Discuss

Skill Area 3: Responsibility

1. If I Said It, I’ll Own It
2. If I Feel It, I’ll Own It
3. If I Did It, I’ll Own It
4. Who’s Perfect?
5. Be All That You Can

Skill Area 4: Conflict Resolution

1. Peacekeepers
2. What’s the Problem?
3. I Can Be My Own Boss
4. Breaking It Up Peacefully
5. Let Bygones Be Bygones

Skill Area 5: Cooperation

1. More Heads Are Better Than One
2. Lean on Me, I’ll Lean on You
3. It’s a Dog-Eat-Dog World—Or Is It?
4. Please! I’d Rather Do It Myself
5. Together, We’re Great

Skill Area 6: Love and Empathy

1. What Is Love?
2. They Say That Falling in Love Is Wonderful
3. This Can’t Be Love
4. Love Your Neighbor
5. I Get Your Drift

Skill Area 7: Personal Growth

1. Clean as a Whistle
2. Social Graces in Different Places
3. Dependable or Dependent?
4. Health Is Wealth
5. I Am a Citizen

Skill Area 8: Preparing for Adulthood

1. What Will I Be When I Grow Up?
2. Families, Friends, and Frustrations
3. My Time, My Money
4. And Baby Makes Three
5. It’s Off to Work We Go

FIGURES

Skill Area 1: Awareness of Self and Others

Lesson 1

• Scenario 1: Martin Jones
• Scenario 2: Marcia Garcia
• Scenario 3: Tom Wang
• Reinterpreting the Scenarios

Lesson 2

• Affirmation Journal
• How Do I Rate?

Lesson 3

• Winner/Nonwinner Checklist
• Winner and Nonwinner Characteristics
• Winner Synopsis
• Winner Commitment Contract

Lesson 4

• Resiliency Chart
• United High School Dilemma

Lesson 5

• Psychological-Type Preferences: Background Information
• Psychological-Type Preferences
• Personality Survey
• Personality Characteristics and Job Requirements
• Personality Quick Quiz
• Personality Quick Quiz Answer Key

Skill Area 2: Communication

Lesson 1

• Teacher Exercise: Verbal and Nonverbal Communication
• Communication Dramas
• Communication Quick Quiz
• Communication Quick Quiz Answer Key

Lesson 2

• Preparations for the Communication Games
• Instructions for Communication Games

Lesson 3

• Instructions for Perceptions Exercise
• Story 1
• Story 2

Lesson 4

• Verbal Communication Quick Quiz
• Verbal Communication Quick Quiz Answer Key
• Sample Sentence

Lesson 5

• Discussion Guidelines
• Discussion Questionnaire
• Topics for Discussion

Skill Area 3: Responsibility

Lesson 1

• Irresponsible and Responsible Statements
• Two Role-Plays
• Irresponsible or Responsible?
• Irresponsible or Responsible Answer Key

Lesson 2

• Basic Emotional Needs
• Basic Emotional Needs Sample Answers
• Setting Goals to Meet Emotional Needs
• Sources for Success
• My Growth Plan
• Basic Emotional Needs Quick Quiz
• Basic Emotional Needs Quick Quiz Answer Key

Lesson 3

• Goal-Setting Worksheet
• Responsible Assertion

Lesson 4

• Who’s Perfect Quiz
• My Profile
• Working on My Challenges: Personal Goals

Lesson 5

• All That I Can Be Quiz
• Persistence Story
• What’s the Motive?
• Goals and Motivations

Skill Area 4: Conflict Resolution

Lesson 1

• Choosing Your Battles Questionnaire
• What Do I Value Survey

Lesson 2

• Responding to Conflict
• Describe the Problem

Lesson 3

• Strategies for Self-Management
• Responses and Better Responses
• Six Dilemmas
• Evaluation Form

Lesson 4

• Mediation Scenarios

Lesson 5

• Forgiveness and Reconciliation Scenario
• Five Vignettes for Role-Playing
• Aggressive, Nonassertive, and Assertive Apologies
• Stages of Reconciliation Quiz

Skill Area 5: Cooperation

Lesson 1

• Cooperating to Solve Dilemma 1
• Cooperating to Solve Dilemma 2
• Rules for Group Cooperation

Lesson 2

• Roles for Cooperative Learning and Working
• Self-Assessment
• Mount Everest High School Students Rebel
• Group Assessment

Lesson 3

• Competition on Ice
• The Cheerleader’s Mom

Lesson 4

• Eight Types of Intelligence
• Multiple Intelligences Worksheet
• How Strong Is My Preference?

Lesson 5

• Is It Fair and Equitable?
• Tony’s Gripe Team at Work
• Movie Review

Skill Area 6: Love and Empathy

Lesson 1

• The Five Stages of Love
• What is Love?
• Love Quiz

Lesson 2

• Shanesia’s Dilemma
• Criteria for Research Paper and Presentation
• Check Yourself

Lesson 3

• Questioning Obsessive Love
• Problem Relationship Scenarios
• Jealousy Quiz
• Jealousy Dilemma

Lesson 4

• Melting-Pot or Salad-Bowl Dilemmas
• Tolerance Quiz
• Dear Ann Flanders
• Baklava Recipe

Lesson 5

• Helping Organizations for Volunteer Work
• Don’s Dilemma
• Empathy Exercise

Skill Area 7: Personal Growth

Lesson 1

• Style Quiz
• Dress-Code Problem

Lesson 2

• Dear Ann Flanders
• Dear Mr. Manners
• Dear Ibby

Lesson 3

• Binge Drinking
• One for the Road to Destruction
• Criteria for Research Paper and Presentation
• Presentation Evaluation
• Dear Ann Flanders
• Three Dilemmas
• Park’s Dilemma

Lesson 4

• You Can Never Be Too Thin—Or Can You?

Lesson 5

• Persuasion Techniques
• Self-Contract for Responsible Citizenship
• A Citizen’s Responsibilities

Skill Area 8: Preparing for Adulthood

Lesson 1

• Erik Erikson’s Eight Stages of Life
• Three Life-State Dilemmas
• Poem: Growing Up

Lesson 2

• Maslow’s Pyramid of Needs
• Poem: New Friends and Old Friends
• The New Kid in Town
• Family and Friends
• Tom, Where Are You?

Lesson 3

• Cathy’s Budget Crisis
• Budgeting Your Time
• Time and Money Quiz

Lesson 4

• Two Conversations

Lesson 5

• Holland’s Personality Types, Behaviors, and Possible Occupations
• Guidelines for Setting Career Goals
• Personality Comparison: Myers-Briggs and Holland
• Career Quiz

The Connecting with Others program is an evidence-based curricular approach for developing children’s self-awareness and awareness of others. Each lesson in the four volume series follows a specific lesson cycle and includes instructional materials for each activity. The theoretical underpinnings of the program include Transactional Analysis, Positive Assertion Training, and Cognitive Behavior Modification.

A study utilizing the Connecting with Others Grades K-2 and Grades 3-5 was implemented in five Louisiana public elementary classrooms containing general education and special education students. The purpose of the study was to investigate whether this social skills program would enable students with disabilities in inclusive classrooms to develop skills that would facilitate socialization with peers with and without disabilities. The research question addressed the students’ acquisition of social skills as a result of the training. The results of the study indicated with reasonable assurance that the students did grow in the skill areas identified in the program (Coombs-Richardson et al 2009).

In another study, the program was implemented in two early childhood classrooms located on the campus of a state university in Virginia. This study evaluated the impact of the social skills training on the social behaviors of the children. Participating were 30 students with an average age of four-years ten-months. The income levels of the families varied from low social economic status to high middle economic status. To assess the socio emotional skills level of each child, two examiners independently completed the Social Skills and Attitude Scale (SSAS) which is a component of the Connecting with Others program. The examiners observed the children and recorded children’s pre and post intervention behaviors on a checklist. The study yielded positive evidence that the social skills instruction and activities did make a meaningful difference in increasing targeted social skills of the children (Coombs-Richardson, Myran, and Tonelson 2009).

Two master’s thesis studies were conducted at Wayne State College in Nebraska to study the impact of social skills instruction using the Connecting with Others: Lessons for Teaching Social and Emotional Competence (Richardson 1996a). Hurner (2006) implemented the training in an after school program to determine if it would impact students’ behaviors on their return to their early childhood formal school setting. The general educators filled out rating scales on each of the students before and after the social skills instruction. Twelve of the 18 participating students showed improvement in all five categories. This study provided support for the use of a school-based social skills program to increase the social skills of students with behavior problems and/or difficulties with social interactions. Based on the results of the teachers’ responses, the researchers concluded that the social skills learned in the after-school program were generalized in the school environment.

Social skills training in early childhood sets the stage for students’ future behaviors in schools. Larson (2008) examined the effects of the Connecting with Others curriculum on the behavior of students in an early childhood program. The children received instruction taught by the researcher. Pre and post scales of the BASC-2 Rating Scale (Reynolds and Kamphaus 2005) and the Connecting with Others Rating Scale were used to determine if each child demonstrated progress in their behaviors and/or in their social-emotional skills as a result of the intervention. The instruction had a positive impact on the behaviors of the early childhood students who participated in this study. All 18 participants showed improvement in at least two categories derived from Connecting with Others (Richardson 1996) and improvement in at least one category from the BASC-2. Twelve of the 18 participating students showed improvement in all six of the Connecting with Others (Richardson 1996) categories. Additionally, 13 out of 18 students demonstrated improvement in at least seven of the 13 BASC-2 categories.

• Sample Lesson: Breaking It Up Peacefully