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Communication...at its finest 

When you think about communication- what feelings do you get? Does it depend on the person you are talking to? Does it depend on the way you are communicating (text, face to face, phone)? Does it depend on your social battery?

This has been an ongoing conversation with our students: communication or lack there of. So many of our students are battling with their own internal dialogues that they have created vs the conversations and communication that has happened in real life. but hey- we all do this, don't we? Where we play out a conversation that we THINK will happen but it hasn't happened yet. Trust me, that's how my best arguments, that are never had, are thought up. This also leads to conflict due to thinking through situations that are true and situations that are created within your brain. 

The hard part about our brains working this way is that we can mix up those communication thoughts with the reality of actual situations. How do we combat this? What can we do to not get mixed up in these thoughts and realities? 

We take our time with conversations. We think through the conversations and really think about what we want the other person to hear. Do we want them to think we are right? This probably is not a good communication pattern to adopt. Do we want them to hear our perspective? Let them know that this is your goal. Do we want them to change their behaviors? Listen to what they have to say to hear what brought them to this behavior. Do you want to clear the air? Ping Pong back and forth with conversation (without the feeling of defensiveness) so you understand what they are saying and they understand what you are saying. If we allow the person we are communicating with to feel heard, validated and understood they are significantly more likely to listen to you, validate you and hear you. 

Its like the old saying "you get what you put in."




On a more digital thought- I got to talk with some of our middle schoolers about group chats and this style of communication! this conversation stemmed from the idea that our students will be going on summer break in less than 10 days!! Communication is IMPARATIVE in the preteen and teenage world so I wanted to equip them as they head off for summer with a healthy awareness of group chat boundaries. Feel free to check out the presentation! 



 Group Chat

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