Unit 3 Discovery Program Anna Swank – Author of PPT

 The cornerstone of the Discovery Curriculum is the development of communication skills. These skills are developed through the concept of Transactional Analysis (T.A.). Although it was developed by Eric Berne, M.D., over 40 years ago, T.A. is still a clear and concrete communication model that is easy to teach to adolescents. The model is an ideal starting point to help students understand their relationship to others in their world. By practicing communication skills, students begin to understand the T.A. model better. They learn that they have some control over their side of the communication process.

 Communication modes are exchanges of messages between two or more people.  Communication modes are fluid and connected (parallel or contaminated).  Understanding and analyzing the communication modes that we (and others) are using can help us to better navigate the communication transactions we encounter.  The adult mode is best for communication when conflict arises in a relationship that is important (home, school, work, with significant others/friends).

1. What are the different ways we communicate with one another (verbal, nonverbal, etc.)? 2. Why is body language such an effective, though not always conscious, part of communication? 3. What do you think are the important parts of effective communication?

Wyoming Career/Vocational Content and Performance Standards (CV)  CV11.1 Resources  Students effectively manage time, money, materials, work space, and human resources.  Benchmark Students assess individual skills, evaluate, and adjust their performance accordingly.  Benchmark Students prioritize and manage time, materials, work space, and resources to set and achieve goals.  CV 11.2 Interpersonal Skills  Students acquire and demonstrate interpersonal skills necessary to be successful in the workplace.  Benchmark Students work with individuals/groups of diverse abilities and backgrounds in a workplace setting.  Benchmark Students communicate using a variety of methods in a workplace setting.  Benchmark Students demonstrate and/or teach a learned skill.  CV 11.4 Systems  Students demonstrate an understanding of how social, organizational, and technological systems work.  Benchmark Students evaluate the quality and performance of a variety of systems.  Benchmark Students suggest modifications to existing systems and develop new or alternative ideas for systems to improve performance.

College and Career Readiness Anchor Standards for Speaking and Listening (CCR-S&L)  CCR – S&L Comprehension and Collaboration 1. Students prepare for and participate effectively in a range of conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively. 2. Students integrate and evaluate information presented in diverse media formats, including visually, quantitatively, and orally. 3. Students evaluate a speaker’s point of view, reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric.  CCR – S&L Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas 4. Students present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to tasks, purpose, and audience. 6.Students adapt speech to a variety of contexts and communicative tasks, demonstrating command of formal English when indicated or appropriate.

 Definition and history of Transactional Analysis; Interpersonal Skills; Employability Skills; Systems; Troubleshoot; Workplace Readiness; Modes of communication in Transactional Analysis: critical parent, nurturing parent, adult, ok child, not ok child; characteristics, body language, language, and tone of voice in T.A; parallel and contaminated transactions; PAC man model; definition of insanity.

 Trans =  Across (persons, places, things, ideas)  Action =  To do  Analysis =  Breaking something down into parts in order to understand the whole.  Transactional Analysis  is breaking down interpersonal communication into separate parts so that we can understand exchanges between two or more people.

 Early 1890’s – Sigmund Freud began to theorize that the unconscious mind had determining effects on emotions.  1923 – Freud’s “structural theory" - id, ego, and superego were presented to explain our emotional/mental states.  1950’s – Eric Burne (trained in Freud’s theories) develops his ideas in order to explain how personality can affect communication.  1960’s - Berne considered how individuals interact with one another, and how the ego states affect each set of transactions.  TA is born!

 At any given time, a person experiences and manifests their personality through a mixture of behaviors, thoughts and feelings. Typically, according to TA, there are three ego-states that people consistently use:  Parent: a state in which people behave, feel, and think in response to an unconscious mimicking of how their parents (or other parental figures) acted, or how they interpreted their parent's actions. For example, a person may shout at someone out of frustration because they learned from an influential figure in childhood the lesson that this seemed to be a way of relating that worked.  Adult: a state of the ego which is most like a computer processing information and making predictions absent of major emotions that could affect its operation. Learning to strengthen the Adult is a goal of TA. While a person is in the Adult ego state, he/she is directed towards an objective appraisal of reality.  Child: a state in which people behave, feel and think similarly to how they did in childhood. For example, a person who receives a poor evaluation at work may respond by looking at the floor, and crying or pouting, as they used to when scolded as a child. Conversely, a person who receives a good evaluation may respond with a broad smile and a joyful gesture of thanks. The Child is the source of emotions, creation, recreation, spontaneity and intimacy. Critical Parent Nurturing Parent Adult OK Child NOT OK Child

 In groups, read and discuss the characteristics of T.A. Each group will be responsible for one of the Modes.  Group 1 – Critical Parent  Group 2 – Nurturing Parent  Group 3 – Adult  Group 4 – OK Child  Group 5 – Not OK Child On butcher paper, each group make a list of the most important characteristics of your assigned mode. You will present these to the class, so write them big.

 In this activity you will be categorizing the index cards with characteristics for different TA communication modes under one of the five TA modes by placing your cards on the correct poster and title.  I will give you two min. to decide which poster to put your cards on.  Example: if you have an index card that says “critical”, you would place it on the poster that is labled “Critical Parent”.

 In your spiral notebook, answer these three questions: 1. Who do you know who operates primarily from the Critical Parent mode? Explain why. 2. Who do you know who operates primarily from the Adult mode? Explain why. 3. Who do you know who operates primarily from the OK Child mode? Explain why.

Place the following situations on the TA work-line in your notebooks. How do you respond during a conflict with a parent at home? Small argument with friend at school? A conversation with a teacher? Meeting an employer?

 Write eight scenarios involving home, school, work, and relationships with significant others (two scenarios each) so you can practice using your TA skills. Scenarios must include two characters, a scene, and a conflict to resolve.  Examples:  Home – Father is waiting up on Friday night when his teenage son comes home one hour after curfew. Write Scenarios on 5” X 7” index cards.