SECTION IV
CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER RESOURCES
This section of the Instructor’s Resource Manual provides resources by chapter.
Teaching Resources
Chapter Outlines provide concise summaries for each chapter’s content. Instructors often read
assigned chapters several days or even weeks before teaching those chapters. In such cases, it’s
possible to forget some of the topics covered in a chapter or to remember them less clearly than
is desirable for teaching students. To assist instructors who do thorough readings of chapters well
in advance of classroom presentations, the summaries in this section furnish quick reviews to
refresh memory of coverage.
Learning Activities
Activities and exercises promote experiential learning by involving students in real or simulated
communication situations in which they can practice, observe, and assess skills. A good activity
teaches principles and spurs understanding of the conceptual bases of principles. Often, these
goals are accomplished in the process of debriefing an exercise after students complete it.
Instructional resources are NOT a substitute for conceptual discussions and they should NOT be
used to fill time in a classroom. Instead, activities, films, journals, and panels are teaching
resources. Like lectures and discussions, these resources clarify and fortify the content of a
Student Journals
Student journals are an important method of enriching learning. The journal, as a course
assignment, was discussed in Section I of this resource book. The journal can also be used as an
instructional resource if you elect to have students discuss journal entries during class. Asking
students to share what they’ve written, either in small groups or with the entire class, allows
Response Papers
A variation on the journal assignment is to use regular “response papers” as springboards for
class discussions. These short papers give students an opportunity to practice their paraphrasing
skills, develop their critical analysis skills, reflect on their own perspectives, and become more
comfortable speaking in the classroom. It can be useful to point out to students how often these
to be caught off guard. And, because students have prepared their responses ahead of time, they
are more comfortable participating and becoming involved in the discussions. For instructors,
these short papers are a useful diagnostic tool and a way of touching base and interacting with
students between exams, to see if they understand the materials, and to consider what may need
to be covered again or more fully in class meetings.
Test Items
The final section of each chapter resource provides sample examination questions for testing
comprehension of material covered in the textbook. The purpose of this section is not to present
a comprehensive test bank. Rather, it provides examples of appropriate questions for testing
students’ comprehension and retention of material covered in Communication in Our Lives.
LAUNCHING THE COURSE
Icebreakers
There are a variety of tried and true techniques for breaking the ice and allowing members of the
class to learn each other’s names. Here’s a sampling of conventional icebreaker activities.
• Have students sit in a circle. Ask one student to state her or his name. The second student
states his or her name and that of the first student. The third student states her or his name
and that of the first two students. This continues until all students have participated. At
the outset, you should assure students that lots of mistakes will be made and that’s okay.
and explain why. The content of introduction matters less than the process of getting
students acquainted and at ease with one another and involved in communicating.
Let’s Get Personal
This is an icebreaker that lets students get to know one another while also introducing
issues pertinent to the content concerns of the course.
can read what they have written. Encourage students to respond to ads they find
interesting.
After students have mingled for 10–20 minutes, ask them to be seated. Then ask one
student to name two people whose ads she or he responded to and two people whose ads
didn’t interest her or him. Discuss what about the ads attracts and dispels interest.
First Impressions
The exercise on the following pages is an adaptation of an exercise that many speech
teachers share and use. It can be useful for meeting one another and for beginning
discussions about perception and cognitive schemas, attribution and sense making, facts
and inferences, and how we rely on nonverbal cues to make sense of our social worlds.
(You can change these attributes if you like to be more community specific. And, you can
play along!)
Have students make name tags out of notebook paper and then place their chairs in a
especially in cases where several students picked someone and they were “wrong.” Ask
them to think about their assumptions and prototypes and stereotypes. Different classes
may have different results, but there are some typical results that you can count on.
Typically, students will rely on gender cues and stereotypes to make predictions for many
of these categories and you can point out these assumptions and any exceptions. Students
For each description listed below, please provide the name of a person that seems like they
would probably fit that description. Do this quickly, on the basis of your first impressions.
1. Goes to the professional theater more than twice a year __________________
2. Likes to cook __________________
4. Watches The Bachelor or Grey’s Anatomy on a regular basis __________________
6. Has cried at the movies in the last three months __________________
8. Drives a car that cost more than $20,000 __________________
10. Attends religious services every week __________________
12. Likes to write stories or poetry or music __________________
14. Plays the guitar __________________
16. Frequently skips classes __________________
18. Wants lots of kids (more than 3) __________________
20. Is a community volunteer __________________
22. Likes to play online games __________________
24. Works out at a gym more than three times a week __________________
What Color Is Your M&M?
This is an icebreaker that helps students to get acquainted on the first day of class. This activity
could also be used with Chapter 3 to establish personal identity.
Procedure (based on a class size of 20 students): Arrange students in five groups of four students.
Give each student a handful of M&M’s. Ask each student to pick his or her favorite color. Each
color will have a category that applies to the student’s life, but do not tell them what the category