Personalized System Instruction Communication Intern

Class Lecture Outline

November 26, 2013

I was selected to participate as an intern for the school of communication studies

during the fall semester of my junior year in college. I was paired up with a professor who
was teaching the Intro to Human Communication course (COMM 15000) and essentially
served as a student teacher/aide for the classroom. I was also featured in a newsletter to CCI
students announcing my new position as a PSI Communication Intern. I really enjoyed this
experience, because I had never served as a classroom instructor before. This gave me the
opportunity to contribute to other students understanding of communication and encourage
them to develop a potential love for this area of study as well. My responsibilities included
attending weekly classroom sessions, scheduling individual meetings with students,
proofreading speeches, keeping a journal of my experiences throughout the semester, and
preparing a lecture that I would instruct to the class. The topic of discussion I chose for my
personalized lecture was based on groups, conflict, and resolution. I constructed an outline
for my interactive lecture that would last the entire duration of the class while also keeping
the students engaged to the material. During this internship, I was able to develop peer
mentoring skills and help advise other students on their public speaking techniques. I now
feel comfortable now with being able to teach other people skills that I possess not only in
the communication discipline, but skills that can apply to the workplace as well.

Lecture: Groups, Conflict, & Resolution

Lesson Plan:
Class Introduction: Have candy
o Need to participate: will take volunteers, then call on people, if no response, then
automatically volunteer yourself to go first for group activity
Questions for students: How many been in a group? Had conflict?
o Therefore, everyone is a credible contributor to the discussion
Show and explain The Office conflict episode clip
Group definition: Small number of people (3-7) who have multiple face to face meetings
over an extended period of time who interact to achieve common goals.
3 main types of groups:
o Learning
o Self-maintenance
o Problem-solving
Diverse groups:
o Culture
o Gender
o Ethics
o Personality
o Technology/resources
Explain group diversity traits:
o Cohesiveness qualities that attract people to the group and willing to endure
challenges
o Synergy ability to work together
o Interdependent rely on each other
o Interactive participate: no dominating or social loafing
Group Norms vs. Rules:
o Rules- explicitly stated (examples)
o Norms implicitly stated (examples)
What is conflict?
o Definition
o Is it always bad?
o Why might conflict sometimes be good
Avoid groupthink
Relationships
Sources of conflict escalation defined:
o Each person has varying needs within the group: inclusion, control, openness
Openness/privacy
Connection/autonomy
Stability/change
o Attribution = how we explain the events on our lives
Perception is reality
o Assigning fault = takes 2 to tango
o Unethical behavior being deceived or manipulated

 Individual Conflict Styles:

o Passive
o Aggressive
o Passive-Aggressive
Conflict Styles Assessment:
o Give everyone in the class a conflict assessment test that I printed out
o Explanation: It is important to understand how you personally deal with conflict so
when you have conflict within a group setting, and you definitely will, youll be able
to play upon your strengths and work on your weaknesses to making coming to a
resolution more constructive and efficient
o Have them grade them to determine personal conflict managing style
Collaborating, competing, avoiding, harmonizing, compromising
Describe conflict outcomes:
o Win-win - best outcome
Both parties are able to get their needs met
o Compromise second best outcome
Both parties give up something
o Win-lose
Only one party gets their needs met
o Lose-lose
No one gets their needs met
Fairytale Activity:
o Work in your speech groups
o 10 minutes to construct a fairytale
Requirements on PowerPoint slide
o Must present it in front of class
o 4 unknown different distractions that will happen to each group:
Person absent, group member must sit down
Forgets notecards/outline takes speaking noted
External noise: drops books, phone goes off, music plays
People distractions: door open, interns talking to each other, background
chatter
Moral of the story:
o The show must go on!
o Be prepared on speech day no matter what
o Must learn to deal with group conflict and move forward towards the goal