"I" Messages Activity

I did this activity yesterday to start teaching the students about "I" messages. I was teaching on communication yesterday and I was talking about listening skills and then I was going to go into "I" messages. I kept going on about the listening skills until a student talked when I was talking. I immediately snapped at the kid. I said, "You are bugging me. You are so annoying. You are so obnoxious. I just can't stand it anymore." The poor kid looked like he was going to pee his pants. I then said I was just kidding, but then lead a discussion on how it made him feel, and how it made others in the class feel. The important thing when doing this is to never say the event that happened. Like I never told the student it's because he was talking when I was yelling at him. In another class I had a student snap back at me when I was yelling. This worked out really well too because I showed the class that when we attack someone, the other person may become defensive. After we had a discussion about how being attacked made people feel, I turned it into an "I" message and said it to the student again. He then said he would have been way more apologetic if I would have said it that way.

It's really shocking for students so make sure you pick a student that can handle it. They normally are the ones talking out any way. It's really effective too especially since I am not a yeller. The students said that it wasn't so surprising that a teacher was yelling, it was surprising that I was yelling. Students laugh afterword but it's a really effective way to get your message across.

Then we finished with a worksheet on "I" messages and I made students share each situation and turn the "You" statement into and "I" statement.

Becca