Idiosyncratic

Day 95:

Beginning today I'll be teaching an enrichment class on Mondays after school. The class is titled Speech and Communications, but I'll most definately be focusing on the Communications half of that set-up.

So like most first days we tended to some housekeeping and started the day with a defining of terms.

What is communication?

The students took a few minutes to jot down their defintions.

Meanwhile, I drafted the textbook definition I learned in college out on the board...

Communications is the process whereby symbols are manipulated, in order to construct meaning, so that a message can be created, delivered, and decoded.

Now when I throw something like this on the board, it is meant to convey the complexities of the topic at hand. I have every intention of providing an explanation using everyday words, of bridging the vernacular gap.

And then a student shares her answer, "Communication is the sharing of ideas."

Bingo.

Toay I re-learned words are a value commodity.
Today I learned that when it comes to words, we don't need an economic recession to practice the approach of Less is More.
Today I learned that this Speech and Communication is going to be a lot of fun.

What have you learn today?

What ideas have you shared?