Disagree Agreeably

I have a rotten, awful, racist teacher...and I'm going to sit in his class and do nothing!

That is what we call 'stinkin' thinkin'!'

They get paid, and you have to take the class all over again.

They win...you lose.

Designing the SCORE program, I had a version of that conversation many times.

When our students (or children) are angry at us, they either "wall off" or "act out."  Using our study skills curriculum, we ask them to "build a bridge back to learning...not a wall, and not a war."  We teach them to "disagree agreeably."  To do that, they are to:

1. Ask non-threatening questions
2. Provide new information
3. Put assumptions into words and ask for clarification

Our middle school students are especially excited to learn this valuable skill.  We have to tell them they won't win every argument that way, but they'll win a lot more.

Eventually, we teach them about "win-win."  When they learn how to question or disagree without accusing, they're on their way.

"Communication Skills" is what we call the "forgotten study skill."  We tell our students to listen and take notes; but to do that without the skills to discern what is important and to ask for clarification sets them up for failure.  They may get something down in writing, but it won't always be an important point.

Check out our Study Skills Curriculum.  It will help you empower your students to learn so you can spend your time with them doing creative things instead of reviewing the basics.