12 Tips For Making Friends + Reflections on the First Week of Class

 It was great to meet everyone this week while kicking off the first semester! As a reminder, "About Me" sheets will be sent today via email, and I am still collecting photos for the homeroom collage along with student emails. We talked today about how an "About Me" presentation can range from a freestyle speech riffing off the questions to a tech-assisted slideshow. It's completely up to students how much they wish to put time into it.

The discussion this week around the topic of friendship was insightful and engaging. Every homeroom has a different chemistry, and it's an absolute honor to connect them in this online space.

Mini-Lesson Topic: 8 Common Questions About Friendship and 12 Tips For Making Friends

This week we focused on making friends in an online environment. Of course, these skills are transferable to other relationships as well. We started off with a list of common questions about friendship. One item on the list we narrowed in on involved being friends with students who are different ages (the homerooms can span in age from 8-12). Students who are gifted in particular seem to thrive at making friends much older than them and much younger than them. We talked about why that might be. 

Then we moved on to 12 tips for keeping and making friends. 

1. Reach out (tactfully).
2. Get involved.
3. Let people know you are interested in their lives.
4. Work on being a good listener.
5. Let people know you.
6. Avoid arrogance (What is the difference between confidence and arrogance?)
7. Be honest.
8. Infuse your honesty with kindness.
9. Share wins and losses.
10. Do your share of the work.
11. Be accepting but assertive.
12. Keep competitiveness in check.

Optional Journal Questions:

- Looking at the list above, do you see one tip you find paramount for building a strong relationship with a friend?
- Do you have a topic above that is a particular strength for you?
- Do you have a topic above you need to work on?

That's all for this week! As always, you can look at the curriculum tab on this website to see what gifted psychology topics are coming up next.