Questions and Tips About Friendship

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 students in this online space!

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. Students who are gifted in particular seem to thrive at making friends much older than and much younger than them. We talked about why that might be. 

 Then we moved on to 12 tips for keeping and making friends using a slide-slow with ideas from "The Gifted Teens Survival Guide." 

 Here's a summary regarding the tips: 

1. Reach out. 
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? 

 Go Deeper: 

 
Famous Friends in History: 
Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton 
Helen Keller and Alexander Graham Bell 
Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass 
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson 
George Washington and Alexander Hamilton 
Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla

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