Overview

  • In this unit you will have the opportunity to practice a mindfulness moment that you or a classmate has posted inthe discussion board.
  • In this unit, the concept of developing and adapting your interpersonal network is explored.
  • In this unit, DEAR MAN and GIVE tools for effectively communicating with your network are introduced and you have an opportunity to practice them.

Unit 9 addresses your fleet — the friends, family, and acquaintances sailing their boats alongside yours on your life journeys.

Bridge Exercises

Why This Matters: Any new approach to communication requires practice. This exercise gives you the opportunity to use the GIVE framework in a conversation with a family member or peeer.

Identify a trusted adult or a friend who you’d like to intentionally use GIVE with. They don’t even have to know. Spend a few minutes or longer with them and see which parts of GIVE you can practice while talking to them. Then write a paragraph about your experience.

You might write about the ways you were gentle during the conversation, what you did to show your interest in what your conversation partner said, what you did to validate your conversation partner, and whether you used any humor or what you did to demonstrate an easygoing manner.

  • Gentle.
  • Interested.
  • Validating.
  • Easygoing.

Why This Matters: As you’ve entered college, you’ve likely found yourself in new social situations and this is something that will continue. Thinking about how you might interact with fellow captains in new contexts can help you feel more confident and open the door to new, exciting interpersonal relationships.

College students talking and laughing

Read each of the following social situations. In a notebook or using a digital medium, describe a few opportunities and obstacles that each situation presents. Then summarize how you would approach this social situation to make the most of it.

  • Social Situation: Meeting a coworker at a new job.              Details: You’ve just started your new job, and there’s another new employee close to your age.
  • Social Situation: Meeting your new college instructor, a graduate student.                     Details: You enrolled in English 101 at college. The class instructor is a graduate student who’s just a few years older than you.
  • Social Situation: Meeting your new roommate.                   Details: You’re living on your own for the first time, and you’ve just met your roommate. You two are sharing a two-bedroom apartment.

Why This Matters: Making friends is easy for some and more difficult for others. Many people think that the older you get, the more challenging it is to meet new people. This activity offers some ideas, advice, and tips from other young people on how to start new friendships.

Unit 9 Survey

Answer the following questions about your experience with Unit 9.

This survey has been completed

Session Survey
1. I learned new knowledge and/or skills from this unit.
2. The content of this unit was relevant to my needs as a college student.
3. The website content and bridge exercises for this unit enhanced my learning experience and reinforced the concepts I learned in the course material..
4. The scope of these bridge exercises was appropriate for the time I have to dedicate to this program.
5. Overall, I was satisfied with this unit.