GRADES K-3
Specific Session Objective
Students will recognize
and name emotions they have felt, and recognize the difference between
feelings and actions.
Terms
thought
feeling I emotion action
Session Materials
list of emotional scenarios
short prepared story with varying emotional
levels
Polaroid camera with film (optional)
masking tape
Session Content
1. With students in a circle, go around the
room and ask each student to describe how they are feeling right now in
one word. Record the emotions on a chalkboard if desired. Accept words
for feelings or emotions only, not thoughts or actions. When similar emotions
like anxious and nervous come up, ask for the differences. Ask the students
if any of them have ever felt an emotion that is not yet up on the board,
i.e. worried, lonely, nervous. Ask for incidents that caused these emotions.
Using their faces only at first, ask the students to show what emotions
might look like as you call them out. Then allow them to engage the rest
of their bodies, asking them to freeze in each emotion. Spotlight exceptional
physical representations of emotions. If possible, take a polaroid of three
or four students showing each emotion, and continue the exercise until
each student has had their picture taken.
2. Establish definitions for thoughts (what
we think), actions (what we do), and emotions (how we feel). Explain the
relationship between thinking, doing and feeling. With the students still
seated in a circle on the floor, present them with these lines of dialogue
(they may also be written on the chalk board):
A. Good morning.
B. Hello.
A. Is this my newspaper?
B. I think so.
A. Thank you.
B. See you.
Have the students say the series of lines
out loud together several times, as a group, boys only, girls only, etc.,
until the sound of it is very familiar to them. Show the students two lines
of masking tape that you have laid down to represent two adjacent doors.
Divide the class into two groups, "A" and "B" and ask each group to take
their place behind one of the "doors." Place a rolled up newspaper between
the doors, equidistant from each one. Instruct the students that an "A"
person and a '~" person will come out of the doors at the same time. Before
each enters the scene, the leader will read them a scenario or what has
just happened to them and they will decide how they are feeling and share
it with the class. (For example: "This morning, the President of the United
States called you to tell you that you've won the Greatest Kid in the World
Award" or "You watched a scary movie last night in which the monster snuck
up on people by waiting for them outside their front doors"). Using the
lines of dialogue, they will play the scene using the the emotions they
have derived from the scenario. The leader can use note cards prepared
ahead of time with scenarios written on them.
3. Use the following story as a starter, (or
a similar one of your own) emphasizing its different emotional levels.
The students will imagine that they are you (the leader) as you tell the
story in first-person. They are to use their bodies to pantomime the action
of the narrator and the emotion the narrator is feeling while moving freely
about the space:
One day when I was feeling very happy, my
class went on a trip to the circus. As I climbed aboard the school bus,
I was very excited about seeing the circus, and a little nervous about
being away from school. The bus ride was very long, and as I rode I gazed
out of the window and watched birds flying by. This made me feel very peaceful.
When we arrived at the circus, I climbed out of the bus and stepped right
in front of a huge elephant! As I gazed up his long gray trunk towering
over my head, I was terrified! *
* As you bring the story to its climax, halt
the action by freezing the students. Discuss how the students are feeling
at this very moment (as their character in the story). Then ask them why
they are feeling this way. Do they like feeling this way and why? What
could they do to change the way they are feeling? (Take a deep breath,
be still and quiet, back away from the elephant, etc.) Continue the pantomime,
allowing the students their choice of action. How did it work to change
the way they were feeling? Bring the story to a close.
Session Assessment
1. Erase the emotions from the board and ask
the students to name the emotions that they played with feeling today.
Review any differences between similar emotions that may come up.
2. With regard to the second activity, ask
the students to talk about the emotions that they played. Ask for volunteers
to recall and relate the scenario that made them feel that way. How did
the way they were feeling effect what they did in the scene?
3. When someone is feeling a negative emotion,
what might they do to change the way they are feeling? What would happen
if they didn't do anything about it?
Relevant References in Goleman's Emotional
Intelligence: pp. 194, 96-97, 162
Developed by Carol Lanoux
GRADES 4-5
Session Objective
Students will practice
speaking their feelings and active listening in conflict situations.
Terms: listening
Warm-up:
Telephone- Class sits in a circle. Leader
whispers a "secret" in the ear of the player to one side, Who whispers
the secret to the next person, and so on. Players remain silent when not
passing the secret and may not repeat the secret; the receiver simply passes
on what they think they heard. When the secret comes back to its starting
place, the person who started it tells the group what they originally said
and what actually got back to them. Repeat a few times, allowing different
players to start the secret.
Discuss why the "secret" might have gotten
so distorted. What can the listener do to make sure they hear the whisperer
correctly, without getting louder? Using the class's suggestions, change
the rules to facilitate good listening. Techniques may include asking the
speakers to repeat themselves, repeating the secret back to the speaker
to make sure it is correct before passing it on, and even using written
language.
Discussion- ask class what problems may happen because of poor communication. Who is responsible for good communication?
Speaker's responsibility:
Players find their own space in the room,
and respond to the following coaching from the leader (or similar coaching
better suited to the class population):
1. You're playing with a ball or a jump rope
during recess and when you put it down to tie your shoe, someone takes
it for themselves. What would you say to that person? Imagine they're standing
in front of you, and say it out loud. Now think- did you call them names
or attack who they are (I hate you, you stink, etc.)? Did you threaten
them? Did you try to tell them what to do? Did you tell them how you really
feel? What do you need to tell them so they know how you feel and what
they could do to make you feel better. Say it out loud.
2. Imagine your parents have decided to move far away and you don't want to leave your friends or your house or anything else you like about living here. Who do you talk to about it? What do you say to them? Did you say how you feel? Could you say it more clearly?
Listener's responsibility:
1. Find a partner to work with. Take turns
being the speaker and listener. The speaker picks one of the situations
we just played with (or another one created by the class, teacher, or individual
students) and tells the listener who they are in the situation. Play out
the situation up to the speaker telling how they feel. Now listeners, before
you respond with your own ideas or feelings, check to make sure you heard
what you were told. Tell the speaker what you heard and ask if you have
it right. Speakers- clarify as best you can anything the listener didn't
seem to hear the way you meant it. Continue until speaker and listener
agree on what has been said. Now continue with the situation. Listeners,
tell the speakers how you feel about what happened and what you just heard.
Speakers, repeat it to them until you both agree on what was said.
2. Depending on the complexity of the
situation, the leader may elect to have the pairs continue to try to resolve
the situation, or move on to another situation in which the players reverse
their starting roles (listeners become speakers and visa versa).
Assessment
Discuss the work. Ask what players observed
about communication both as speakers and listeners. What can you do when
someone isn't listening or doesn't care how you feel?
References in Emotional Intelligence: 111-126,
145-147, 264-267, 275-276
Created by Doyl Ott
GRADES 6-8
SESSION OBJECTIVE
1. Students will practice good listening skills.
2. Students will learn what "I" messages are
and practice using them instead of blame.
LESSON MATERIALS: list of scenarios to create scenes with strong emotional content
Session Content
1. Gossip: Line the students up in one single-file
line around the room. Whisper a sentence very softly into the ear of the
first student. The sentence should be fairly long and complex in structure
and include a name or two The student turns to the next person and repeats
the sentence as they hear it into the ear of the next person in line. The
sentence continues to be passed down the line this way. It is important
that each person whisper very softly and repeat exactly what they heard,
not what they think it's supposed to be. If some of it turns into gibberish,
that's alright. The last person in the line repeats what the hear out loud
for the class to hear. Compare the results to the original sentence. How
did it change? Is it longer or shorter? Did the verbs in the sentence change?
Were any names lost? Some variations on this might be: play loud music
while the secret is passed; start out a nonsensical sentence to see if
it makes more sense when it gets to the end; make the content of the sentence
trivial and mundane and start another sentence that is has some juicy"
information in it and see how they compare at the end.
2. Dubbing Game: Pair the class up and work
with two pairs at a time. Two students sit in the playing area and their
two partners are seated in the audience area downstage left and right.
The students in the playing area are given a who, what, where, why, and
when to improvise with They are to do all of the improvisation physically,
but when they open their mouths no sound comes out. Their respective partners
must provide the scene's dialogue track, speaking only for the partner
they've been assigned to. It is important that the students see themselves
as a team. The "acting" students must listen very closely to the dialogue
that is being provided for them and let it feed their physical choices.
Also the "dubbing" students must watch their partners very closely and
let their movements and physical choices as they act out the scene feed
the vocal choices they make. The "dubbing" students should not look at
each other. They must stay very focused on their partner. Neither of the
teammates is the leader.
As they get used to the game there should
be a give and take between partners both sharing the responsibility for
which way the scene will go. After each scene discuss with the class what
they saw. Was the leadership shared by the partners or did one of them
dominate the choices made in the scene? Did the "dubbing" students really
watch their partners closely, or did they miss some physical clues and
provide mismatched dialogue? Did the ':acting" students really listen to
their partners closely, or did they miss some verbal clues that should
have driven the scene in another direction? What happens when one of the
partners is not really listening or watching?
3. "I" Messages: Prepare a list of scenarios
that you can .use to create these scenes. Pick scenarios with strong emotional
content Like anger, grieving, humiliation, etc. Set up the scenarios so
that someone who is not in the scene is. the cause of the problem and make
sure that the students. in the scene know who that person is and the role
they played in the pretext. Two students .are chosen 10 act out the role
play. When setting up the scenario with the "troubled'! character, send
the other student out Of the room so that their entrance is informed with
only the very necessary information, i.e. the relationship of the two students,
any shared information from .the pretext,. etc.
When the scene begins, the "listening" student
must ask the "troubled" student questions tO find out what happened and
how to help. Have half of the students in the classroom write down every
time they hear someone use a blaming word or try to place fault on
someone else. Have the other half of the classroom listen for "I" messages
and write them down. Be careful that the "listening" student does not get
into a storytelling rut of asking endless questions about the story. Also
the "listening" student should avoid giving advice. The goal should bean
agreed upon response to the emotions or a plan .of action worked out between
the. two students so that the "trouble" student has had major input in
deciding what to do next. Remember it does not have to solve the problem..
It can be as simple as "I need to be alone right now and listen to some
music."
Discuss each scene with .the class. Have the
students point out times that blaming language was used. Have the students
point out the limes "I" messages were used well. They. should .be specific,
i.e. quote the dialogue whenever possible using their notes. Discuss how
the questions were asked and if any advice was. given Discuss the physical
aspects of good listening. Work with the class. to develop a criteria for
assessing the use of "I" messages versus blaming language Work with .the
class on a list of the characteristics of good listener. Be sure to include:
physical dynamics like eye contact; body language like folding your .arms;
tone of voice and volume; and the content of the questions.. keep doing
scenes practicing the techniques that the class identifies.
Lesson Assessment
1. Ask the students to write a paragraph describing
a time that someone did a good job of listening to them when they had a
problem. Have them try. to pinpoint in detail what that person did well
and how it helped.. The content of. the problem is not necessarily important,
so if the time they are writing about is too personal, they can substitute
a fictitious event.
2. Give the students a scenario and ask them
to imagine themselves as one of the characters. Tell them to write five
sentences that their character might say using blaming language. Then have
them write five sentences using "1" messages that their character might
use.
Emotional Intelligence Reference: pp. 145-147,
26~267.
DESIGNED BY: Warren Baumgart Jr.
GRADES 9-12
Specific Session Objective
Students will allow peers to express opinions
openly and honestly in a non-hostile atmosphere and will learn to communicate
differences of opinion from a first person point of view.
Terms
Communication First Person Emotional Hijacking
Session Materials
One stopwatch.
Index cards with topical philosophical/moral
issues of the day written on them; one for
each member of the class. Examples: Capital
punishment, abortion, teenage sexuality.
Session Content
1. Instructor will randomly distribute index
cards to the class. Students will retreat to their own space in the room
and begin to formulate a first person narrative detailing their own feelings
on the subject they have been assigned.
2. When students reconvene, instructor will take volunteers to be "hot-seated". That student will then step to the front of the class and, timed by instructor or his/her aide, will speak in the first person for one minute about their personal feelings on the topic that he or she has been assigned.
3. When the student's time is complete, other students in the class will also be given one minute to respond, also in the first person, by asking questions or by offering polite commentary of the "I feel" or "I think" nature. Instructor will have discussed emotional hijacking and cautioned the students not to be enslaved by their feelings.
4. Continue the exercise until every student has had the opportunity to be hot-seated.
5 All students should retreat to their own
space in the room and write their reactions to the issues discussed in
their journals. These will not be shared. Let them know that this is their
time to "let go" of their feelings on the issues themselves, to "shake
them
off' and that when the group reconvenes,
the discussion will be about the communication techniques displayed and
not about the issues themselves.
Session Assessment
1. In a post-exercise discussion, ask each class member how they feel. How did they feel about their own ability to express opinions in a non-confrontational manner?
2. Ask the class to discuss moments which were effective in each discussion. Did phrasing questions and commentary from an "I" standpoint make people feel less attacked?
Relevant References in Goleman's Emotional
Intelligence: pp.193-194
Designed by Mark Armstrong
