Say Something Lesson Plan
Say Something Lesson Plan
Say Something Lesson Plan
MESSAGE TO ABC READERS The focus of this book is to provide students with more tools for their asset building and bully prevention kit. The Bully Triangle and term UP-stander are both introduced and practiced in this lesson. Say Something by Peggy Moss Say Something is the story of a girl who witnesses bully behaviors, acts as a bystander and learns an important lesson about standing up for others. I liked this book because it told me to make friends with someone being bullied. 2nd grader Asset Information: The book builds assets from 6 of the 8 categories: Support Positive Identity Positive Values Empowerment Social Competencies Boundaries and Expectations Say Something focuses especially on assets #5 Caring School Climate, #15 Positive Peer Influence, #28 Integrity, #33 Interpersonal Competence and #37 Personal Power. Say Something is a call to action for all of us to move from the familiar role of bystander to the integrity-rich role of UP-stander. Types of Bullying Addressed: In this book, the narrator observes peers being physically, verbally and relationally bullied. Name-calling, pushing, excluding and teasing are all behaviors the narrator observes or experiences. Her response to these behaviors changes as she gains understanding and empathy. This short books message to say something is delivered with sensitivity and purpose. In our lesson today, our goals are to provide students with concrete examples of bully behaviors and to discuss strategies for safely responding to verbal, physical and relational bullying.
LESSON
students. For example, 1st graders may want to talk about the general feelings of uncertainty they may have when observing bully behaviors. Older students may benefit from spending more time in detailed discussion and sharing about the passive role of bystanders and the power of becoming UP-standers.
Conversation Starter: Please adapt the following script ideas to meet the needs of your
I love coming to read at our school. I like seeing all of your faces and saying hello to you. It makes me feel great to know that this is a safe place where I belong. But, I know that not all kids feel safe at school. Some kids are worried, worried about bully behaviors; things like pushing, or name calling, teasing or being left out. Why do you think somebody might be worried about coming to school? Record student responses on chart or poster paper. Comment, That is a bully behavior, when appropriate. Refer to reference page: Types of Bully Behaviors for prompts. Today in the United States, 160,000 kids did not come to school. Not because they twisted their ankle playing soccer or because they have a sore throat. They decided not to come to school today because they were worried. They were worried about the kind of stuff we wrote on our chart. Read the book: I know that when you feel safe and cared for at school, you have more fun, you like coming to school and you even do better on tests! Feeling safe, and feeling like you belong at school are really important for you to do your best! Before we finish our ABC Lesson today, I am going to ask each of you to think of something you could SAY or DO to make all kids at our school feel like they belong. To give you some ideas, I want to read to you this months book: Say Something. (Show Book) This short little book has a really big message. It might give YOU an idea about something YOU could say or do to make all kids feel like they belong at our school! Hint: The book ends rather abruptly. When you get to the last page, slowly close the book with the cover facing the students and say, And, that is the end of that story. Wait for a moment.
Discussion: Please adapt the time spent on this discussion to the needs of
your group. Younger students might share their ideas with the group with the ABC Reader assisting with prompts and comments. Older students might report their ideas to the large group after a few minutes of small group discussion time.
1. Have you ever felt left-out, alone? 2. Have you ever seen someone being treated badly and just not known what to do? 3. While I was reading this book, did you think of any ideas for things you could SAY or DO to make all kids feel like they belong at our school? Group Activities: The goal of this part of the activity is to re-frame the role of bystander and promote the role of UP-stander. The bystander gives away personal power and fails to use opportunities to promote a caring school climate by remaining silent and inactive. UP-standers promote the positive values we want to see more of in our community: honesty, courage, integrity, personal power, responsibility, caring, empathy, sensitivity, friendship skills, and positive peer influence. (Please gauge the attention span and maturity of your audience and adapt the following ideas to the needs of your group.)
In advance, draw the Bully Triangle on chart paper. See example in Resources. Explain each role: Bully behavior: We have all done it. Excluded someone, made fun of someone, pushed or tripped someone, called someone a name, spread a rumor. Bully behaviors are directed at a target. Target: We have all been there, too. The target is the person who is feeling left out, alone, the person being hurt, laughed at or made fun of. Bystander: The person standing by, watching, waiting, wondering what to do. By remaining silent, bystanders can give the person doing the bully behavior the impression that they think it is OK. Sometimes bystanders will join in with the bully behavior and laugh at the target, because they are nervous or do not know what to do.
Group Skit Help students perform a skit to illustrate the dynamics of the Bully Triangle (as described, above). The goal of this part of the activity is to provide a safe environment for practicing new skills. As students practice specific UP-stander skills, many are understandably timid. Trying out these new techniques in the safe, supportive classroom allows students to practice taking risks in a caring, controlled environment. Announce: THIS is no ordinary triangle. THIS is the Bully Triangle! At the top of the Bully Triangle is ME! The biggest, the baldest, the meanest, the scariest bully at our whole school (do this with a wink to acknowledge that you are acting!). And you know what bullies like to do Look for a target, someone to bother, to bug, to push, to make fun of, to exclude Draw or point to the word target on the lower right corner of the triangle. If you are the target, it feels scary. It feels awful. It is pure misery! It is kind of like the bully has a bow and arrow and is just looking for that target (pantomime with your bow and arrow as you stalk around the room, making eye contact with potential targets). If you think the bully might be after YOU, what happens to your heart rate? Are you worried? Are you relieved when the bully passes you by? Are you worried for your friends? Pretend to fire your arrow at a target. (Bing!) Ask the target, Will you help me with a pretend skit? If they refuse, ask for a volunteer. Send the target volunteer to the far, far end of the room. (Encourage everybody to clap and give their total support to the volunteer for participating in the skit, as they walk away.) Return to poster. Draw an arrow from the bully to the target. The bully has her/his eye on the target! o Ask the class, Who do you think is in the last corner of the Bully Triangle? Answer: Bystanders. Draw or point to the word bystanders on the lower left corner of the triangle. (Refer to definition of bystander on page 3 for your explanation.) Ask the target: Hey, how does it feel way over there? Alone? By yourself? Nobody helping? Everybody just standing by, watching? Well, let me see if we can get some bystander to figure out a way to help you out.
Choose a volunteer. Ask the volunteer to quietly go stand next to the target. They do not need to say anything, just stand next to them. Ask the target: How does that feel, now? Ask for another volunteer. o Repeat the process. Stand at the side of the target. o Ask target: How does that feel, now? Return to chart: These kids took a risk. They stood up. They went over and stood next to the target. When a person stands up for another person, I call them an UP-stander. Cross out Bystander and write UP-stander in lower left of triangle! These kids stood by their friend. They made their friend feel like they belong, just by standing near them. They made their friend know that s/he was not alone. They have her/his back! Draw a line to show the connection between the UP-stander and the Target. 1. Add the word: INFLUENCE. This is positive peer pressure in action! Friends influence friends to do the right thing. Definition of an UP-stander: The person who SAYS or DOES something to influence either the target or the person doing the bully behavior. An UP-stander uses positive peer influence to help change the bully behavior and give support to the target. UP-standers make their peers feel like they belong. To a kid in trouble, an UP-stander is a hero. Ask for another volunteer to be an UP-stander. Ask this volunteer to do something a little harder to say something! o Go on over and tell XXX to come with you. You and the target are going to stand a little closer to the teacher/yard duty. You do not need to tell the adult what is going on. Just be there for your friend and go with them, next to the adult. Check with target, How does that feel now? Check with audience: o I know that I am the biggest, the baldest, the most feared bully in all of our school But, doesnt my target look pretty tough right now? That is a person I do not want to mess with! Why? The target has friends, is near an adult. The target has people ready to be an UP-stander and give help! (Thank all of the skit participants with a round of applause.)
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By using your influence, you UP-standers kept the target safe, you made the target feel support, caring and gave s/he a sense of belonging. You made the targets day! For upper grade students, continue Skit: UP-standers can build assets in their peers. Create a posse for the bully! Show how the bullys friends can be UP-standers, too. They can influence the bully to choose a positive behavior! Choose 3 volunteers to be the bullys friends. o You may want to comment, at this point, that we may not know why the bully is mean, or why these people are friends with the bully. Maybe the bully is angry or sad. Maybe the bully is treated like a target at home. Maybe there is some reason that we will never know. But, the bullys friends can still influence the bully. The bullys friends can give the bully some other ideas for things to do for entertainment instead of teasing, name calling, pushing, excluding, etc. So, lets say that the bully loves nachos, loves basketball and hates going to detention! The ABC reader, pretending to be the bully, will tell the friends, Hey, I am going to go over and call XXX a name! Come on! It will be so funny! o Give the actors a chance to persuade you to do something else, based upon what they know about you! Ask the target (even if they are not in this part of the skit), how does it feel to know that the bullys friends can help out, too? Return to the Bully Triangle and draw a line from the UP-standers to the bully with the word: INFLUENCE. The bullys friends can influence the bully to do the right thing, too! They can be UP-standers! Closing: Three-Minute Huddle (Led by ABC parent) At the end of the lesson, prepare the students for their new role as UP-standers by asking for specifics! Two Circles Ask students to form 2 circles, one inside the other so that each student on the inner circle faces a student on the outer circle (these are their circle partners).
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Give students one example of something you will SAY or DO at school to be an UP-stander (greet students by name, smile, say hello, listen, be an adult friend). Ask students to tell their circle partner one thing what they will SAY or DO to be an UP-stander at their next recess time. If time permits, have each circle take a step to the right and tell their new circle partner what they will SAY or DO. It is OK to learn from others and change your answers as you move around the circle! Finish up with a challenge: Ask students to be on the look-out for opportunities to Make somebodys day wonderful By being an UP-stander! Ask them to be on the look-out for kids who might like a smile, who might want to join their game or sit with them at lunchtime, etc. Ask students to report back after recess for another Three-Minute Huddle with their teacher.
With each example, tear the poster in half! Dramatically, tear the poster into bits as the kids share what they could SAY or DO to get rid of those bully behaviors! Closing comments: We UP-standers need to SAY and DO something to get rid of those bully behaviors! By moving away from being a bystander and becoming an UP-stander, we UP-standers make every kid know they belong at our safe and caring school! The goal of this activity is to empower students by replacing worries with intentional, purposeful actions to promote a safe, caring school for all kids! Make caring and compassion cool! I am an UP-stander Booklet:
Materials: 1 Booklet for each student
Help students brainstorm as a group and complete each page of the booklet. Page 1: I Am An UP-stander Ask students to write their name on the line. When they finish the booklet, draw a self-portrait on the cover. Page 2: What will they SAY? Write and draw responses. Ask for specific things (ask them to join a game, say hi, ask an adult for help). Page 3: What will they DO? Write and draw responses. Ask for specific things (smile, stand next to them, ask them to play closer to the yard duty, eat lunch with them) Page 4: If they finish early, ask students to complete their self-portrait on the cover. Assets for UP-standers: More Three-Minute Huddles Before and after each recess, engage kids in conversation about what they can SAY and DO to be an UP-stander. Re-direct worries/complaining by asking the group to contribute ideas for what an UP-stander could SAY or DO. Use a Three-Minute Huddle to gather specific ideas for UP-standers. Spend a Three-Minute Huddle discussing the Support Assets. Ask students for specific examples of what they could SAY or DO to build the Support Assets at school. Record their responses on Chart Paper. Following recess, use another Three-Minute Huddle to have students report their experiences promoting the Support Assets. Celebrate the opportunities your UP-standers took to Make somebodys day wonderful! Over the course of several weeks, repeat the process for each asset category (8 categories). Before long, your Three-minute Huddle will become a quick, daily review of specific asset building techniques!
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Homework: I Am An UP-stander booklet: If the booklet was completed as an Enrichment Activity, ask students to share the booklet with their family. The goal of this activity is to promote positive family communication and parent involvement in school (Assets #2, #6) while reinforcing the lesson for students.
Resources:
Types of Bully Behaviors Bully Triangle Illustrations Books: Bully Free Classroom; Allan L. Beane. Free Spirit Press Building Assets Together; Jolene Roehlkepartain. Search Institute More Building Assets Together; Rebecca Grothe. Search Institute Websites to visit: www.projectcornerstone.org www.preventinghate.org www.partnersagainsthate.org www.giraffe.org www.operationrespect.org Project Cornerstone offers: Expect Respect student training workshops Contact: Kelly@ ProjectCornerstone.org Staff Training Contact: Linda@ProjectCornerstone.org Parent Trainings Contact: Lori@ProjectCornerstone.org