Delaware Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Healthy Relationships
Teach tweens and teens how to prevent dating and domestic violence with a unit on healthy relationships. The unit begins with class members taking a relationships survey. As the unit progresses, class members engage in activities that...
Department of Education (Ireland)
Decision Making
Think it through! That's the big takeaway from a series of lessons about decision-making. Young scholars engage in a series of exercises and activities designed to urge them to look at options, the pros, and cons of a course of action,...
Department of Education (Ireland)
Consequences
11 lessons, designed to be used in consecutive order, ask middle and high school scholars to consider the effects of various drugs and the consequences of taking them for themselves and their families. They also develop the communication...
Health Smart Virginia
Shark Tank - Mental Illnesses
Young entrepreneurs research and develop a Shark Tank-style pitch for a solution to help people who have a mental illness. After the presentations, research groups complete a rubric for each product and vote for the one product they feel...
Health Smart Virginia
Be Smart with Smartphones (and Screens)
Would you rather have a broken phone or a broken bone? This very engaging question launches a discussion about the smart use of smartphones and screens. Young scholars watch a series of videos, complete worksheets, and engage in...
Health Smart Virginia
Fitting In and Setting Healthy Boundaries
Saying "No" isn't easy. Setting healthy boundaries and sticking to them takes practice. A series of exercises enables sophomores to practice these skills and reflect on the difference between fitting in and belonging.
Health Smart Virginia
Ending the Silence on Mental Illness
To end the silence on mental illness, groups research a mental illness. They then create a scene-by-scene script, cast parts, and record a video that details the symptoms, causes, and treatment of the disorder. They also include what...
Health Smart Virginia
What's Up with Mindfulness
Mindfulness is all about paying attention to the present. Introduce freshmen to a stress-reducing tool that helps them pay close attention to what is happening, choose their behavior, and respond. Learners use a timeline to track their...
Health Smart Virginia
What Is Mindfulness?
Stop. Breathe. Think. A richly detailed instructional activity on mindfulness introduces freshmen to meditation as a coping strategy to deal with stress.
Health Smart Virginia
"SuperBetter" Stress Management
The goal of this Health Smart lesson is for freshmen to develop a personal system for coping with stress. They create a power-up list of things that make them feel happier, healthier, or better connected, identify people in their lives...
Health Smart Virginia
Stressed Out
Stress, eustress, distress. A step-by-step plan leads middle schoolers through a lesson about coping with stress. To gather background information, scholars watch a presentation, examine a list of positive coping skills, and read...
Health Smart Virginia
Compliment a Character
Compliments are true, specific, and positive. Crafting those compliments can be a challenge. Graciously accepting a compliment can also be a challenge. The first lesson in the Health Smart series designed for sixth graders provides them...
Teach With Movies
The Great Gatsby
Are you thinking about incorporating a film version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's classic novel in a study of The Great Gatsby? Check out a guide loaded with suggestions for how to supplement a reading of the novel with scenes from three film...
Newseum
Confronting Conformation Bias
Be curious! Seek out different opinions! Be conscious of your thinking process! After reading an article about confirmation bias and motivated reasoning, class members apply these strategies to the topic of school start times. They read...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity and Names
Would a rose smell as sweet, as Juliet Capulet asserts, if called by any other name? The importance of names and the connection between names and identity are examined in a lesson that explores identity in the United States. After...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity and Labels
Scholars look at the connections between identity and labels, assumptions, and stereotypes, in a lesson that examines identity in the United States. To set the stage for a discussion of these connections, class members analyze a cartoon,...
Facing History and Ourselves
Identity and Choices
Timshel! Thou mayest! is the big idea in a lesson that reminds learners that they have choices about how they present themselves to others. To begin, individuals rate the degree to which the choices they make each morning are influenced...
Facing History and Ourselves
Connecting to the Past
Young historians research the connections between their personal histories and the histories of our country to gain a deeper understanding of who they are. To begin, class members write about an object that they consider significant to...
Facing History and Ourselves
Many Voices, One National Identity
To conclude the unit on "Exploring Identity in the United States," pupils consider whether it is possible to combine many voices into one national identity. After creating an identity chart that lists words, phrases, and images that they...
Nebraska Department of Education
Blue Collar and Proud of It
There is a strong need for workers skilled in trades (agriculture, construction, transportation, the service industry, manufacturing, industry). Middle schoolers listen to an interview with a tradesperson and then go online to...
Nebraska Department of Education
Communication Skills
It's not just what you say but how you say it! That's the take-away from a lesson about verbal and non-verbal communication. An engaging activity has middle schoolers demonstrating how tone of voice and body language can totally change...
Overcoming Obstacles
Establishing What's Important
Being true to oneself can be difficult when faced with pressure from others. In this lesson, participants first list what they value and then role-play a series of scenarios that test these values. To conclude, individuals list three...
Nebraska Department of Education
This I Believe
As part of a Career Develop unit, eighth-graders reflect on their beliefs and values and consider how these beliefs might affect their relationships with friends and with colleagues when they join the workforce.
Nebraska Department of Education
Who Am I?
When people look in a mirror, they rarely see themselves as others see them. Tweens and teens can consider the significance of these disparities in a lesson that asks them to reflect on the kind of person they are and how they think...