What does "good behavior" look like? Set clear guidelines for what type of behavior is expected in different situations, and ensure your learners understand the verbal cues that you provide.

Middle schoolers learn how to "put stress to rest" by identifying their stress factors and the physical and emotional signs they exhibit when stressed. After the class brainstorms ways to handle these stressors, individuals commit to...

Three lessons delve deep into the topic of feelings and the importance of expressing one's emotions. Through grand conversation, hands-on learning experiences, and reflective writing, scholars interpret the ups and downs of everyday...

Life changes may cause stress. Here, scholars identify stressful situations in a peer's life and offer coping skills to make for a better day. A short story, "Stressed Out Sally," provides pupils with a look inside a bad day. After...

Internal and external factors influence behavior and decision making. The third session in a 10-lesson series focusing on Social, Physical, Emotional, Cognitive and Spiritual (SPECS) health explores the impact of these factors...

How has human activity affected Earth's watersheds? An action-packed lesson plan, part of the K20 Center, examines water's ability to go with the flow regardless of what is in its path. Scholars build model watersheds, examine time-lapse...

Pupils discover important alternatives to expressing anger and how to better manage their emotions through a collaborative discussion activity with their classmates. This resource includes nearly 100 (99, to be exact!)...

How do people manage to get everything done when there are so few hours in a day? Scholars explore the question as they participate in small group discussions about time management. They construct a daily schedule and complete a...

This is not just a lesson plan, it's a life saver! Here are 10 separate documents intended to assist a new Special Ed teacher. There are 4 different games, instructional tips, ways to handle documentation, behavioral modification...

After defining passive, aggressive, and assertive, class members role-play different scenarios demonstrating these behaviors. Individuals then identify a weakness they wish to improve and, using what they have learned throughout the...

A thoughtful discussion prompts middle schoolers to reflect on gossip and rumors, what they are, their experience with them, and how some groups experience it more than others. Scenarios challenge participants to consider the impact of...

After having a bad day, Sally took scholars' suggestions and had a super day. Pupils listen to her newest short story then discuss the events that occurred. They sort each event by what was in her control and what was not. Participants...

The focus of the second in a 10-session course on Social, Physical, Emotional, Cognitive and Spiritual (SPECS) health is on learning to express and manage feelings appropriately. Class members learn different ways of...

Life is like trying to juggle three tennis balls! That's the big idea in a lesson that asks freshmen to consider that sometimes juggling the areas of their lives (social/emotion, academic, and career) runs smoothly and sometimes not so...

What skills do employers look for in potential employees? Introduce scholars to the skills that pay the bills during the second of six career and college readiness lesson plans. Once they have defined critical 21st-century skills, groups...

Having a hard time defining bullying with your seventh graders? Discuss the different types of behavior one would see in a bullying situation with a series of lessons, worksheets, and group activities.

Passive! Aggressive! Assertive!. The activities in the fourth lesson in the Communication module teach middle schoolers the difference among these behaviors and how to develop assertive communication skills. After defining and offering...

Two lessons stress the importance of keeping your classroom bully-free. Discussion, collaborative work, role-play, and writing allows participants to examine whether their classroom is welcoming to new members and decide what they should...

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...

Think like an engineer and an agricultural scientist over the course of 12 lessons in a STEM based unit. Young scientists take on the roles of animal physiologists, animal geneticists, agricultural engineers, animal nutritionists,...

"Understanding Influences," a richly detailed, carefully scaffolded unit, asks middle and high school scholars to examine how internal and external factors like friends, media, and society influence their attitudes and...

Is willing to learn. Follows directions. Takes the initiative. The big idea in this career development lesson is that the work habits that make one successful in school are the same as those required to succeed in a career. Class members...

The third instructional activity in the Goal Setting series looks at the impact of a positive attitude on achieving one's goals. Participants create and then share visuals that represent positive attitudes. They then brainstorm ways to...

The Resolving Conflicts module begins with a lesson about tolerance and learning to appreciate differences among people. Through a series of activities and games, middle schoolers learn that conflicts arise when people have opposing...