Learning Outcome
- Students will be able to define the following terms: accountable, responsible.
- Students will have practiced the following social-emotional learning (SEL) skills: Self-awareness (Identify triggers to anger), and Self-Regulation (identify options for regulating emotions).
Materials
- Student Journals
- White board
- Handout: The Empty Boat
- PowerPoint Slides
- Lesson Plan 6
Vocabulary
Accountable, responsible
Preparation
Have copies of The Empty Boat handout for students to read or be prepared to read the story aloud.
Lesson Plan
Total Time: 30 min
Time: 7 min
Content
Warm up with ice breaker circle:
Prompt 1:If your usual personality were a flavor of ice cream, what would it be?
Prompt 2: Think of one person who takes responsibility for you and name some ways they do that.
Prompt 3: (if time) Name something or someone you take responsibility for. Just name the person without telling a story about it, for the sake of time.
Materials/Notes
Circle Guidelines posted visibly (PowerPoint slide #2)
Prompts: PowerPoint slide #3
Note: If you have a chatty or a large group, these prompts could take a long time to go around, so mind the time to keep within 10 minutes.
Time: 10 min
Content
Distribute copies of the Handout: The Empty Boat and ask students to read along as you (or a student volunteer) read the story aloud.
Pair-Share: Give students the following instructions:
Turn to your shoulder-partner, take 3 minutes to come up with a brief answer to two or three of the questions at the bottom of the handout. Write your answers down on the page if you want to.
Ask volunteers to share out responses and have a brief Popcorn discussion about the themes of the story.
What do you think it could mean to "OWN" your feelings in a situation?
Materials/Notes
Handout: The Empty Boat
Time: 8 min
Content
Journal Writing:“In your journals, write for 1 minute about a time (or two) when you blamed someone else for a feeling you had.”
Practice writing an I statement to that person: Rather than saying “YOU MAKE me feel ___,” write “I FEEL ____ when ____ happens.”
Homework challenge: For the next week, try to notice when you have a feeling come up and you're tempted to say, “You make me feel _______.” Your challenge is to practice Accountability: name that feeling and OWN it by just saying “I feel______.”
Materials/Notes
Student Journals
Extension or Alternate Activities
Total Time: 15 min
Building Emotional Intelligence with Daily Check-ins
Preparation
[15 minutes] Using PowerPoint slide #4, copy the Emotions Grid image (the same Feelings Grid seen in the SpeakOut with Advocatr App and create a new Whiteboard with that image as the background using Microsoft Whiteboard, Google Jamboard, or a different app of your preference. Make sure to set the Sharing settings so that students will have easy access to the link.
Time: 5 min
Content
Building Emotional Intelligence with Daily Check-ins
At the beginning or end of class, make sure all students can access the link to the Whiteboad, and ask them to use the check mark tool in Whiteboard to place a Check Mark on the emotion they're feeling right now. Remind them that this activity is anonymous. No one can tell who"s checking which emoji. Give the class 3-4 minutes for everyone to check in. Then take a minute or two to notice or reflect on any obvious groupings. For example, if a cluster of checks are located on Happy, or Sad, or Afraid, either just notice that and adjust the class time appropriately or ask for any volunteers who might be willing to share about why they checked where they did.
As a quick, 3-minute additional option, this Whiteboard could be used as a daily check-in, either by clearing the board each time, or by adding a new page for each day with the same feelings image as a background. (This second option might be helpful to notice changes and swings each day.) If you choose to use this regularly, notice the additional time impact on other lessons and adjust accordingly.