OVERVIEW: Anger in itself is not a bad emotion. Anger is an emotion that can help us protect
ourselves when we are in danger.
Students get into trouble when they make bad choices about their
anger. Students need to learn to slow
down, stop and think, and decide to make wise choices about their anger.
GOAL: Students learn replacement skills. Students learn wise choice behaviors to do
and words to say to keep them safe.
METHOD OF
MEASUREMENT:
Self-rating Scale
- Behavior Thermometer. Draw a
free-hand thermometer on the board or make a permanent thermometer on a piece
of poster board. Mark the thermometer
in increments from zero to ten. Zero
means that I never remember to use the replacement skills we practiced in this
lesson. Five means that half of the
time I use the skills and half of the time I do not remember. Ten means that I never ever forget to use
the replacement skills. If you are
teaching graphs, utilize this self-rating scale for students to keep an
accounting of their skill level for each new skill they learn. Otherwise use a log, calendar or journal. Work student self-ratings into your overall
class behavior incentive plans.
LESSON ONE:
Give students a
sheet of horizontal drawing paper with a line drawn down the middle. Ask them to draw a picture on the left side
of the paper of a time when they felt angry.
Ask students to
take turns sharing their picture. Coach
them by asking:
“Tell
what was happening the time you felt angry.”
“What
made you feel angry?”
“How
did you feel when you were drawing the picture?”
Give
all an opportunity to share.
Next have students
draw a picture of how they could have
handled the angry situation differently. Go around the room and ask students to share the ideas they came
up with. Accept all answers without
evaluation.
Discuss with the
students:
What is anger?
Anger is a
protective emotion that makes us ready for action when we are in danger.
Where does
anger come from?
Anger is a part of
our natural selves. Everyone has anger
inside of him or her, but not everyone makes the same choices about their
anger.
Is anger bad or
good?
Some people forget
to slow down and take the time to make good choices when they feel angry. Anger is not bad. It is what we decide to do with our anger that can be called,
“bad”.
Behaviors we call bad are:
Yelling and screaming.
Refusing to talk over the
problem.
Hitting
a person who calls us a name.
HAVE STUDENTS NAME
OTHER BAD BEHAVIORS THAT DO NOT HELP THEM TO KEEP OUT OF TROUBLE.
Behaviors we call good are:
Stop and think
Name the problem
Ignore trouble
Take a deep breath and tell
yourself to walk away from trouble.
Come back after you are calm
and talk friendly or maybe just decide to not talk about the trouble after all
and keep ignoring it.
HAVE STUDENTS NAME
OTHER GOOD BEHAVIORS THEY CAN DO TO AVOID TROUBLE.
POST THE LIST
OF IDEAS THAT THE STUDENTS GENERATE
LESSON TWO:
Role plays. Read the following situations and have
students tell you what they would do.
[*]
GENERATE A LIST OF ADDITIONAL SITUATIONS THAT HAPPEN AT
SCHOOL .
For each
suggestion made, ask, “Is that fair?, Will that work? Will that keep you out of
trouble? Is it safe? How will that make people feel?”
BE CERTAIN THAT
STUDENTS KNOW THE REPLACEMENT BEHAVIORS USING THE FIVE STEP PLAN. RE-TEACH THESE SKILLS IF STUDENTS DO NOT
KNOW THEM OR INVITE THE COUNSELOR IN TO REINFORCE AND/OR SUPPORT YOUR TEACHING.
1.
IGNORE
STOP
THINK
TAKE A DEEP BREATH
COUNT TO TEN.
TAKE ANOTHER DEEP BREATH
2.
TURN OR WALK AWAY
LOOK THE OTHER WAY
WALK TO ANOTHER PART OF THE
PLAYGROUND IF
THE TROUBLE IS
HAPPENING ON THE PLAYGROUND
AT AN APPROPRIATE TIME, ASK
THE TEACHER IF YOU CAN
MOVE TO ANOTHER
SEAT
3.
TALK FRIENDLY
SAY, “I FEEL ______ WHEN YOU
_______.
SAY, “I DON’T LIKE IT WHEN
YOU ________ AND I WANT
WANT YOU TO STOP.
4.
TALK FIRMLY [if you have
already talked friendly]
WARN THE OTHER PERSON. SAY, “I AM GOING TO GET
AN ADULT IF YOU DO
NOT STOP _________.”
REMEMBER
THAT IF SOMEONE HITS YOU, DO NOT HIT THEM BACK. GO RIGHT AWAY AND GET AN ADULT.
GENERATE AND POST
REPLACEMENT BEHAVIOR STRATEGIES ON YOUR WORD WALL. [ALTERNATIVE MEASUREMEMT --
LOOK FOR EVIDENCE OF REPLACEMENT BEHAVIOR STRATEGIES IN STUDENT
WRITING].
ROLL PLAY THE
[*]ABOVE SITUATIONS AND HAVE STUDENTS DISCUSS WHAT THE “ACTORS” DID IN THE ROLL
PLAYS. IF IDEAS ARE GENERATED ABOUT
WHAT ELSE CAN BE DONE, THEN ROLL PLAY THE SITUATION AGAIN, USING THE NEW
IDEAS.
LESSON THREE…TO
INFINITY:
USE CLASS MEETING
TIMES TO DISCUSS AND ROLL PLAY STRATEGIES TO USE FOR SITUATIONS THAT CLASS
MEMBERS IDENTIFY HAPPENING IN SCHOOL.
PROVIDE A
CONTAINER WITH A LID IN THE ROOM. STUDENTS
WRITE THEIR PROBLEMS ON THE PAPER AND PLACE WRITTEN PROBLEMS IN THE CONTAINER
FOR DAILY OR WEEKLY CLASS MEETING DISCUSSION TIMES.
[I WILL POST
A FORMAT FOR CLASS MEETINGS IF YOU MAKE
SUCH A REQUEST. ]
REMEMBER TO
SEND THE COUNSELOR AN EMAIL IF YOU WOULD LIKE HER TO CONTINUE TO POST LESSON
PLAN IDEAS
ON THIS WEB SITE.