What makes me special?

This cluster provides students with the opportunity to identify the things that make each of them a special person - their interests, their culture, their family and friends, their aspirations. This process of affirmation, or acknowledgement of the special things about a person, will help students to feel a sense of self worth. They work together to identify the advantages of belonging to a group.

Students examine their relationship with their peers and understand negative and positive peer pressure.

1-Students can list special things about themselves.

2-Students can explain why it is okay to be an individual.

A prepared Positive Fold Up

(This consists of a number of sheets of A4 paper joined together and folded up into equal folds, one for each student to write on. A piece of wood can be attached to the top to turn it into a scroll.)

A prepared Human Treasure Hunt Card, one for each student (This consists of a piece of A4 paper divided into 12 equal squares. In each square the teacher writes a positive quality that a number of class members have, for example gets on well with others, is a good sports person, is always willing to help others, is good at maths. Art materials and photos for the Chronicles.

Video Pleased To Be Me

Note: A video is being made for this section of the programme. It will not be available for the trials. The Family Planning video Pleased To Be Me can be shown instead if desired. How ever this video should be stopped at the party scene, unless the class has done the topic 'Changes at Puberty' and the teacher is prepared to show the discussion on sexuality.

Students will practise:

* developing, self esteem

* setting personal goals

* managing time effectively

* working in co-operative ways with others

* acknowledging individual difference

* designing and making a Chronicle

1-Do one or both of the following warm-ups with the class.

Either: A Positive Fold Up

Pass the Positive Fold up around the class. Each student in turn writes his or her name on one of the folds and writes or draws some positive things about themselves and their strengths.

When everyone has had a turn, the Positive Fold Up is unfolded and placed on the classroom wall, for all to read.

-What conclusions can we come to about the people in our class?

-What are the advantages of having a class full of individuals?

Or: A Human Treasure Hunt

Give each student a Human Treasure Hunt card. Explain that they must find the members of their class who fit into each other's criteria Stress that they may be asked to justify their choice.

2- Show students video 'Pleased to be me'

-What are some of the good things about being 12 years old that are talked about?

-What are some of the difficult things that are mentioned?

-What advice does the group give to viewers?

Explain to students that each of them is going to make a Chronicle. The Chronicle will be a record of every year of their life up to and including the current year. Each year will have a heading and should include if possible a photo or drawing of them, an account of something special they remember about the year and a comment from a family member. The last page should include a prediction about what they hope their life will be like in the future, next year or in five years.)

Specify a time limit for the project, allowing some class and homework time.

When completed students could share their chronicles in small groups or pairs. Ask them to talk about the following questions.

-What are some of the predictions you made about you future?

-Why is it important to have goals like these?

-What can you do to achieve these goals?

-Who can help you?

Talk feedback from the groups. Talk about how we are all responsible for what our future will be like. We can set (goals and decide that we will change our behaviour for the better or learn a new skills.

-The choice is ours.

-Chronicles can be placed on the wall.

-peer assessment of the Chronicles

Genuine praise from the teacher is an effective way of building up students' self esteem, and should be practised throughout the year.

1-Students can identify some of the good things about belonging to groups.

2-Students identify and describe both the negative and positive things about peer groups.

-Slips of paper with well-known nursery rhymes written on each. Have four or five of each.

-Strips of paper

-Video The Sunday, Party,,

-Copysheet 2 Peer Observation Sheet

-Choice Activity Book page 3 My Peer Group

The students will practise:

* identifying describing and offering solutions to a problem

* working in co-operative ways to achieve common goals

* working effectively in groups

* gathering information from observations

1-Give each student a slip of paper with a nursery rhyme written on it. Students walk around the room humming their tune until they find other members with the same tune. They then sit down where they are. Allow only three minutes for this.

-How did you feel before you had found the rest of your group?

-How did you feel when you had found your group?

-Why, do people like to feel part of a group?

-Why do some people prefer not to join a group9?

Ask the groups to come up with all the good things about belonging to groups and to write these on strips of paper. Ask one group to place their strips along the floor. The next group adds their strips of paper, grouping similar ones together. This process is repeated with all groups. Work with the class to give labels to the different groupings.

-Do all these good things apply to all groups?

-Are some of these things more important than others?

-Do some of them apply, more to some groups than to others?

Show the video Sunday Parry to the class. Stop at the pause.

-What are the good things about belonging to this group?

-How, do they feel about the party?

-How do you think Leutu is feeling about the party?

-Why, does she feel like this?

-What is the difficult situation that Leutu has to face up to?

-What do you think she should do?

Show the rest of the video. Stress that it shows the way that Leutu decided to handle the situation.

-How is Leutu feeling the day after the party?

-How do her friends react when they see her?

-Why do you think she wanted to talk to Karen alone?

-Do you think she handled the situation well? Why or why not?

-How, do you think Leutu feels at the end?

-How, would the solutions you thought of have been better or worse?

Introduce the term 'peer group ' to the class -that is a group of people of the same age and interests as them. Talk about the positive and negative things about Leutu's peer group. Invite students to share things about their own peer group.

They then either make a diary entry about their own peer group and the negative and positive things they get from it or complete page 3 in their Choice Activity Book..

The class can observe peer group interactions within the playground, using Copysheet 2 Peer Observation Sheet. Discuss the term 'interactions' before they begin.

The observations could be done individually or in pairs and could continue over several lunch hours. The observation findings should be discussed in class.

Either: Make and entry in their Diary about their own peer group.

Or: Complete page 3 of their Choice Activity Book

-observe group interaction and decision making record and assess material gathered though the peer observations Diary or Choice Activity Book summaries

Encourage the students to observe positive and negative peer group interactions within the class, throughout the year. They should praise each other for the former and suggest ways of overcoming the latter.