People Smarts for Teenagers Curriculum

©2008 People Smarts for Teenagers Curriculum

Unit Two – Self-Awareness – Chapter Two Goals and Objectives:

• Practice reading and assessing emotions • Reflect on healthy responses to difficult situations • Examine the impact of cultural influences on emotional responses

Reading Comprehension Checkpoints:

These questions are designed to help you facilitate a powerful in-class discussion based on student reading assignments. The answers are included.

• Q: What is alexithymia?

A: A condition in which people react to their emotions but do not recognize them. They cannot put their feelings into words.

• Q: Why is it important to become self-aware?

A: When you understand your feelings, you can usually better understand why you behave the way you do in certain situations and why you make the decisions you make.

• Q: Describe a situation where someone exhibits self-awareness. • Q: What does it mean to feel things with different intensities?

A: To feel a range of a particular emotion, such as feeling very happy vs. simply pleased.

• Q: How can you become more self-aware?

A: Asking yourself probing questions, reflecting on your actions and paying attention to your emotions.


Powerful Coaching Questions for Chapter Review: Use to initiate discussion after the chapter is read and activities from the book are completed.

1. Do you believe animals experience emotions? 2. Why do you think humans repress their emotions at times? 3. Name a character from a book or movie whose emotions “got the best of

them.” 4. How can being out of touch with your emotions lead to trouble?

Journal Topics: The pages below from People Smarts for Teenagers provide topics to be used for student journaling. The objective here is for the students to write as freely and openly as possible. It is not about punctuation, grammar and style.

• Pages: 95, 96, 103, 105, 122, 126


EXPLORATORY Activities: These activities can be used for cursory exploration and to expand upon chapter content.

1. Charades

Students role-play scenarios to practice reading others’ emotions. This activity is conducted in teams. The first team to correctly guess the emotion being “role-played” wins.

Materials needed: Handout # 3 (cut into individual strips with one emotion on each), hat/bowl to put the strips into for drawing

Directions:

1. Divide the class into teams of five.

2. Each team draws one emotion from the hat. Students take several

minutes to create a scenario for acting out the emotion and a

response.

3. Take turns allowing each team to act out their given emotion while

other teams try to guess the word they drew from the hat.

4. Keep time, recording which team first correctly guesses the

emotion and the time it took them to come up with the correct

answer.

5. After the emotion is guessed, ask the students to share why they

chose the scenario for the particular emotion.

6. At the conclusion of the game, the team with the highest number of

correct guesses wins. If there is a tie, the team with the most

guesses and shortest times to achieve these guesses wins.


2. Creating Your Own Definitions Students use their own words to define various emotions, thereby expressing what the emotions mean to them personally. Materials needed: Handout #4

Directions:

1. Distribute the handout and ask each student to define the terms in

their own words.

2. Facilitate a discussion using volunteers to offer their personal

definitions for each term.


3. Establishing I-Control Students explore how to be in control of their thoughts and actions. In this activity students will explore how they can either maintain control of their thoughts or relinquish this control to others. Materials needed: Handout #5 Directions:

1. Facilitate a discussion about peer pressure. What is it? What issues do they feel pressure about? Who exerts this pressure?

2. Explain that when we try to make others like or accept us by acting

in a certain way, we relinquish our power to them. We have no control over what they think, yet we are giving them control over us. For this activity we will call this Other-control. True self-awareness and confidence means acting according to our own beliefs and values. We are calling that I-Control, taking charge of what we can control ourselves. We can’t change ourselves to please others, but we can change how we choose to think about a situation. Distribute Handout #5. Go over the instructions. Students may protest that changing a few words will not necessarily make a difficult situation better. However, knowing they have control can make the pressure more bearable.

3. After completing the activity ask students to suggest real-life

situations where they can apply “I-control” thinking.


RIGOR AND RELEVANCE Activities: These activities encourage students to further explore textbook concepts while facilitating more in-depth classroom discussion.

1. Emotional Flash

Research shows that the unconscious part of the brain reacts before the conscious part of our brain responds. In this activity students explore unconscious brain reactions. This activity should be done with volunteers sitting in front of the class. These volunteers will be shown pictures in rapid succession that depict or elicit emotional responses. They in turn will quickly identify the emotion suggested in each picture. As different volunteers participate in this activity, students will see that people have varying emotional responses to the same picture

Materials needed: Pictures cut out from Handout #6 (glued to card stock)

Directions:

1. Cut out the pictures provided below and tape or glue to card stock, which will allow for multiple handlings. On the back of the card write the corresponding number of the picture.

2. Ask for two volunteers. 3. Have volunteer #1 sit in a chair placed in the front of the class. 4. Give volunteer #2 the tally sheet. Make sure they can see the back

of each card before you flash the images. 5. Flash the image on the card quickly so that volunteer #1 can see

the image but no one else can. Make sure the volunteer who is scribing can see the number of the picture before you flash it to the student.

6. Instruct volunteer #1 to shout out what they feel when the see the image. For example: happy, laughing, sad, funny, angry, ugly, etc.

7. Repeat this exercise with several other pairs of volunteers. 8. After you have run the exercise several times, have the class

discuss the variety of responses to each image. 9. Ask students to reflect on how people responded differently to

similar images. How does this relate to how they see and feel things in their day-to-day world? Can they imagine how conflicts might arise from different interpretations of people’s expressions?


2. Cultural Influences Acceptable behavior is often dictated by cultural norms. This activity calls for students to assess how our culture influences their attitudes and judgments. They will then look to other cultures to see different norms of behavior and acceptance. Materials needed: Access to research aids (internet, books, relatives or students from other cultures), Handout # 7 Directions:

1. Divide students into groups of three.

2. Distribute a copy of Handout #7 to each group.

3. Ask students to answer the questions on the handout as they relate

to their culture.

4. Each group then chooses another country or culture to research.

5. Students will answer the same questions on Handout #7 from this

chosen culture’s perspective.

6. Each group will give a presentation to the class about their chosen

culture. Students may simply read the information they discovered

or create a presentation with visuals, theatrics, etc.


3. The Gender Debate

This activity will allow students to reflect on the role gender plays in their identity and self-awareness. They will begin by debating various stereotypes regarding gender. During the debate the facilitator will add conflicting research and opinions, described below, to enhance the discussion. Materials needed: None Directions:

1. Divide the class into two teams. Place teams opposite one another on different sides of the classroom.

2. Begin the debate by saying, “Boys and girls are not equal.” Allow

one person from each side to respond to this statement. They can discuss this generalized statement for a bit, having one team comment, then the other responds, etc.

3. Other generalized statements you can offer include:

• Women are better nurturers than men. • Men are physically more capable than women. • Men should assume the roles of doctors and dentists in our

society. • Women should have equal access to education throughout

the world. • The traditional division of labor – men hunting and

gathering food, women creating a home and taking care of children – is really the only way societies succeed.

• Feel free to add your own.

4. During the course of the debate, add the following notes of research and opinion:

• In her anthropological studies, Margaret Mead found three South Pacific societies in which cultural gender roles were very different, contradicting any biological basis for these roles. In the Arapesh, both men and women were cooperative and nonaggressive, sharing equally the


characteristics which we call feminine. The Mundugumor men and women were equally aggressive and competitive. In the Tchambuli tribe, the traditional gender roles were reversed. The men take care of the children and create beautiful artwork, while the women fish, trade and are domineering and independent.

• Male and female brains are physically different. The female brain has larger corpus collosum between the two hemispheres, which seems to facilitate greater communication between the left and right hemispheres. Research has shown that women tend to use their left and right hemispheres about equally, while men tend to specialize in the use of the linear left hemisphere.

• While in the United States only 13.4 percent of the doctors and 4.3 of the dentists are women, in the Soviet Union 80 percent of the doctors and 87 percent of the dentists are women, suggesting cultural training rather than biological predisposition.

• Baby boys sleep an average of one to two hours less per day. As a consequence, mothers spend more time holding them and encouraging them to reach, grasp and stand, further increasing their activity and interest in manipulating their environment.

• Baby girls make more babbling and cooing noises as infants which encourage parents to talk more to their baby girls. This interaction encourages the female’s earlier development of verbal skills.

Research and opinions from above taken from “Quests & Quandaries,” Carol Hotchkiss, Avon Publishing, 2001.


Handout #3 Cut apart this list of emotions and fold up and put in a container for students to pick one for charades.

Acceptance Affection Anger

Annoyance Aggravated Apathy

Anxiety Awe Boredom

Compassion Confusion Contempt

Curiosity Depression Disgust

Disappointment Doubt Empathy

Envy Embarrassment Euphoria

Fear Frustration Gratitude

Grief Guilt Happiness

Hatred Hope Horror

Hostility Hysteria Interest

Jealousy Loathing Love

Pity Pride Rage

Remorse Sadness Shame

Suffering Surprise Wonder

Worry


Handout #4

What is YOUR definition of the following words?

love

soul

trust

frustration

anger

guilt

success

motivation

appreciation

acceptance

mistake

fear

honesty

intention

understanding

joy

happiness

responsibility

hope

judgment

friend

failure


Handout # 5

Establishing I-Control

Assess the following situations, and learn how to respond with I-control thinking. Other-control thinking: You give the other person control. You give more weight to what others think about you than what you think about yourself. You worry a great deal about how to get others to like or include you. I-control thinking: You control your own thinking and trust your interpretation of a situation. You control your own reactions and behavior. You maintain your own power in a situation. Example: A person in your work group refers to you as lazy, despite the fact that you contributed more to the assignment then most of the other members. Other control thinking: He thinks I’m a slug. No matter how hard I work now, he won’t include me again. I-control thinking: I’ve made an honest assessment of my contributions and know that I did as much work as the others did on the project. I’ll give 100 percent for the rest of my time with this group, knowing I may need to move on and work with others once this project is completed. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Situation: Someone says to you, “Your hair looks horrible today. Maybe a wig would help.” Other-control thinking: I should cut my hair and wear it like theirs − then they’ll stop teasing me. I-control thinking: Situation: Someone says to you “It’s hard to be cool when you hang out with the kids you do. They’re a group of losers.” Other-control thinking: Maybe if I drop my friends and start spending time with the more popular kids in school, I can get them to include me in their circle. I-control thinking: Situation: A friend who is the leader of your social circle says, “You must have a problem if you are defending her. If you were really my friend you’d be on my side.” Other-control thinking: “Everyone in the group will hate me. My opinions aren’t worth upsetting my friends. I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”


I-control thinking: ____________ Situation: An upperclassman who seems twice your size blocks your way in the hall and says, “Watch it, I’m coming after you,” before he brushes past you and knocks the books from your arms. Other-control thinking: “They’ll think I’m a snitch if I report the threat, but I’ll be seen as a chicken if I stay clear from his/her path.” I-control thinking: Situation: Your teacher says you don’t have what it takes to go to college. You’ve always dreamed of someday going to college and getting a degree, but now you’re concerned. Everyone values this teacher’s point of view. Other-control thinking: “He’s probably right. After all, he’d been teaching for years and he knows what it takes.” I-control thinking:

____________


Handout #6 Emotional Flash Exercise

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Handout #7 Cultural Norms

Begin by completing the following statements from your own culture’s perspective. Then choose another culture or country to research. Repeat the process from that culture’s perspective. You’ll see that what we may accept as normal in our culture is seen very differently in another. 1. Going to college is…. 2. Finishing high school is…. 3. Living with your parents when your are an adult is… 4. Burping after a meal is… 5. Looking a parent in the eye while being spoken to is… 6. Talking back to your parents is… 7. Eating insects is… 8. Saying that you’ll commit to something is… 9. Calling someone by their first name is… 10. Men who have long hair are… 11. Eating an animal is… 12. A woman in charge of the country is… 13. Piercing your body is… 14. Swearing is… 15. Dating as a teenager is…

16. Having parents arrange their children’s marriages is…

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People Smarts for Teenagers Curriculum