Lesson 6 : January 19-23rd

 I can Bounce Back! Developing Coping and Flexible Thinking Skills

Concepts:

• One bad moment does not make a whole bad day

• Practicing coping tools and Flexible thinking to bounce back

Making a Game Plan

We know there will be certain obstacles that are tricky to navigate for students and we can teach them explicitly about how to overcome them by using self-talk, flexible thinking, and problem-solving.

Self-Talk

Every thought or question we have about a situation, everything we tell ourselves throughout the day…that is all self-talk! Self-talk has the power to change how we feel, which changes what we do. Self-talk can either be hurtful or helpful when students come up against a problem. Either they will have an encouraging coach that helps them work towards solving the problem, or they will have a negative critic that will make the problem worse.

Flexible Thinking

Flexible thinking is our ability to change our thinking and see things in more than one way, have more than one reason or explanation for something. Rigid thinking is when we assume things only have one explanation, one purpose, or only one “right” way. For children with more rigid thinking, everyday stressors can feel enormous because their perspective or expectation is being challenged. This can lead to big emotional responses to what a flexible thinker would view as a small problem.

Problem Solving Proactively

Another protective factor we can arm students with is an ability to problem-solve proactively. This means helping them have a plan for what to do when they face specific situations that might cause them distress (and that are also just part of life). For example:

• Not liking the group they are assigned to

• Not getting called on during class

• Being told they can’t play how they want at recess

Planning for these scenarios helps to eliminate the surprise and gives them confidence that they know just what to do!

Lesson 3: October 6-10th

Being a Good Sport🔗🔗🔗 Expected and Unexpected Behavior

To be a "good sport" means to maintain a positive, fair, and respectful attitude, especially in the face of competition or disappointment, whether you win or lose. It involves showing grace and good humor when challenged, treating others with kindness and respect, and accepting outcomes with a positive spirit rather than red zone anger.

Lesson 2: September 15-19th

Expected vs. Unexpected Behavior; how to match your behavior to where you are

What do I mean by expected and unexpected behaviors?

Expected behavior is simply behavior that is normal, reasonable and anticipated. Unexpected behavior is behavior that is out of the norm, and is unusual.

This way of talking about behavior is different than how it is normally discussed, in that it doesn’t address behavior as simply “positive” or “negative”, since what is expected can vary from situation to situation. For example, it is expected to speak quietly at a library, but not at a football game. It is expected to raise your hand to speak at school, but it would be unexpected to do that at home.

Why does this make a difference?

One of the key components of talking about expected and unexpected behavior is encouraging students to consider how their behaviors make others feel,  how their behaviors lead others to react, or even how their behaviors influence the way that others view/treat them. It is this piece that I believe really gets students to understand that their behavior has serious implications. If they exhibit unexpected behaviors at recess (hitting, not playing by the rules, etc.) it may lead to students not wanting to play with them.

When students begin to understand that their behaviors impact how others view them, they may be more motivated to change their behaviors.

Activity:

• Identify and circle expected vs. unexpected behaviors in the park