Lesson 15: Avoiding Assumptions

Why This Lesson Matters

Students can create or escalate conflicts when they jump to conclusions about what is behind other students’ actions. It is easy to jump to conclusions that create problems unnecessarily. This lesson focuses on helping students use emotion-management strategies to keep strong emotions from pushing them into jumping to conclusions about others. When students can calm down, they are better able to assess others’ intentions accurately. Students can use the Calming-Down Steps to make it less likely that they will act impulsively on their emotions. When they are able to take the next step and assertively ask questions of others, they are better able to understand others’ perspectives and intentions. Calming strong emotions is also a necessary prerequisite to effective problem solving.

Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Identify emotion-management strategies

• Demonstrate assertiveness skills

• Identify and use positive self-talk statements to avoid making assumptions

Lesson Concepts

Calming down strong emotions helps you think clearly about a situation and make better decisions.