Lesson 6.1: Your Emotional Health
Overview
This lesson focuses on identifying and managing emotions and will build skills related to expressing and communicating empathy.
Learning Targets
- Describe an emotionally healthy person.
- Identify three reasons why teenagers often struggle with emotional health.
- Explain the four parts of emotional intelligence.
- Compare and contrast optimism with pessimism.
- Create an example that demonstrates what empathy is.
Preparation
Chapter Opener: Use the My Emotional Health self-assessment to introduce the chapter before moving on to Lesson 6.1, or assign the self-assessment as a homework task before starting this lesson.
For the Warm-Up Activity: Write the journal question on the board, or identify (and copy as needed) the worksheets you plan to use:
For the Content Focus: Open the Lesson 6.1 PowerPoint slides, or make copies of the Lesson 6.1 Note-Taking Guide.
For the Lesson Focus: Copy the Lesson 6.1 Expressing and Communicating Empathy Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
Warm-Up Activity
Select a warm-up activity to help get your class focused and on-task.
- Self-Assessment: Have students complete the My Emotional Health self-assessment.
- Journal Question: When is the last time you felt empathy toward a friend who was hurting or struggling? Explain the situation and how it made you feel.
- Option: Write or project the question, and have students respond in their journals as they enter class.
- Option: Have students discuss the question with a partner or in a small group.
- Vocabulary Review: Have students work individually, in partners, or in small groups to complete the Lesson 6.1 Vocabulary Review Worksheet.
- Quiz: Have students complete the Lesson 6.1 Quiz to assess their prior knowledge.
- Option: Collect the quizzes, and use them alongside posttests to demonstrate student learning.
- Option: Have students share their answers with a partner and then go over the answers together as a class.
Lesson Content
Review the content from the textbook lesson.
- Option: Use the Lesson 6.1 PowerPoint slides to review the chapter content.
- Option: Have students use the Lesson 6.1 Note-Taking Guide to review the chapter content. Ask students to work alone, in pairs, or in small groups. Review the questions as a class if time permits.
Lesson Focus: Expressing and Communicating Empathy
- Give each student a copy of the Lesson 6.1 Expressing and Communicating Empathy Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet.
- Have students work in groups or teams to complete the worksheet. Each group will write a story about two friends. One of the characters is going through a painful or difficult situation, and the other is showing empathy and support.
- After sufficient time has passed, have the students create a skit based on their story. Let them know that they may need to add details to create conversation in the skit. Encourage them to be realistic and thoughtful.
- As time allows, have groups perform their skits for the full class or another group or groups. Have groups evaluate or give feedback to each other using the checklist portion of the worksheet.
- Option: Use the Healthy Communication Holistic Rubric to assess the group’s skits.
Challenge Activity
Have students who need an additional challenge work on the following critical-thinking task.
Select one characteristic of positive emotional health from figure 6.1. Conduct some research on how or why that element might affect someone’s emotional health. Write a one- or two-paragraph summary of your findings.
Reflection and Summary
Review the critical content from today’s lesson. Review the learning targets, and ask students to answer each question posed.
Can you…
- Describe an emotionally healthy person?
Someone who is emotionally healthy feels confident, has enthusiasm for life, is able to deal with stress, has a sense of meaning or purpose, is flexible, has life balance and good relationships, and has high self-esteem and self-confidence.
- Identify three reasons why teenagers often struggle with emotional health?
Teenagers struggle because hormone levels are changing, sleep may be disrupted, the brain is not fully developed, and there are many social changes happening.
- Explain the four parts of emotional intelligence?
Self-awareness is knowing your own abilities, self-management is controlling your emotions, social awareness is recognizing and understanding others’ emotions, and social skills are how well you handle relationships with others.
- Compare and contrast optimism with pessimism?
People who generally see the world and life in positive ways are optimistic. People who are pessimistic often see the worst in other people and situations.
- Create an example that demonstrates what empathy is?
This was done in the Skill-Building Challenge. Ask students whether they were successful.
Assessment
Complete one or more of the following assessment tasks for this lesson.
- Quiz: Have students take the Lesson 6.1 Quiz.
- Vocabulary Review: Collect the Lesson 6.1 Vocabulary Review Worksheets, and evaluate them for accuracy.
- Note-Taking Guide: Collect the completed Lesson 6.1 Note-Taking Guides, and spot check one or more items for completion and accuracy.
- Skill-Building Worksheet: Have students submit the Lesson 6.1 Expressing and Communicating Empathy Skill-Building Challenge Worksheet, and use the Healthy Communication Holistic Rubric to evaluate their skill development.
- Journal Question: Ask students to respond to the journal question again, adding information they learned from today’s class. Require a one-paragraph response that uses proper grammar.
Take It Home
Interview a family member or family friend about their life experiences. Learn the details about where they grew up, what kinds of things they thought about and dreamed about, and what major life events they recall. Write a short paragraph about their life and what you learned from them.
Option: Assign the My Well-Being self-assessment as a homework task if it was not used at the start of this lesson.