Lesson Plan 11: I Understand Your Feelings and Thoughts
Lesson Plan 11: I Understand Your Feelings and Thoughts
LESSON PLAN: SOCIAL Emotıonal LEARNING
SUBJECT: Empathy Skill
Activity NAME: I Understand Your Feelings and Thoughts
Purpose/GOAL:
With this learning design, we aim to develop students' empathy and listening skills. Thanks to the drama method, we will increase the emotional awareness of the students and enable them to understand themselves and others, to empathize and to learn to listen actively. It includes a lesson plan for empathy and listening skills, which is one of the social affective learning areas.
Materials:
• Whiteboard and marker
• Creative drama materials (costumes, props, stage)
• Scenarios or examples of problems
• Music player
• Colored cardboards, pencils
• Emotion cards (Happiness, Sadness, Fear, Anger, Surprise, Disgust, etc.)
• Blank papers and colored pencils
• Role cards
Outcomes
1. Recognizes how empathy and listening skills are beneficial in areas such as personal relationships, communication in the workplace and leadership
2. Develops empathy skills
3. Willing to share feelings, thoughts and experiences
4. Understands that the most appropriate way to empathize is to listen effectively to the other person.
Preparation Warm Up Phase
Activity 1: "Exchange of Emotions"
Participants are invited to the circle. Groups are formed from students by random selection method. (Small groups are recommended)
Emotion cards, which were prepared beforehand as much as the number of students, are distributed to each student. They sit in small groups and are allowed to share with their groupmates how they feel the emotion on their card and the reasons for this feeling.
Swap emotion cards: Now, each student will trade their emotion card with another student. Ask students to think about the emotion on the card they just received and imagine how they would feel about it.
Sharing with empathy: Each student will take turns expressing the emotion on the new emotion card they received and explain how they felt about that emotion. Group members will discuss what kind of situations or events they can think of to experience that emotion and try to understand each other.
Repetition of emotion exchange: Repeat this activity several times, allowing students to experience different emotions and share those emotions with others.
Interim Evaluation:
At the end of the game, give students time to discuss how they found the experience and how this activity has helped them understand the feelings of others.
NOTES TO THE TEACHER:
• It is important to make students feel emotionally comfortable during the activity. If any student feels uncomfortable, don't force them and provide a supportive environment.
• The variety of emotion cards can help students better develop their empathy skills. It can be helpful to add emotions that represent different cultural, social and life experiences. This activity can be a starting point for improving students' empathy skills. Understanding and sharing emotions in a fun way will contribute to the development of social relations of students and to be more sensitive individuals.
2. REVIEW:
Students are invited to the circle. It is divided into groups as small as the number of previously prepared role cards. The following role cards are dealt to each group. To encourage them to think and feel in these roles, they are painfully asked to prepare an animation based on their role cards. Students are given time to prepare. Then the group members try to understand the emotions of each character by playing roles with each other.
Interim Evaluation:
How did you feel watching the animations?
How would you behave if you were? You are encouraged to think about the topic by asking questions.
Example role card:
- 1. Role Card: Anxious Student Character: Ahmet Age: 14 Situation: There is a big math exam tomorrow. Emotion/Status: Ahmet is full of test anxiety and has trouble concentrating.
- 2. Role Card: Newly Moved Neighbor Character: Elif Age: 30 Status: Moved to a new city, does not know anyone. Emotion/Status: Elif feels lonely in a new environment and worries about making friends.
- 3. Role Card: Dismissed Employee Character: Mehmet Age: 40 Status: He was dismissed from the company he worked for for a long time. Emotion/Status: Mehmet struggles with future anxiety and lack of self-confidence.
- 4. Role Card: Animal Lover Volunteer Character: Ayşe Age: 25 Status: She volunteers at a shelter to help stray animals. Emotion/Situation: Ayşe empathizes with the plight of animals and cannot remain indifferent to their difficulties.
5. Role Card: Child's Sibling Character: Can Age: 10 Situation: Many changes are going on in the family due to his/her older brother’illness. Emotion/Status: Can feels jealousy, anxiety and responsibility because of his brother's illness.
6. Role Card: An Old Lady Character: Mrs. Fatma Age: 75 Status: She lives alone and needs help with physical activities. Emotion/Status: Mrs. Fatma struggles with the feeling of loneliness and addiction.
7. Role Card: Working with Intense Work Pace Character: Murat Age: 35 Status: He is under constant job stress, cannot spend enough time with his family. Emotion/Status: Murat has difficulty in establishing a work-family balance and feels tired.
INTERIM EVALUATION
At this stage, an in-depth briefing is given on the basic principles of empathy and listening. (by the teacher) Why empathy and listening are important is associated with human nature and the communication process. Participants are presented with examples to help them grasp the relationship between empathy and listening.
EVALUATION;
Students are asked to write a short story explaining why empathy is important in daily life.
The written stories are read to the whole class and a discussion is started on the importance of empathy in daily life based on the stories.