Middle School Social Emotional Learning Lesson Plans and Resources

Self Awareness: The ability to understand one's emotions, thoughts and values, and how they influence behavior.

Discuss how each of these films and stories demonstrate an understanding of personal and social identity, linking feelings, values and thoughts while examining prejudices and biases.

How do these individuals show a growth mindset and sense of purpose? 

Coach West helps youth navigate through the emotional fallout of COVID-19 with helpful tips

Vivienne was 8 years old when she learned about child slavery in different parts of the world. She then started a lemonade stand to raise funds to fight child slavery.

These two films, Made in Madras and Perseverance highlight individuals who overcame obstacles and demonstrated perseverance as they achieved their goals.

Students read the story to learn more about climate activist Greta Thunberg, who was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 16. She exemplifies the heroic traits of courage and perseverance. Greta started out protesting alone and ignited a global youth climate movement. The story includes a link to Greta's Ted talk.

Students watch filmmaker and spoken word artist Trey Carlise performance of "History Will Be Repeated" his spoken word poem, a poem promoting tolerance.

Social Awareness: The ability to understand perspectives of and empathize with others from diverse backgrounds and cultures which includes feeling compassion for others. 

How do these films and stories demonstrate the effect of behaviors on others as well as the understanding, compassion and empathy for those who are from different backgrounds or cultures? 

When the Somali government collapsed, Dr. Hawa Abdi's one-room clinic on her family farm began treating and housing local people fleeing the fighting. Dr. Abdi worked with international NGOs and her own resources to feed and house all who came to her. No one could bring clan fighting into the camp no man could beat his wife. 

After the murder of his son Azim Khamisa founded the Tariq Khamisa Foundation to encourage forgiveness. He and the grandfather of the 14 year old boy who killed Azim's son work together to encourage forgiveness by sharing their story.  

The Buddy Club is an after-school program started by Katie McMahon and pairs students with disabilities with other students whom they normally would not have class. The program promotes the building of a community within High School that can stand against attempts at bullying and other anti-social behavior. 

From the first day at a new school, to entering the work force, we’ve all been new once. New Together is a PSA that asks us to have empathy for what it may be like to be a refugee. 

Discuss why it is important for all children, particularly girls, to have the opportunity to continue their education and the obstacles that some girls face such as girls in a rural part of India and how a bicycle allows them to continue their education.

The following three films are all examples of compassion and empathy for others, those from different backgrounds or cultures as well as those who need assistance. 

Self Management: The ability to manage one's emotions, thoughts and behavior in different situations to achieve goals and aspirations. 

How does this story demonstrate the the importance of recognizing and managing stress?

Dr. Nadine Burke Harris, the pediatrician appointed as California's first Surgeon General, is a champion for children who bear the invisible scars of tough childhoods. It was thought until the 1990's that children "outgrew" abusive beginnings.  Doctors later discovered instead that children internalized them. It's called toxic stress and Dr. Burke Harris believes toxic stress is both "treatable and beatable," but it must be acknowledged first.

Dr. Kataria developed a new technique of Laughter Therapy based on yoga called laughter yoga which is a combination of self-induced laughter, yoga exercises, yoga breathing and stretching exercises. The film I Luv Laughing Yoga explores  how Dot discovered that Laughing Yoga was a great way to heal from the pain of her husband's death and re-connect to a child-like sense of play again! 

Responsible Decision Making: The ability to make caring and constructive choices about personal behavior and social interactions across diverse situations.

How do these films and stories demonstrate making a reasoned judgment after analyzing information, data, and facts; identifying solutions for personal and social problems; anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one’s action and reflecting on one’s role to promote personal, family, and community well-being?

What would you do if you saw a wildfire destroy 95% of a town? How would you help the survivors whose homes burned to the ground? For Woody Faircloth in Denver, the answer seemed simple: provide them with an RV. And upon witnessing the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, he and his six-year- old daughter Luna did just that. Without hesitation, they drove across the country to donate an RV to a family who lost everything to the inferno. But when they arrived, the two quickly realized they couldn't stop there.

Upstanders: The Kids Who Killed an Incinerator and My Toxic Reality are films that demonstrate that individuals can work together to create a solution to a problem in their community.  

 At age 8, Milo noticed that whenever he ordered a drink in a restaurant, it would come with a straw. This seemed like a huge waste because he did not usually need a straw. He was concerned about the millions of straws that pollute waterways and harm ocean creatures. So Milo went on a campaign in his hometown to have restaurants ask if someone wanted a straw. He has convinced restaurants to go "straw-free" and has addressed Congress on the matter. 

MY HERO International Film Festival Winner Words Have Power is about a 10-year-old girl who rallied her community to protest the health effects that a local power plant had on their community and succeeded in having the plant close. 

The film A Mile in Our Shoes tells the stories of young people who have members of their family with illnesses and disabilities and what it is like to have to care for them. They are called young carers, and each have to take on great responsibilities despite their age.

The film Citizenship features John Lewis as relates his experience growing up in the segregated south and his involvement in the civil rights movement. How talks about how if you see a problem one needs to confront the problem. The need to speak up and speak out. And that young people can make a positive difference in the world.

This film is appropriate for middle school and high school students. 

The film Defending the Deep highlights the efforts of tireless defender of the oceans and marine life. Claire Nouvian led a focused, data-driven advocacy campaign against the destructive fishing practice of deep-sea bottom trawling, successfully pressuring French supermarket giant and fleet owner Intermarché to change its fishing practices. Her coalition of advocates ultimately secured French support for a ban on deep-sea bottom trawling that led to an EU-wide ban. 

The film Alex Epstein: The Power of Volunteering, as well as the stories Kids Helping Kids is Run by Kids for Kids and Trash Heroes are examples of young people who have made a difference by identifying problems and coming up with solutions that supports the well being of those in their community and beyond.  

Relationship Skills: The ability to establish and maintain healthy, supportive relationships with diverse individuals and groups.

How do these films and stories demonstrate the capacity to communicate clearly, listen actively, cooperate, work collaboratively to problem solve and negotiate conflict constructively, navigate settings with differing social and cultural demands and opportunities, provide leadership, and seek or offer help when needed?

Learn how the members of a mosque and a church became a community. Initially when building the mosque across the street from a church, the director didn't expect to be welcome but that was not the case. When the mosque wasn't finished being built, they used the church for service during Ramadan which gave the member of both places of worship an opportunity to get to know each other on a personal level. Thus a community was built.

Janet Miller, a teacher at Hoover Middle School, was blown away by district-wide statistics that revealed the risk of violence that transgender youth experience. Moved by the statistics, Miller stated to her colleagues that it was their responsibility to create a safe learning environment for all students and helped start a Gay Straight Alliance chapter at the school.

The reality is that most Jewish and Arab Israelis have only superficial relationships with one another. They interact casually in public and commercial spaces, but they have little to no social interaction. Jewish Israelis are even less likely to know Palestinians who live in the West Bank. Read the story of how an Orthodox Jew and a Palestinian Muslim living in the West Bank became close friends in Israel. 

Marcus was diagnosed with Autism and ADHD, thus had trouble with social interactions. Lovey, a lovebird, calms him down and provides a type of therapy Marcus. As he became incredibly close to Lovey, Marcus the connection gave him some basic understanding of social interactions that he hadn't been aware of beforehand. 

Learn about autism through the eyes of someone with autism. This is a beautiful film shining a light on how someone with autism navigates social interactions and the world.

The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) is a trusted source for knowledge about high-quality, evidence-based social and emotional learning (SEL).