It is important to teach middle school students how to think before they speak, especially when it comes to saying hurtful things. Download the free activity above and use the accompanying lesson plan to review teaching middle schoolers to think before speaking.
Teaching How to Think Before Speaking
Middle school students are at a critical age where they are developing their social skills, and learning to control their emotions is a key aspect of this development. Here is a lesson plan teaching middle school students to think before they speaking.
Lesson Objective:
Students will learn the importance of thinking before speaking and practice using strategies to prevent hurtful speech.
Materials:
- Chart paper
- Markers
- Small slips of paper
- Basket or container
Procedure:
- Introduction (5 minutes) Start by discussing with the students how words can have a powerful impact on people. Ask them to share any experiences they have had where someone said something hurtful to them, or when they said something they later regretted.
- Brainstorming (10 minutes) Next, write the word “Think” on the chart paper and brainstorm with the students different strategies they can use to think before they speak. Some examples include taking a deep breath, counting to 10, and considering how the other person might feel. Use our downloadable think before speaking PDF (at the top of this page) for some examples to get started.
- Role Play (15 minutes) Divide the students into pairs and give each pair a slip of paper with a situation where one person is upset with the other. Have one student act out the upset person, while the other student practices using the strategies to think before they speak. After a few minutes, have the students switch roles.
- Writing Exercise (10 minutes) Hand out slips of paper to each student and ask them to write down a hurtful statement they might say in a given situation. Collect the slips in a basket or container.
- Conclusion (10 minutes) Draw one slip of paper from the basket and read the hurtful statement aloud. Ask the students to brainstorm ways the statement could have been rephrased to be less hurtful.
Sample Video
Students learn best from watching real students their own age model skills. Try out this sample video-modeling lesson below. We offer our entire Social-Emotional Learning platform free for 30 days here!
