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Perspective Taking is the skill of being able to look at things from another persons point of view.  This can be essential when teaching how to be a good friend and conflict resolution.  Really, perspective taking is essential to all aspects of life, from being patient in the lunch line to helping out around the house.

I got the basis for this lesson from the website of a fantastic teacher out of Austin ISD.  If you like to read a little more about her lessons and classroom, check her out at http://acardenas.weebly.com/.

Perspective Taking Lesson - Week of October 22, 2012
Opening:
Line up various shoes, ranging from a baby shoe to a high heel to a man’s shoe.  Ask questions about what they can tell about each of the people who might wear each.  Talk about who the person is, where they might be going, what they might like to do, etc.  Ask what kinds of thoughts and feelings each might have.

Discussion:
Talk about the idiom, “Put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”  First, talk about it literally - we can't literally put ourselves in certain shoes because they won't fit or we wouldn't choose to wear them because we are all so different.  Then, talk about the metaphorical meaning.  You CAN put yourself in another person’s shoes by trying to imagine what they might be going through in their life and how those things might be impacting them.

Activity:
After discussing what perspective taking means using the visual attached below, I show them various pictures and ask inference/perspective taking questions.  Use the “How Do You Feel?” wall to discuss what some of those students might be thinking or feeling.  Write some things that might be happening with each person on the wipe off thought bubble by the picture.





 
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A lot of students have difficulty discerning between little problems and big problems.  Most frequently, students that have difficulty with this treat every problem like it is a big one, giving the same reaction to forgotten homework as one might to a broken arm.

The Big Problem vs Little Problem exercise has students  place different problems on a continuum of little problem to medium problem to big problem.  The picture to the left shows how I did this lesson in my classroom.  I put a line of painters tape down my window and put post-it notes with little problem, medium problem, and big problem on the left, middle, and right of the line.  We then talk about how you might define little problem (Not the end of the world.  Part of everyday life.), medium problem (Not everyday.  These are tough but not more than we can handle.), and big problem (These super-stink and take special effort to fix.).  Students then place examples of different problems they might encounter on the line where they think they belong.

Some examples of problems are, "forgot lunch," "got a paper cut," "got hurt on the playground," "was involved in bullying," "was expelled."  I let students add their own examples but I try to stay away from specific "big problems" that students might have experienced in their own lives.  The biggest problems, I make a little bit silly, i.e.: "the school is invaded by aliens."  This is especially the case with students who might have experience trauma in their own lives.

This is a fun activity to get kids up and moving, while opening the door to a discussion about different levels of problems and appropriate ways to react when faced with little and medium problems.  In addition, the language students learn during this activity can be carried over to the classroom and home to discuss appropriate reactions while in the process of specific situations.


 
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For our first breakfast meeting, we will be deciding on our group names and creating a social contract that discusses how we will expect to be treated and how we will be expected to treat each other.  Every member of the group (including myself) will sign the contract stating that this is how we will treat one another when we meet together.

On the left, there is a picture of the first group's contract that they decorated themselves.  Their names/signatures have been removed to preserve their confidentiality.  This group decided to call themselves "The Revolution."

The dictionary defines a revolution as, "a complete or marked change in something."  I could not have picked a better name myself!  This group could certainly serve as a BEHAVIOR revolution!