Students reflect on what it means to feel safe and as a class, students create a list of specific actions they can take to help themselves and each other to feel safe.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Reflect on their experiences related to feeling safe and comfortable in school
- Propose ideas to improve the comfort level/feeling of safety in the classroom
- Take proactive steps to improve the comfort/safety of the classroom space
Materials
Paper and writing utensils, posters with “physical safety”, “intellectual safety”, and “emotional safety” written on them and posted in the room.
Exercises
Time | Activity | Notes |
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2 mins |
Opening
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|
5 mins |
Introduction
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Using language that creates a sense of team is important in this lesson. Calling this vision “our safe classroom” reflects teamwork and a sharing of responsibility. |
15 mins |
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Create a system for students to ask questions of and agree with previous notes on the brainstorming boards. For example, a star, check mark, or a smiley face can indicate that the new group agrees with an idea posted by the previous group and would like to “second” it. |
10 mins |
Group Consensus
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|
15 mins |
ReflectionHave students complete a reflection. See “formative assessment” below for suggested questions. |
Give students ample time to complete this reflection and to provide a full answer to the final question. You may want to give a guideline for length for this last question (i.e., please write 5-6 full sentences in your description). |
Connections to Other Emotions
The group brainstorm fosters the emotion of connected/supported, as group members are supporting each other, building off of each other’s ideas, and coming to a consensus. Creating a safe space is also founded in respected/valued and students’ ideas should come from a place of respecting and valuing the classroom community.
Criteria for Success/Formative Assessment
- What specific steps can you take in the next week to help build a sense of safety in our classroom?
- What kind of safety do you think is the most important: physical, emotional, or intellectual? Why?
- Where do you think our classroom needs to grow the most in terms of safety?
- Imagine what our classroom will look like in 6 months if everyone really commits to working on the areas of safety that we talked about today. Describe what it will look like, sound like, and feel like in our classroom when we accomplish these ideas.