Subject: SEL (Social-Emotional Learning), Special Education

Lesson Length: 15 - 20 mins

Topic: Stress Management

Grade Level: 4, 5, 6, 7

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Students will practice how to ask for help.

Know Before You Start: Students should understand that there are many tools to help manage stress.

Hook:

  • Discuss with students when they last asked someone for help.
    • Why did you ask for help?
    • Did you ask for help right away or did you wait until something became too stressful to handle it yourself? 
  • Explain that asking for help can be challenging for adults, too.
    • Why do you think it’s hard?
    • Possible answers may include: feeling weak, scared because it might involve punishment, being unsure of who to talk to about it, fear of being picked on because you asked for help, pride, etc.

Activity:

  • Read and discuss the sample comic.
    • Who would they ask for help?
    • What would they say to ask for help?
  • Have students create a comic depicting themselves or a character asking for help.
  • Students may use the following sentence frames to support their answers: 
    • “I’m having a hard time with_______, Can we talk about it later?"
    • “I’ve been trying really hard but still don’t get this. Can you help me?"
    • “I’m not sure how I feel about something. Can we talk about it?”
    • “I could really use some advice about_______. Can we talk it out together?

Closure:

  • Give students some time to reflect on their own or journal.
    • Who is someone in my life I can trust and will always be able to ask for help? 
    • Do I feel comfortable asking my teacher(s) for help? Why or why not? 
    • What is something right now in my life where I could use some help? How can I ask for support?

Differentiation:

  • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
  • Provide sentence frames.
  • Use role-play to provide an opportunity to practice using dialogue to ask for help.
  • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.

Resources:

  • Comic to print or display: Comic.
  • Suggested Reading:
    • Stuck by Oliver Jeffers.