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Be an Upstander!

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Subject: SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)

Lesson Length: 20 - 30 mins

Topic: Anti-bullying

Grade Level: 4

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Students will learn about living as an upstander and explore what they might say to someone who is bullying someone else.

Know Before You Start: Students should know the difference between an upstander and a bystander.

Hook:

  • Have students pretend they have travelled back in time to a time when they witnessed someone teasing someone else or they themselves were teased.

    • What would they say now?

  • Explain that in stressful moments, we sometimes don’t know what to do or say to support ourselves or peers.

  • As a group, practice some things they could say to be an upstander against bullying.

Activity:

  • Read and discuss the sample comic.
    • What would you do if you saw someone picking on someone? 

  • Brainstorm ideas on how to be an “upstander” when situations like the one in the comic arise. Discuss “upstander” language.

  • Using the comic as a guide, have students create a three-panel comic.

    • Panel 1: Show a bullying situation.

    • Panel 2: Show your avatar considering actions you might take to be an upstander against bullying.

    • Panel 3: Show your avatar confronting the situation and using appropriate upstander language.

Closure:

  • Display student comics in the classroom.

Differentiation:

  • Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature

  • Provide specific scenarios for students as needed.

  • Provide a handout that describes characteristics of upstanders and bystanders.

Resources:

Suggested Content Packs:

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