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    Be an Upstander!

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    At a Glance:

    Grades:4
    Subject:SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)
    Topic:Anti-bullying
    Lesson Length:20 - 30 mins

    Standards / Framework:

    What will students learn in this activity?

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

    What should students know before this activity?

    Students should know the difference between an upstander and a bystander.

    How can teachers introduce this lesson?

    • 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.

    What will students do?

    • 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.

    How can teachers wrap up the lesson?

    • Display student comics in the classroom.

    How can teachers differentiate this activity?

    • 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.
    • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.

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