Subject: SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)
Lesson Length: 40 mins - 1 hour
Topic: Social Awareness
Brief Description: Students will interview a classmate and create a comic celebrating their unique strengths and passions.
Know Before You Start: Pair students with someone they don’t know well.
Hook:
- Select a volunteer. Ask the class if they can guess this classmate’s favorite cartoon? Favorite candy? Repeat with several students.
- Explain that we often stick to a small group of friends and don’t have the opportunity to really get to know the awesomeness of everyone in our classroom.
- Have students spend 10-15 minutes interviewing a classmate using the following prompts or questions of their own:
- What are some of your favorite hobbies outside of school?
- What is something you are really good at that no one really knows?
- Where are some of your favorite places to go?
- What is one dream or goal you hope to accomplish in your life?
- What is your dream future career?
Activity:
- Have students create a comic featuring this classmate which includes:
- Their classmate's avatar.
- A background that represents their classmate's favorite place to go.
- Outfits, poses and thought or speech bubbles that reflect their classmate's interests.
- Use the classmate's name to name the comic and provide a caption with words describing their personality and characteristics.
Closure:
- Create a Celebration Wall featuring each student as a member of the class community.
- Reflect:
- Why is it important to know more about our peers than what we see or what’s on the surface?
- How does it feel to know that someone in class knows you better?
Differentiation:
- Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
- Provide a written copy of the interview questions with visuals.
- Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.
Resources:
- Comic to print or display: Comic.
- Suggested Readings:
- All Are Welcome by Alexandra Penfold & Suzanne Kaufman. (Grades 4-5)
- Seedfolks by Paul Fleischman. (Grades 6-7)
- Real Kids Real Stories Real Change by Garth Sundem. (All grades)
Suggested Content Packs: