Subject: SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)

Lesson Length: 45 mins

Topic: Relationship Skills

Grade Level: 5, 6, 7

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description: Set your students up for life in and out of school by teaching them about healthy vs. unhealthy relationships.

Know Before You Start: This lesson works well as part of an overall unit on social emotional skills and relationship building.

Hook:

  • Read and discuss the sample comic.
    • What makes this interaction healthy?
    • What would be an unhealthy response to Mrs. Bigg’s friend’s request? 
    • Discuss the things that make a friendship or school relationship healthy, and what makes them unhealthy. Focus on respect and compromise.

Activity:

  • Have students create a three-panel comic demonstrating their understanding of healthy vs. unhealthy relationships.

  • The comic should include an interaction between two people and a conflict.

  • The comic may show a healthy or unhealthy interaction. If the interaction is unhealthy, a caption must explain why the interaction is unhealthy.

  • Remind students to consider the following as they create their comic:

    • How do we demonstrate respect?

    • How do we compromise to make decisions? 

    • How do we respect each others' boundaries?

Closure:

  • Share the comics and read aloud to the class, reinforcing what was healthy or unhealthy about the interactions shown. 

  • Display the comics on a bulletin board or online.

Differentiation:

  • Allow students to use speech-to-text feature.
  • Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
  • Provide a printed copy of the sample comic.
  • Allow students to use the voiceover feature to read their comics aloud.

Resources:

  • Comic to print or display: Comic.

Suggested Story Starters: