Respect for Self & Others
Butterfly Circus
At the height of the Great Depression, the showman (Eduardo Verastegui) of a renowned circus leads his troupe through the devastated American landscape, lifting the spirits of audiences along the way. During their travels they discover Will (Nick Vujicic), a man without limbs at a carnival sideshow, but after an intriguing encounter with the showman he becomes driven to hope against everything he has ever believed. Watch this amazing short film with your students, then use Leadership Logistic's discussion guide to reflect on its lessons.
Character Freeze Frame
An original lesson developed by participants at the TASSP/TASC Student Leadership Course Teacher Academy, this lesson focuses on eliciting discussion about the personal character traits of good leaders.
Personality Process
An original lesson developed by participants at the TASSP/TASC Student Leadership Course Teacher Academy, this lesson focuses on identifying personality types in self and others.
Don't Laugh at Me
Based on Peter Yarrow's song, "Don't Laugh at Me," this lesson helps students develop empathy for others and awareness of words and actions that put people down, and asks them to develop a plan to respond to put-downs to support others who are being ridiculed.
Learning about Labels
With this lesson from the No Name-Calling Week website, students will gain an understanding of labels and attached stereotypes, gain an understanding of seeing someone as a whole person, and agree to abstain from labeling one another.
We're All Different Alike Lesson Plan
Another lesson from the No Name-Calling Week website helps students gain an understanding of making assumptions attached to stereotypes and gain an understanding of seeing someone as a whole person.
A Thousand Words
To become more aware that compassion involves understanding and engaging in another person’s life, students view images of people and creatively interpret what they see in this lesson from Character Counts!
Shirts of Empowerment
This creative lesson from the No Name-Calling Week website helps students gain an understanding of name‐calling's magnitude and impact on students and develop empathy for those being name‐called.
Lessons Learned: Creating a Life Reports Project
How can we tap into the wisdom of the older members of our families and communities? What useful lessons can be learned from looking back at the choices made over the course of a long lifetime? In this lesson from The Learning Network, students share what they have learned from the experiences and wisdom of the older people in their lives, read Life Reports written by New York Times readers over the age of 70 and write and share their own reports from the present or their imagined futures. They end by soliciting and displaying Life Reports from community members.
Respect Lessons from Character Counts!
Visit Character Counts! for a long list of lessons exploring various aspects of respect. (You'll need to create a free account to access Character Counts! resources.)
Diversity Lesson
Students think about and discuss the concepts of "unity in diversity" and "strength in diversity" in this lesson from Character Counts! (You'll need to create a free account to access Character Counts! resources.)
Respect and Diversity Lessons from Teaching Tolerance
The Mix It Up at Lunch Day website has a wonderful collection of lessons for various grade levels that promote respect for diversity.
Candy Cultures
A lesson on inclusion, multiculturalism, or communication skills. 'Cultures' interact with each others in fun, interesting ways.
Create a Culture
This lesson from the Washington Association of Student Councils is designed to open up a discussion regarding the social groups at a school and to heighten respect for cultural differences. Check here for other great lessons from WASC.
A Nation of Many Cultures
Although designed for younger students (grades K-5), this cultural lesson from the PBS: America Responds (to 9/11) series could be adapted for middle level and high school students as well. It invites students to create a visual representation of themselves to include their family, heritage, and interests. The creations are then used to compare and contrast similarities and differences of the students. The lesson culminates with the creation of an American Flag for the bulletin board.
Working with Others
Gain some insight into how you relate to others with this quiz.
It's Who I Am
Youth explore diversity within their classroom with this lesson from Character Counts.
Not in Our Schools
Check out a collection of lesson plans by Not in Our Schools on topics like standing up to hate, bullying, stereotyping, diversity, and more.
