On Jan. 27, about 20 Safe School Ambassadors from Cornwall High School spent an afternoon speaking to middle school students about respect.
In groups of two, the ambassadors split up among the classrooms of each grade. Freshman Saba Paracha and junior Kate Gleason spent a period with Jami Strauss’ sixth grade class.
They introduced themselves, and listed the clubs and organizations in which each participate. Then they jumped into their three-part lesson plan
The ambassadors split the class into five groups, handing each student a sheet of paper split into quadrants. The groups had to discuss and write down, in each box, the ways to show respectful actions in the community, classroom, at home, and online.
The teens visited each group and helped them come up with examples. Then the groups shared as a class.
Some examples included don’t litter and help the elderly (community), don’t talk back to teachers and don’t laugh when someone makes a mistake (classroom), help with groceries and get along with siblings (at home), and respect people’s postings and delete nasty comments (online).
The next lesson was to present two different ways to help when someone is being disrespectful to another. The first method is “distracting,” changing the subject or getting someone to focus on something else to distract them from the disrespectful act. “Directing” means telling the offender to “stop” and then following up with something like “That’s not cool;” “No one likes that;” or “How would you feel if someone did that to you?”
With Strauss’ assistance, the girls performed a number of skits, demonstrating a disrespectful situation and asking the students for a resolution using the two methods.
The final exercise was for the students to write, on sticky notes, how to show someone respect either by complimenting them or by saying something to make them feel better about themselves. Each was posted on the “wall of respect.” Examples included “You’re an awesome singer” and “Even though you came in second place, you’re still a winner.”
