Building Character for Success

1. Building Character for Success “Anger Plan of Action” Lesson 9.12 Created By: Pam Gunter

2. Challenge for the Week – Follow Up • How did everyone do last week in managing and taking ownership for their choices? Would anyone like to share a personal experience where their good choice affected someone else for good?

3. Preparation • Materials Needed: • Chalkboard or whiteboard. • Students will need paper and pencil for notes. • Classroom Setup: • Sit at desk or table.

4. The Activity • Anger is a normal emotion that can easily get too intense or out of control which can cause permanent and lasting damage to relationships, self-esteem, overall physical and emotional well-being. • Learning to manage anger can be extremely challenging, but very important to learn in life. Without developing this skill, it can be difficult to make healthy and right choices during emotionally charged moments. • There are three key elements to managing or coping with anger. Those elements are: • Expressing your angry feelings in a healthy and constructive way. • Suppressing your feelings and redirecting your thoughts to a different and constructive thought or activity. • Learn to use calming techniques to relax your body and mind to gain internal control and emotions.

5. The Activity • Step One: To cope with anger, you need to preplan what you need to do when you get angry. Take time to review some good relaxation techniques such as breathing deep and slow, repeating calming words to yourself such as “relax”, or “it is going to be okay”, think of relaxing places you’ve been, stretch out. Discuss as a class how they relax. Write ideas on the board. • Step Two: Recognize the early warning signs of anger building. As a class discuss some of those warning signs (i.e knots in stomach, tense muscles, hot/clammy, nervous, heart pounding, inability to concentrate). Have the students write their ideas on the board.

6. The Activity • Step Three: Avoid events, locations, and individuals that trigger “fighting” or threatening situations, when possible. • Step Four: Improve your self-talk about yourself and others so it doesn’t prematurely add strain to relationships. When you start thinking of something negative about them, think of a good song, a great vacation or memory you’ve had. • Have the students make a list of their “triggers” and areas they need to avoid if they have any. Encourage them to also write down how their body reacts to anger so they can recognize those feelings early into the event and walk away from the situation before it gets too emotional and out of control.

7. The Object of the Lesson • Reiterate that anger is a normal emotion. • Anger needs to be controlled to avoid damaging themselves or others. • Take a proactive approach to coping with anger. Identify a constructive game plan of action NOW so when they are in stressful and emotional situations they can refer back to the plan and not have to make a lot of spontaneous decisions. • Use relaxing and calming techniques to diffuse angry emotions and feelings. • Recognize the early warning signs of your body so you can leave or change the course of the situation.

8. Challenge for the Week Challenge the students to develop their anger plan of action in advance. Encourage students to utilize the plan when needed to prevent losing their temper, making incorrect choices during emotionally charged discussions, etc. Also encourage them to express feelings in a healthy and constructive manner using the communication techniques we’ve learned in previous lessons: • Think before you speak. • Listen to their side of the situation. • Speak using appropriate words, voice tone, volume and speed. • Pay attention to non-verbal body language and gestures.