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Kevin Love’s letter is the touchstone of this curriculum. Kevin is featured sharing his story in a video in this first lesson. The purpose for this first video is twofold – Kevin normalizes the presence of difficult emotions while also modeling vulnerability. This will help to open the door to talking about emotion in a school setting, a context where emotions are often not included in the daily curriculum. After Kevin shares his letter and story, the teacher or counselor will also share a letter that models vulnerability for their students. Next, students are invited to write their own letters. The intention for this activity is for students to see that emotions are welcome in the classroom. The benefit of the letter writing activity is that it does not push students to share too much at the start of this curriculum. They are simply sharing one story – and it does not even need to be an entire story from beginning to end. Rather, the students are writing what they are feeling in a certain moment – whatever memory, person, or small part of a story feels most important in their lives on this day. It’s a way of warming them up to be able to express themselves by focusing on a piece of the puzzle, not feeling the pressure to examine every aspect of their emotional life.
· Destigmatize emotions that are often labeled as negative by our culture.
· Raise awareness that students are not alone in their sadness or anxiety or challenging emotion.
Prior to teaching this lesson, watch the guest artist videos and read the letter, then write your own letter that you will share with your students.
Have paper and pens or personal electronic devices (i.e. laptops, tablets, and Chromebooks) available for writing time.
Display the ‘welcome slide’ from the Lesson 1 PowerPoint as you begin.
*Slide 1
As discussed in the teacher training, remember to make the suggested language below authentic to yourself and meaningful for your students.
* Slide 2
Explain that this curriculum reframes the rules around emotion. Describe that you are willing to be vulnerable first.
Example of What You Could Say:
“Today we are going to begin a journey together that is really different than what we usually talk about in school. There are a lot of rules around how emotions get expressed in school, where they get expressed, and which emotions are considered “good” and which ones are considered “bad.” We’re going to rethink a lot of those rules. We’ll have many examples of people sharing their emotions and stories with us.
I am going to do this too. I will not be asking you to do anything that I am not willing to do myself. We are going to start this project together by watching an example of a person you may know, a basketball player, modeling this bravery and sharing a story from his life.”
Play the guest artist video for students. In this video, Kevin Love tells the story and introduces students to the main idea of the curriculum – everyone is going through something you can’t see. He offers students a model of vulnerability and begins to destigmatize anxiety, depression and other emotions that have been historically labeled as “negative” by our society.
Reiterate the primary message from the video – everyone is going through something we can’t see.
Examples of What You Could Say:
“We just heard Kevin Love describe his experience with anxiety and depression. Kevin wants to share his story to help young people know that they are not alone, and that everyone is going through something that you can’t see.”
“For me, Kevin’s letter reminded me of _________ (share an experience when you were also going through something difficult, but no one would have been able to tell this just by looking at you.) and I want to share the letter I wrote about this experience.”
“Do you feel a connection to Kevin’s letter, the guest artist’s letter or my letter? As you hear our stories, does it remind you of something you’ve gone through? Or maybe it reminds you of an experience that is different, but it’s something you would like to write about?”
Introduce the creative activity of letter writing. Offer a few example ideas to inspire the writing. Emphasize that the focus is not on grammar. Explain that you will join them and write another letter.
Examples of What You Could Say:
* Slide 3
Students spend approximately 15 minutes writing their letter. Write alongside your students for the entirety of the writing time. Although you’ve written a letter to model as your example to share with your students, it is important that you also model the practice of writing and your willingness to be vulnerable as well.
Example of What You Could Say:
“Okay, it’s been fifteen minutes now, so let’s stop writing and come back together again. I wonder how that felt for you to be able to put some of the things you are thinking into your writing? A lot of people journal every day because they have so much on their minds and it can feel good to get it from the mind onto paper. Think about if you feel differently now than you did fifteen minutes ago? Would anyone like to share what they wrote about?”
If you or your students would like to learn more about the ideas in this lesson, additional resources and third party links are included below.
