Caring and Sharing—Week 7/8
Lesson Overview:
Students explore issues of weight teasing, accept others, and assume a supportive role
Lesson Objectives:
1. Sensitize students to the effects of weight prejudice, ridicule, and teasing
2. Draw attention to the fact that everyone has been teased
3. Create some alternatives to weight teasing
4. Conscious Acts of Caring
Lesson Activities:
Lesson Plan:
A. Introduction and Video: 10 minutes
B. Video Discussion and Reflection 15 minutes
C. Power Shuffle: 10 minutes
D. Power Shuffle Decompression: 15 minutes
E. Conscious Acts of Caring 25 minutes
F. Journal Activity/Reflection 15 minutes
90 minutes
* This activity is very sensitive and very in-depth. It was originally designed to be one week long, but due to the nature, two weeks have been allotted. The times allotted are just suggested times and can be manipulated and changed in any way. There is twenty minutes that can be used for overflow.
“This week’s lesson is a sensitive one. All of us have been teased or bullied, teased or bullied others, or observed someone being teased or bullied. Let’s take a moment to pay attention to one person’s experiences with weight teasing” (Ryan’s video).
Video script
Hey guys. I’m Ryan and I am here to talk with you a little bit about being overweight—or more specifically being teased about being overweight. I know that you all are looking at me thinking—“this guy is twice my age and skinny”. Well, the truth is that I was obese when I was in 9th grade. In fact, I was obese for 9th, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade. It was only a few years ago that I decided to lose the weight and live a more healthy lifestyle. (Show pictures if possible). This last picture is my senior portrait. Not exactly how you want to be remembered by your classmates for the rest of your life, is it? So yes, I do understand what you all are going through, but I also know that you don’t have to feel bad because of your weight.
So the first thing I would like to discuss is that everyone is different. Each of our bodies has a different weight set point—a weight that our bodies are ‘happy’ at. If we eat too much on a consistent basis, that set point can get moved to a higher and higher weight. On the other hand, if we begin to eat less, that set point moves to a lower weight. So really we can train our bodies to be ‘happy’ at different weights.
The second thing I would like to note is that everyone has fat, even Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Olympic sprinters. Fat is a perfectly natural part of life, and it is a necessary part of life for use as a fuel source, as well as to provide cushioning for our internal organs. So really, we all HAVE fat, and that it is something that we possess. We are NOT FAT. Being overweight is a condition that some people have, not a characteristic that defines WHO we are. Saying we ARE fat is like saying we are diabetes, or that we are heart disease. No, some people HAVE diabetes, or people HAVE heart disease, just as everyone HAS fat—some just more than others.
So if this is true, then why is it that we are made fun of because of our weights? Do people get made fun of for having diabetes or heart disease? I don’t think so. Well, the short answer is that I don’t really know. Some kids will always find something to pick on another person about. They probably just think that they have to put you down to feel better about themselves or to gain popularity. When I was your age, I was overweight, a nerd, AND poor, so you can imagine all the material the mean kids had to make fun of me about.
The important thing is that what the other kids are saying are just words. Here’s an exercise. The next time someone pokes fun of you because of your weight, say to yourself “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me.” I know it’s cheesy, but if you honestly believe what you said to yourself, I can assure you that what they say will pass in one ear, and out the other. And if that wasn’t cheesy enough for you, how about this: the older you get, the more you will truly realize that a person IS judged by what is on the inside and not on the outside.
What you all have to realize that being overweight can be as long or as short as you want it to be. Yes, it takes time and discipline to lose weight, but it can be done. Through this program, we hope to be able to teach you all how to do that.
Team Discussion: Sharing and Caring
After viewing Ryan’s video, team will discuss the issue of weight teasing. Each team member can share his/her experience with weight teasing, discuss his/her idea about how to deal with weight teasing, make a commitment to stop weight teasing and assume a supportive role with other students who are experiencing weight teasing.
Power Shuffle Activity
“As we think about caring for those in our teams and those in our families and communities who might be on the giving or receiving end of teasing, let’s remember what it felt like to be mistreated for all the other reasons people come up with for abusing others.” (Teams should line up along one side of the masking-tape line across the floor.)
“I’m going to call out a group and if you belong to that group, please cross the line and turn around to face the students on the other side of the line. If you do not feel comfortable crossing the line, even though you are part of that group, that’s fine. You can stay right where you are and notice any feelings that you are having.”
“For each group that is called out, people in that group will cross the line. They will then turn around to face the students who have not crossed the line. When you tell the group that crossed the line to return, they will return to their original placed on the other side of the tape, so that the entire group is standing together once more.”
*Power Shuffle
● “Now, cross the line in silence if you’ve ever been teased, called a bad name or made fun of.
● “Cross the line if you’ve ever been judged, put down, or teased about your accent, your voice, or told you couldn’t sing.”
● “Cross the line if you or any one of your family members or any friend of yours has a disability that you can or can’t see.”
● “Now cross the line if you’ve ever seen someone else being teased or called a bad name or made fun of for any reason at all.”
● “Cross the line if you’ve ever been called a name or put down or made fun of or whistled at or harassed or told you couldn’t do something you wanted to just because you’re a girl.”
● “Cross the line if you’re a boy and you’ve ever been told you shouldn’t cry, show your emotions, or be afraid or told you couldn’t do something just because you are a boy.”
● “Cross the line if you’ve ever been picked last in games or sports or felt left out or excluded from an activity altogether.”
● “Cross the line if you or someone you care about has ever been judged, put down, teased, excluded or discriminated against because of your religious background.”
● “Cross the line if you or someone you care about has ever been judged, put down, teased, excluded, or discriminated against because of the color of your skin.”
● “Cross the line if you or someone you care about has ever been judged, put down, teased, harassed, or discriminated against because of your sexual orientation.”
● “Cross the line if you’ve ever been told by an adult that you’re too young to understand or been called a name by an adult or had your dress or appearance criticized by an adult.”
● “Cross the line if you’ve ever felt alone, unwelcome, or afraid.”
● “Cross the line if you or someone you care about has ever been teased or made fun of for wearing glasses, braces, a hearing aid, or for the clothes you wear, your height, your complexion, or for the size or shape of your body.”
*Note: After each of the
categories, you will pause until the students who have crossed the line have
turned to face the other students. “Notice how it feels to cross the line
and notice how it feels to watch other people cross the line (pause).
Look who is with you and who is not,” pause.
● “Cross the line if you’ve ever been told that you’re a bad, ungrateful, no-good, or worthless kid.”
● “Cross the line if you’ve ever felt pressure from your friends or an adult to do something you didn’t want to do and felt sorry or ashamed afterwards.”
● “Cross the line if you’ve ever felt ashamed for speaking from your heart or sharing your worries, fears, or secret hopes and dreams with someone.”
● “Cross the line if someone’s ever been mean to you and you’ve been reluctant or too afraid to say anything about it.”
● “Cross the line if you’ve ever stood by and watched while someone was hurt or bullied and said or did nothing because you were uncomfortable, shy, or afraid to say something.”
Ask everyone to sit down with their teams.
“For many of us, it takes courage to cross the line. If you’ve noticed, lots of us crossed the line many times. Everyone here knows what it feels like to get hurt, or to see someone be hurt and not stand up for them. But maybe we forgot that hurt because we pushed it inside. If we can remember what we’ve shared here today—that we’ve all been hurt—hopefully we can teach ourselves and others not to tease or bully others about their weight, and try to make sure no one else gets hurt these ways again. When you crossed the line, you weren’t any less deserving of respect and caring. In fact, many of those times were probably when you needed respect or caring the most.”
Power Shuffle Decompression
Journal Activity
Class
Conscious Acts of Caring
In an American Studies class at Nashville’s Hillsboro High, questions about the Columbine shootings the day before turned quickly from “How could this happen?” to “What can we do?” Within an hour, the class had come up with a plan: Put into writing a simple commitment to stop taunting classmates for the say they dress, talk, or act. More than 1,100 of Hillsboro’s 1,500 students signed the “I Will” pledge during the first week. After hearing about the project, a Nashville computer firm offered to host a website. The pledge in part reads:
I will pledge to be a part of the solution.
I will eliminate taunting from my own behavior.
I will encourage others to do the same.
I will not let my words or actions hurt others.
And if others won’t become part of the solution, I WILL.
You can find out more about the Hillsboro campaign against taunting by visiting www.iwillpledge.nashville.com
*Have students discuss Columbine, Virginia Tech, etc…Discuss as a small group and then discuss as a class. Allow students to share thoughts on the incidents, and the people who committed the crimes. This will be a very deep discussion, please remind students to speak freely. Also encourage discussion by asking questions such as
1. Could these tragedies have been prevented?
2. Who is to blame?
3. What should we do to protect students and
teachers?
Journal Activity
Week 7: Understanding the effects of weight teasing, are there actions you will take against weight teasing?
Week 8: Write out your own “I Will” Statements, at least 3 based on the past two weeks’ activities.
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