High School (9-12)
Lesson Plans

Facing Personal Feelings (rh01)

Objectives

Students will:

• Identify a range of personal feelings.
• Demonstrate healthy ways to redirect uncomfortable thoughts.
• Identify ways in which tragic events have been depicted using art forms.

Purpose

To help students:

• Understand their personal feelings following a tragic event.
• Direct their feelings in a non-stereotypical way.
• See symbolism in music and art relating to tragic events.

Key Terms and Concepts

• emotional triggers
• mural
• symbolism
• prejudice
• stereotypes/stereotypical
• imagery
• Pablo Picasso
• evoke
• lyrics

Activities

• "Why Do I Feel Like This?"
• "The Tragedy of Guernica"

Home Connection

• Why Do I Feel Like This?

Linking Across the Curriculum

• Art
• Music
• Literature
• History

Following a tragic event, a young person's view of the world as a safe and predictable place is temporarily lost. Young people become afraid that a similar event will happen again and that they or their family will be injured or killed. The damage, injuries and deaths that can result from an unexpected or uncontrollable event are difficult for most young people to understand.

Positive reactions from parents and other adults following any traumatic event can help young people recover more quickly and more completely. Adults need to remember that high schoolers express their feelings and reactions in different ways. Some young people will react by becoming withdrawn and unable to talk about the event, while some will talk incessantly, providing lots of gory details. Others will feel intensely sad and angry at times and at other times will act as if the event never happened. Don't be surprised if some students don't seem to be affected by what they have seen and heard. Not everyone has immediate reactions; some have delayed reactions that show up days, weeks or even months later, and some may never have a reaction.

Files

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Lesson Plan

Activity Sheet 1

Activity Sheet 2

This Lesson Plan was contributed by the American Red Cross.