Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Consequences of violence

15 minutes

Find Our: Risk and protective factors

25 minutes

Take Action: Circles of protection

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: Consequences of violence

Step 1

Play this video:

"Life Sentence" - Stop the Coward Punch - (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoeSyFIgDT8)

Note: Students will be familiar with this video if you completed the earlier lesson, Coward Punch: Understanding Aggression - HPE - Years 7 & 8. Explain you’re going to explore the ideas in the video in more depth.

Step 2

Distribute the butchers paper and makers and invite students to work in pairs on an octopus activity. This is where you start with a central idea or incident - in this case, a coward punch - then you explore the flow-on effects for every person or element involved. It looks a bit like a mind map, each of the categories below appearing as a 'tentacle'.

For this activity, students will need to explore the consequences of the coward punch incident shown in the video. They will explore consequences for the following individuals:

Perpetrator - the person who threw the punch
Victim - the person who was punched
Perpetrator’s family and friends
Victim’s family and friends
Healthcare and legal professionals.

Step 3

After completing this activity, debrief the students. Invite them to share their feelings about the video and activity. Allow an opportunity for everyone to speak. You might like to do this in a talking circle or use a talking stick.

Some students may not wish to speak in front of the group, which is ok. Monitor these students over the next few days or talk to them after class to check they are ok.

Find Out: Risk and protective factors

Step 1

Explain to students that despite the negative consequences of violence, people still demonstrate violent behaviours and may have difficulty controlling their violent impulses or getting out of situations where they are targets of violence. Explain that psychologists understand that various factors make a person more or less likely to be affected by violence. These are called risk and protective factors.

Step 2

Play this video:

Moving Forward - Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) -https://youtu.be/FJDwe2RkOqo

Step 3

Invite students to quietly reflect on what they think might be their own risk and protective factors.

Note: To respect students’ privacy, you might like to allow them to find their own space around the room. Ensure they understand that they won’t have to share this information with anyone unless they would like to.

They might like to write these down on a table like this:

Risk factors

Protective factors

Possible answers:

I have been bullied
My dad gets pretty angry sometimes
My older sister is in a violent relationship
I play a lot of violent video games

Possible answers:

I am a member of a youth or community group
My teachers are really supportive, and I get counselling at school when I need it
I am part of a sports team
My parents support my education

Learning extension: If students have completed Coward Punch: Understanding Aggression - HPE - Years 7 & 8, they might refer back to the theories of aggression to determine additional risk factors in their lives.

Take Action: Circles of protection

Step 1

Assign students into small groups and make sure each group has a piece of butchers paper and markers. Alternatively, they can use a shared online document to take notes.

Step 2

Explain the following task:

Imagine that there are young people in your school or local community who have a lot of risk factors for violence and may already be displaying or experiencing violent behaviours. Consider how you could create ‘circles of protection’ for these young people.

What protective factors could you bring into your community and invite these young people to connect with?
How could you work with the community and these individuals to limit their exposure to risk factors?
What creative ideas, guidelines or projects could you develop to make your community safer in general?

Learning extension: Students could create a strategy for implementing their ideas or getting people involved in their project.

Reflection

Have students respond in writing to the following questions on their own:

How could you reduce exposure to risk factors in your own life?
How could you create more protective factors in your own life?

Coward Punch - At Risk Of Violence

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