Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes

Tune In: Behaviour around peers

20 minutes

Find Out: Redefining what’s cool

20 minutes

Take Action: Standing in your truth

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: Behaviour around peers

Step 1

Play this video:

Violence is Ugly 3 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EHkw3uuEtp0)

Invite students to discuss the different ways that the peers responded in the video. Students may need to watch the video more than once to pick up on the various roles.

Possible answers: some peers cheered on the violence, others shook their heads disapprovingly.

Step 2

Invite students to have a small group discussion on the following questions:

What role do you think peers play in how people your age behave?
Have you ever changed your behaviour to impress your peer group?
What did you gain or miss out on because of your behaviour?

Step 3

Engage students in a discussion about how or why they think peer groups can sometimes reward or encourage violent behaviours.

Possible answers: to look cool, to appear tough or strong, to stand up for someone, to protect their ‘turf’, to belong to a group, anger issues, long-standing feuds.

Find Out: Redefining what’s cool

Step 1

Ask students to think back to the video, or play it again. Mention that the characters who disapprove of the violence are redefining what’s cool in that environment. They are saying that it’s not cool to be violent at a party, whereas the other group still thinks it is cool.

Step 2

Invite students to discuss in small groups how ‘coolness’ is defined in their social circles, who decides what is cool (or what influences that) and what is not considered cool and why. Move around the room and listen out for examples of what different groups say is cool.

Learning support: You could have students write their answers individually and share them anonymously.

Step 3

Share your observations with students about the things you heard that were considered cool or not cool. Allow groups an opportunity to share what they discussed. You might notice that there is quite a difference between groups and this might be an interesting issue for students to unpack. Allow them some time to do so.

Step 4

Invite students to close their eyes and imagine while you read the following:

Close your eyes. Imagine you are living in a different country. You can speak the same language as everyone else, but you don’t understand the rules. You learn very quickly that what you once thought was cool, is not cool here. You are not going to gain social acceptance by behaving in your usual way. You realise that the people in this world are happier. They have something that you have never felt. Everyone feels free to be themselves, but they also feel like they belong. People don’t try to impress one another. You realise that what is cool here is people living in their truth. Being fake or pretending isn’t cool here. What does it feel like to be in this world? Open your eyes.

Step 5

Invite students to spend some time independently writing or creating a voice recording about what it feels like to live in a place where you are more cool when you are yourself.

Take Action: Standing in your truth

Step 1

Explain to students that in the next activity, they are going to run an experiment. They are going to try to be in a world like the one just described.

Start out by finding an open space. Mark out four corners or circles in the room. As you read out the following words, indicate a circle for each word where students will go to indicate what they believe to be most true for them.

I prefer: dogs, cats, reptiles, birds
I prefer: chocolate, biscuits, chips, veggie sticks
I prefer: running, walking, skating, driving
I prefer: shoes, flip-flops, barefeet, slippers
I prefer: soft drink, juice, water, slurpees
I prefer: peace, arguing, respectful conversations, secrets
I prefer: freedom, responsibility, ambition, knowledge
I prefer: honesty, perfection, creativity, beauty

Step 2

Invite students to share how easy or difficult they found it to step into the circle that was really most true to them, without worrying about what their peers thought. You might use these questions to prompt their thinking:

Did they feel judged?
Did they judge others?
Were they always honest?
Were the categories too challenging to pick from?
Did they feel pressure to conform to a circle?
What happened if they didn’t?
What did they learn from this activity?

Learning extension: students could create a video, speech or social media campaign to redefine cool so that people can be happier and feel a sense of belonging

Reflection

Invite students to write a journal response to one (or more) of these prompts:

If I could stand in my truth without judgement I would…
Cool to me really means…
My relationship with what’s ‘cool’ is…
If I could change anything about my peer group, it would be…

Coward Punch - Creating a New Cool

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