relationships
Positive Role Models - Tell students that being a good listener is one of the most important ways to connect with others. Write some important elements of good listening on the board, including: maintaining eye contact, watching the speaker’s expressions, paying attention to details, and thinking before you respond. Now ask students to pair up and decide who will be the speaker and who will be the listener. Speakers will tell their partners about one person in his/her life that helped them get where they are today or had a positive influence on his/her life. Then they will switch roles and repeat this process. To find out how well students have listed to each other, ask volunteers to tell the class what they remember about what they heard.
Dating Interview - Ask students to interview parents or grandparents about what dating was like when they were young. How has dating changed from their parent’s or grandparents’ time to now? What are the positive changes and what are the negative changes?
Creative Date Contest - Have students come up with a list of creative dating ideas that include fun ways to spend time together without being sexually active. Have them share their ideas with the class. You can invite someone to come in and judge to ideas and give a prize to
Healthy Qualities - Ask students to write the following:
The qualities they look for in a friend
The qualities they would like in a boyfriend or girlfriend
The qualities they would look for in a future husband or wife
Ask any willing volunteers to share their lists with the class. Point out the similarity of the qualities in the three lists. Developing healthy friendships and relationships now can help them prepare for marriage someday.
Making Marriage Work - Ask students to interview or research a couple in your town who have been married for 50 years or more. Have students put together a collage of photos and stories about the couple and their lives. What lessons can be gained from talking to the older generation?
What’s In A Wedding? - Ask students if they have ever been to a wedding. What was it like? Who got married? Did they enjoy being a part of this special occasion?
Why Abstinence - Form two groups in the class, one for the girls and one for the boys. Ask the students to come up with a list of reasons why they would want their future spouse to wait until marriage for sex. Give each group time to think of 5-10 reasons, and then bring the class back together. Let each group share their list of reasons with the class. This activity can be a powerful peer reinforcement for choosing abstinence until marriage.
Benefits of Marriage - Discuss with the students how a happy marriage can create a positive environment for raising children. List some benefits for children of being raised in a stable, loving home with parents who are married.
Benefits of Good Choices - Help the students to understand that the good choices that they make will not only benefit themselves but will also benefit others. Ask them to give examples of ways that they could help others in the community. Assign a few students to find out about volunteer opportunities in your school or community in which they could participate.
“Picking a Good One” - In this activity the goal is to get the student to identify the character qualities that are most important to them in the person they will commit their life to someday. When they take the time to write them down, it will help them to do two things. The first is to evaluate the person they are dating, or if they are not dating, help them figure out what to be looking for when they are choosing someone to date. The second is to ask some hard questions about their own character. If is it is true that they will “get what they are” when it comes to character… are they becoming a person of character that will attract someone who has those same qualities? After they put the qualities they are looking for in a mate on paper… the all important questions is: Why would someone like that want YOU?
“A Letter to My Future Mate” - In this activity the goal is to have the student write down their reasons for waiting in a format that will help them value this project and hopefully hang on to it for years to come so that they can be reminded in the future of the decisions made here.
Have each student write a letter to their future mate (if they are uncomfortable with this, they can choose to write it to themselves) detailing the hopes and dreams they have for their future, their goals and their reasons for choosing abstinence from this day forward. (Remind students that whatever choices they made prior to this time, they can made different choices from this moment forward!)
“Dating Violence Awareness Campaign” - For grades 7-12. Students will be given a list of dating violence information Web sites and a blank “Dating Violence Crossword.” They are to complete the crossword by finding the answers within the various Web sites, then use their new understanding to plan a school wide Dating Violence Awareness Campaign. For complete lesson plan, click here.
“Dating Violence Detectives” - For grades 9–12. Students are first introduced to the key concepts surrounding teen dating violence. Their challenge will be to design and publish a Web Site for other teens to find information on the subject. The class can be divided into teams, with each teem being responsible for a section of the Web site. This lesson plan can be adjusted to make a brochure or pamphlet. For complete lesson plan, click here.