Gonzaga University School Counseling Program : Guidance Lesson: Exploring Anger

Guidance Lesson Plan

Topic: Exploring Anger
By: Shelly Byers
Grade Level: Special Education Students in a Behavioral Intervention Classroom (Grades 4-6)

Introduction: Students in a Behavioral Intervention (BI) classroom may struggle with managing anger, which can cause them to miss a significant amount of time in the classroom to de-escalate. In order for a student to become learning ready once again, he/she requires tools to regulate anger. This guidance lesson will teach students who have difficulty managing anger, that anger is a normal emotion. It is acceptable to feel anger, it is the action taken after the anger is felt which needs to be managed. Students will explore the emotion of anger, facts about anger, how to notice the physical effects of anger, and understand reasons they may feel anger, through a Prezi presentation and discussion. Students will be given a true/false questionnaire prior to the lesson and after the lesson, as a measure of content learned surrounding the topic of anger. In addition to an interactive Prezi, students will create their own “anger tornado” to use as a tool to help understand anger in their bodies.

Outline of Guidance Lesson:

1. Show a short YouTube video to create anticipation (link found under references).
2. Discuss with the students what they already know about anger?
3. Hand out Anger Questionnaire and have students answer the true/false statements as a class.
4. Show Prezi (link found under Prezi link)
5. Explain to students that emotional anger can look like a tornado inside us sometimes. The
angry tornado does not stay forever, and we can notice it building in our bodies before it gets
out of control and becomes destructive.
6. Create individual “angry tornados” (activity).
7. Explain to students the different emotions we may feel when we become an “angry tornado”
(the different colors of glitter represent the different emotions).
8. Ask students to create a tornado in the bottle by adding different colors of glitter to represent
their different emotions they may be feeling when they become angry.
9. Ask students to shake the anger management tornados and set them on their desks.
10. Ask students to observe their tornados and process, as a class, what is happening.
11. Retake the Anger Questionnaire and discuss what the students have learned.

Resources:

-Clear plastic bottles (one per student)
-Water
-Dish soap
-Food coloring (Red for anger)
-Glitter: Red (Anger), Blue (Sad), Purple (Embarrassed), Green (Frustrated), Gold (Happy),
-Black (Anxious), Multi-color (Mixed Feelings)
-Glue gun with glue sticks
-Prezi on Exploring Anger (found below under Prezi Link)
-Questionnaires on Anger (found under references)

Helpful Hints:

-Help students read questionnaire by showing it on an overhead
-Keep students engaged during Prezi by asking for participation
-Have another adult available to assist with activity

Prezi Link:

http://prezi.com/lmccxt68amfj/?utm_campaign=share&utm_medium=copy&rc=ex0share