Goals & Lesson Sequence
The goals of the Second Step Middle School program are to decrease aggression, bullying, and substance abuse and increase students’ social skills and school success. The program meets its goals by teaching the skills below.
Empathy and Communication
Students will be able to:
Bullying Prevention
Students will be able to:
Emotion Management
Students will be able to:
Goal Setting
Students will be able to:
Substance Abuse Prevention
Students will be able to:
The goals of the Second Step Middle School program are to decrease aggression, bullying, and substance abuse and increase students’ social skills and school success. The program meets its goals by teaching the skills below.
Empathy and Communication
Students will be able to:
- Lesson 1: Working in Groups
- Identify skills, behaviors, and attitudes that contribute to successful group work
- Apply group communication skills
- Apply communication and group-work skills
- Define empathy
- Lesson 2: Leaders and Allies
- Understand the importance of being a positive leader
- Identify actions that will inspire younger students
- Apply empathy skills
- Define ally and identify how to be one
- Lesson 3: Handling a Grievance
- Identify skills for effectively communicating about a grievance with someone
- Apply perspective taking to handling a grievance
- Apply assertiveness skills to communicating about a grievance
- Apply constructive feedback skills
- Lesson 4: Negotiating and Compromising
- Solve a problem using the Action Steps
- Identify a problem from the perspectives of those involved
- Generate solutions using strategies of negotiation and compromise (win-win strategies)
- Apply the Action Steps to problem solving
Bullying Prevention
Students will be able to:
- Lesson 5: Bullying in Friendships
- Recognize and identify bullying within social or friendship groups
- Understand what they can do about bullying within relationships
- Understand how a bystander can be part of the problem or part of the solution
- Apply empathic concern and perspective taking
- Lesson 6: Labels, Stereotypes, and Prejudice
- Recognize that labels, stereotypes, and prejudice can contribute or lead to bullying or unfair treatment of others
- Recognize that all people are individuals beyond a label or stereotype
- Understand that increased empathy can reduce the negative effects of labeling, stereotypes, and prejudice
- Identify and practice empathic skills
- Lesson 7: Bullying in Dating Relationships
- Recognize and identify bullying within dating relationships
- Understand what they can do about bullying within dating relationships
- Identify strategies to assess risk and safely avoid bullying in dating relationships
Emotion Management
Students will be able to:
- Lesson 8: De-Escalating a Tense Situation
- Understand what happens to their brains and bodies when they experience strong emotions
- Identify personal strategies to “pause” and calm down
- Understand how self-talk can lead to escalation or de-escalation of anger, aggression, and conflict
- Understand how spectators’ responses can lead to escalation
- Lesson 9: Coping with Stress
- Identify their individual style of dealing with stress
- Understand that avoiding dealing with stress can make feelings worse
- Understand that coping means consciously doing something positive to handle stress
- Identify steps and strategies for coping with stress
Goal Setting
Students will be able to:
- Lesson 10: Making Your Plan
- Define a goal
- Understand the process and benefits of setting goals
- Apply the Action Steps to goal setting
- Identify a group goal and the steps to reach it
- Lesson 11: Evaluating Your Plan
- Evaluate goal-setting strategies used by themselves and others
- Understand the motivational power of goals
- Apply the Action Steps to their individual goals
- Understand the importance of small steps and learning from failure
Substance Abuse Prevention
Students will be able to:
- Lesson 12: Identifying Future Goals
- Explain how using alcohol and other drugs can interfere with goals, hopes, and plans
- Understand how positive self-talk can help them avoid using substances, such as alcohol and other drugs
- Apply positive self-talk skills to drug and alcohol resistance strategies
- Lesson 13: Keeping Your Commitment
- Generate assertive statements to counter thoughts or beliefs that interfere with making a decision not to use alcohol and other drugs
- Generate a one-year commitment to stay free of alcohol and other drugs
- Identify skills that will help them maintain their commitments