Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan for Social Thinking – Considering other Perspectives (lesson title)

School Counselor: Marissa Hart, Melissa Kinman

Target Audience: 2nd and 3rd grade
Mindsets & Behaviors: B-LS9- Gather evidence and consider multiple perspectives to make
(limit of three) informed decisions
B-SS5- Demonstrate ethical decision-making and social responsibility
Lesson 1 Of 1

Learning Objective(s)/Competency
Students will: Be able to examine ways that people see, feel, and experience situations
differently.
Students will: Be able to infer and determine a kind response.
Materials:
Activity Slide Deck
Laminated Rating Scale Handouts
Evidence Base:
 Best Practice
 Action Research
 Research-Informed
 Evidence-Based
Procedure: Describe how you will:
Introduce: Open with a mindfulness transition activity called “Rainbow
Mindfulness”. At the beginning of the lesson, students will sit by the
projector screen. They will pair up with the person next to them and as
prompted by the slides, they will find something in the room that
corresponds with each color of the rainbow.

Ask the following questions (students respond with thumb up or thumb

down) to assess current knowledge:
• Do we all see, feel, and experience things the same way? (Slide
10)
• If you were at the park playing, and a dog ran up to you, do you
think everyone in here would feel the same way? (No. How
might you feel? Allow time for student responses. If you like and
 have dogs, you would probably be happy/excited. If you don’t
have a dog and you’re not comfortable around them, you might
feel scared/nervous.)
• Do you think your friends have the same opinions as you?
(Sometimes)
• Is somebody wrong for thinking differently than you? (No, it
makes the world an interesting place to have different thoughts,
opinions, and ideas. It’s ok to have different opinions, we just
want to remember to be respectful and kind to others.)
Communicate We just saw in this room how we might have different
Lesson Objective: experiences/feelings than one another. Today we’re going to explore
that more and get some practice looking at things from different
perspectives. (Discuss what perspective means.)
We’re also going to practice how to have a “good friend response.”
Teach Content: Go through a few active examples:
• Point to the window if you like cats, point to the door if you like
dogs.
• Point to the window if you would rather eat pizza, point to the
door if you would rather eat a hamburger.
• Point to the window if you feel excited on long car rides, point to
the door if you feel bored on long car rides.
• Are some of you wrong? Why did you pick what you did?

Discuss that we just talked about some of their preferences and how
they feel in a few situations. Now, we’re going to find out if we all see
things the same way.

Using the images provided on the slide deck, ask the students what they
see? Allow a few students to come up one-by-one and point out what
they see. This allows the students to learn from each other that there are
multiple ways to see the same image.

After working through the 3 optical illusion slides have another brief
discussion sharing that it’s clear that we see things differently. Explain
that we’re going to read a story soon about some characters who may
not see things the same way. Explain that since we see, feel, and
experience things differently, it might be hard to know how someone
else is feeling. Share that we won’t always get it right, but that we can
use some clues to help us figure out how someone else might be feeling.
This can also help us respond to others in a way that shows we can be a
good friend and we can be kind. Go over slide 14 discussing each “Clue.”

Read to the class “The Invisible Boy” by Tracy Ludwig (or click on the
picture of the book on slide 16, so the video will play the read-aloud).
 As we go through the story, ask the class to think about what the other
characters in the story might be thinking and feeling.
Pause the video throughout the book to ask the students how different
characters on the same page may be feeling (when appropriate refer
back to some of the clues to help prompt students). Here are some other
questions to ask throughout the video with time stamps:
Pause at 5:31 and ask - What do you notice about Brian in these
pictures? (starting to add color)
• Why do you think the illustrator started to add color to Brian
here? (he’s being noticed; he feels included when Justin talks to
him)
• Could also ask - What do you think Justin’s perspective is here? Is
it a big deal to him that he’s talking to Brian? (Probably not) Is it
a big deal to Brian that Justin is talking to him? (Yes, he’s finally
feeling noticed!)
• This is a way to be a good friend - thinking of how others may feel
and taking the time to talk to them or include them.
• At 6:14 can discuss the illustrator's decisions again.
• Why is Brian drawn in black and white on the left side? How do
you think Brian feels? (sad, lonely, left out)
• Why is Brian drawn in color on the right side? (Justin included
him in the group)
• How do you think Brian feels when Justin includes him? (happy,
part of a group, seen, included)

After the story, debrief with the class using the following questions:
• How do you think Brian felt at the end of this book? (happy,
included, visible) What clues gave you that idea? (he looks happy,
he’s smiling, the other kids are including him, the illustrator used
full color)
• Did the other kids think about how their actions affected Brian
throughout the book? (No, the other kids didn’t try to include
Brian. Justin thought of Brian and made an effort to include him.)
• Do you think as the “new kid” that Justin may have ever been in a
similar situation as Brian, where he might have felt left out? Do
you think that might have given him a similar perspective to
understand how hurtful or lonely that can feel?
• How would considering Brian’s perspective (thinking and feeling)
have helped?
Practice Content: We can have a big impact on how other people may feel when we
include them - or leave them out. Stopping to think about how other
people may see things, or how they may feel, can help us make decisions
to be better friends. We’re going to get some practice with that in our
next activity…
 Hand out the rating scale worksheets and lead the class through the 6
scenarios in the slide deck. It may be helpful to ask students to act out
each emotion on the rating scale to ensure that all students are on the
same page when voting. Read each scenario aloud and ask the students
to rate how they think other people would feel in that situation (1-5)?
Allow time for student responses. After each one, and after each
discussion period, ask students to hold up the number of fingers that
corresponds to their rating (1-5). Ask some students why they chose that
particular rating. Feedback should gear students towards being a good
friend (“good friend response”) and being respectful of others.
Emphasize that there isn’t one “correct” rating, but that we are working
towards arriving at similar ratings/answers.
Summarize: Explain to the class that there are multiple ways to see the same exact
thing. This doesn’t mean that someone is wrong or right for seeing
something differently. Being able to recognize this helps to make friends,
to be a good friend, and to help others be kind and welcoming to one
another.
Close: To close ask:
• “What are some clues that we can look for to help us figure out
how someone may be feeling?“
• “After we guess how they may be feeling, what are some
examples of ways that we can respond as a good friend? What
might we say or do?”
Try to move the conversation to focus on taking into account other
people’s perspectives. End by summing up several of the students’
responses and stating that by noticing other people, and remembering
they may have a different perspective, we can make the choice to
respond kindly.
Data Collection Plan – For multiple lessons in a unit, this section only need be completed once
Participation Data:
Anticipated number 20
of students:
Planned length of 45-60 minutes
lesson(s):
Mindsets & Behaviors Data:
▪ Pre-assessment questions:
▪ Do we all see, feel, and experience things the same way?
▪ If you were at the park playing, and a dog ran up to you, do you think everyone in here
would feel the same way?
▪ Do you think your friends have the same opinions as you?
▪ Is somebody wrong for thinking differently than you?
▪ Post-assessment questions:
 o “What are some clues that we can look for to help us figure out how someone
may be feeling?“
o “After we guess how they may be feeling, what are some examples of ways that
we can respond as a good friend? What might we say or do?”
Outcome Data: (choose one)
 Achievement (describe):
This is where outcome data would be recorded. For this lesson, record how many students
choose each rating (ex: 13 out of 20 chose the desired rating(s) per scenario). We aren’t looking
for one correct rating, we are looking for “ballpark” range of correctness since each scenario is
up for interpretation. Additionally, repeat the same questions from the pre-assessment to
assess overall improved knowledge:
• Do we all see, feel, and experience things the same way?
• If the teacher announced that there will be indoor recess today, do you think everyone
in here would feel the same way?
• Do you think your friends have the same opinions as you?
• Is somebody wrong for thinking differently than you?

 Attendance (describe):

 Discipline (describe):