Teen Relationship Lesson: Breaking Up

When teaching about dating, healthy relationships and behaviors, it’s important to include a lesson on breaking up. Why? Because there are some guidelines to breaking up correctly and I’ve seen way too many teens break up in disrespectful ways. This Teen Relationship Lesson: Breaking Up explores the do’s and don’ts of break up behaviors and incorporates a popular artists’ music as well. So, if you have any “Swiftie fans” in your class, this will surely get their attention!

Set

  • Introduce the topic of dating and breaking up by asking students to think about their own relationships and/or book/movie characters who have broken up. Ask them to brainstorm individually answers to the following prompt: What makes breaking up so difficult?
  • After students have brainstormed their lists, ask them to turn to their neighbor and share.
  • Then, come back together as a class and have everyone share ideas as you generate a list on the board or screen and briefly discuss.
  • Play the Taylor Swift YouTube video of her song titled “We Are Never Getting Back Together Again“. Play one time to introduce the song just in case there are students who have never heard it before.
  • Now, place students in small groups and give them a set of lyrics to that song. It is totally up to you if you want to play the video again as students discuss the lyrics. Ask them to discuss as a group the following prompts and be prepared to discuss:
    • What emotions does the song convey? Are they the same throughout the song or do they change?
    • How does the song reflect real-life experiences of ending relationship?
    • Does the song demonstrate healthy ways to handle a breakup or unhealthy behaviors?
  • Give them a little time to discuss the prompts before discussing as a group. Make connections to the list on the board whenever possible.
  • Ask students: “Are there right and wrong ways to break-up with someone?”  The answer to this is YES!
  • Share the DO’s and DON’TS of Breaking Up with someone and have students take notes for future use. An interactive way to do this instead of lecturing is to cut the statements apart and mix them up in an envelope.  Ask each student to select a random strip or two from the envelope until all are dispersed. Draw a large DO and DON’T grid on the board. Ask students to decide if their statement is a DO or DON’T and have them come to the board in small groups to add the statement to the correct side of the chart. Once all are up there, discuss as a group to see if they agree or disagree with placements. Adjust answers and then have students complete their notes form.

Materials

  • iPad or Laptop
  • Projector & Screen
  • Song Lyrics

Activities

  • Now that students know the do’s and don’ts of breaking up with someone, it’s time for them to apply the information to dating break up scenarios.
  • This can be accomplished in a variety of ways.
    • Option #1: Cut the scenarios apart from the worksheet and set them up as a interactive gallery walk type of activity. Students would have to identify the scenario and then determine if what was happening with the break up was a “DO” or a “DON’T” and justify their responses, giving the correct way to handle if it was inappropriate.
    • Option #2: Is to project each scenario onto the screen and have student pairs or groups collaborate and communicate to determine if it’s a “DO” or DON’T” and support their response, again, giving the correct way to handle if it was inappropriate.
    • Option #3: Assign it as a worksheet that students complete individually and then either go over and discuss as a class or collect for a grade.
  • As a concluding activity, assign students the following exit prompts:
    • What makes a breakup respectful versus hurtful?
    • How do emotions during a breakup influence our decisions?
    • Share one takeaway you learned about breaking up.
    • How might you handle breakups differently after this lesson?

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