AI Companions is a new phenomenon that is rising at a growing rate. Is this phenomenon just a fad that will be here today and gone tomorrow? Or, is this an alarming trend that is here to stay? Either way, should we be concerned? In this AI Companions: Lesson & Activities, students explore the concept using the provided prompts before deciding if it is a good idea or a bad idea and completing follow-up activities.
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!
When teaching about healthy dating relationships, it’s important to explore where we get our ideas about love! Why? Considering how the media dramatizes everything, often making it difficult to discern the realistic (healthy/positive) from the unrealistic (unhealthy/negative), the Love Project has students exploring a variety of media sources to analyze and deconstruct the message. Continue reading to learn more!
If you teach about healthy relationships and are need of an engaging assignment, check out this Healthy Heart Visual. In this project, students get a tech break
as they create a hands-on visual representing characteristics needed for a healthy relationship. This semi-old fashioned project has them critically thinking about the meaning behind their selections as they construct and explain their visuals.
Movies and movie clips can be a great way to add and increase interest to a lesson or topic. Jeff Brown, of Colorado, teaches a Psychology of Relationships
course (any many others) at Rampart High School and has an amazing collection of Relationship Videos that he has created for that class. He is graciously sharing his video collection with us, along with his websites which are chocked full of materials for various content areas. So, if you’ve been struggling to add more interest and engagement to your relationship lessons, you are definitely going to want to check these out!
Students need to have an idea of what makes a relationship healthy or unhealthy. In order to accomplish this, students spend time brainstorming on their own before joining forces as a class to complete the “RelationSHIP Graphic Organizer.” This is a very engaging class sharing activity before asking students to apply it as they analyze relationships to determine their healthfulness.
Several months back, I received an email about updated resources from The Dibble Institute. This update included an article about a university study, titled “What Youth Seek in Partners,” that sparked this life long partner shopping spree activity. I thought it would be interesting to recreate the study at the high school level and compare the results to the actual survey results. Initially my students thought this would be an easy activity, but on the contrary required much thought on their part. What was rather unique about the outcome of my survey, were the similarities of answers. My results, completed with two different classes, almost mimicked those of the university rankings. Read on to see other activities associated with this lesson/activities.
When I begin teaching my unit on dating, I always begin by looking at idealistic, realistic and unrealistic relationships! This activity is used as a springboard into other dating and relationship topics and always generates some interesting discussion! It’s low prep and you can pick and choose from the below examples or do them all! Either way you’re sure to get some lively student responses!
