Invisible Feelings
Expressing Feelings
Teacher Lesson Guide
(swipe to advance)
Objectives
Awareness
Empathy
Kindness
Lesson Design
45-60 Minutes
5 Min: Review Learning Objectives
20 Min: Literary Discussion: The Old Man and his Grandson
5 Min: Supporting Activity: Invisible Feelings Decoding
10 Min: Reinforcing Activity: Invisible/Visible Feelings
3 Min: Closing Activity
Objectives
Practice skills of empathy and emotional awareness by:
linking feelings with different situations using a variety of vocabulary
identifying what feelings and situations may bring about various levels of vulnerability
demonstrating an understanding that feelings vary across people, even in the same situation
considering the reasons that someone may want to hide their feelings
Engage in validating feelings that are authentic to the individual
Lingo List
Feeling Words
disappointed
proud
terrified
excited
embarrassed
scared
loving
shy
sensitive
bashful
brave
terrible
horrible
no good
worried
grumpy
curious
anxious
uneasy
miserable
timid
rejected
joyful
grief
content
frustrated
lonely
confident
aggravated
guilty
Reflective Words
consider
wonder
shame
ponder
guilt
humiliated
remorse
sorrow
Hurtful Actions
scold
ignore
shun
badger
tease
hate
snub
In this lesson, participants will identify causes for hiding their emotions and discuss strategies for how to advocate for themselves and others.
Naming feelings is a foundational skill of social and emotional learning. We know from research that naming feelings is the first step toward managing or regulating them. It is also important to have trusted friends and community to whom one can convey emotions. An emotionally safe classroom can support the building of a network of trust.
Empathy is a key ingredient in building friendships and making decisions that benefit everyone. The ability to empathize is linked to positive social interactions and communication, better health, career success and academic pursuit. A key factor in developing empathy is the ability to recognize and identify our own emotions and the feelings of others around us. This awareness helps us to understand different perspectives and experiences by comparing, imagining and recognizing those feelings in ourselves.
Students will be encouraged to realize that others may have different feelings in the same situation and that no feelings are “right” or “wrong”. Each person has a right to feel his or her feelings exactly the way he or she feels them.
Guiding Questions for Class:
What are the ways we can understand how a person is feeling? What might cause a person to try to hide their feelings?
How can our class create an environment that is safe for others to share their feelings?
Reading:
The Old Man and his Grandson
There was once a very old man, whose eyes had become dim, his ears dull of hearing, his knees trembled, and when he sat at table he could hardly hold the spoon, and spilt the broth upon the table-cloth or let it run out of his mouth. His son and his son's wife were disgusted at this, so the old grandfather at last had to sit in the corner behind the stove, and they gave him his food in an earthenware bowl, and not even enough of it. And he used to look towards the table with his eyes full of tears. Once, too, his trembling hands could not hold the bowl, and it fell to the ground and broke. The young wife scolded him, but he said nothing and only sighed. Then they bought him a wooden bowl for a few half-pence, out of which he had to eat.
They were once sitting thus when the little grandson of four years old began to gather together some bits of wood upon the ground. "What are you doing there?" asked the father. "I am making a little trough," answered the child, "for father and mother to eat out of when I am big."
The man and his wife looked at each other for a while, and presently began to cry. Then they took the old grandfather to the table, and henceforth always let him eat with them, and likewise said nothing if he did spill a little of anything.
Open-Ended Questions:
After the reading, debrief the story using the open-ended questions below.
Awareness of Feelings
What are some reasons for hiding your feelings?
How does it feel when you can’t express how you really feel?
How can you tell what another person feels like if they don’t tell you?
Empathy Practice
What types of people can feel bad, lonely or depressed sometimes?
If someone looks troubled how do you feel?
Problem Solving
If you feel like someone was not treated fairly or not treated with kindness, what could you do?
If someone or something is bothering you, who could you talk to about your feelings?
If someone blames you for something, what are some ways you could talk it out?
Awareness Activity: Invisible Feelings Decoding
Materials needed: ¼ sheet of paper for each student in the group. 1 White crayon for every student in the group. A variety of other crayon colors.
Instructions:
Have students sit down in a circle.
Hand out the blank pieces of paper.
Demonstrate as the facilitator that you are going to draw a face with an emotion on your paper with a white crayon. It does not have to cover the entire piece of paper, leave space for more drawings.
Then pass your drawing to another mentor (or student) and ask them to lightly color over your drawing with a darker color to decode the image.
After modeling, have all the students draw a face depicting an emotion.
Then have them pass their image to another student for decoding.
Repeat the process on the back of the paper and subsequently with other blank areas of the page, or more papers.
Debrief by discussing why it was harder to know what was drawn when they just use white crayon versus all the colors. Impress on the students that if we don’t show people how we are feeling, it may be difficult for them to guess.
Debriefing Questions:
How could others know what we are feeling?
What can happen when we don’t understand the way another person is feeling?
Why do some students not include other students?
Why is it important to let other people know how you are feeling?
What if someone can’t talk? How could they express their feelings and make others understand?
Reinforcing Activity: Invisible/Visible Feelings
Instructions:
As a large group, form a circle with a wastebasket in the center.
Use a soft ball or crumpled up piece of paper as a ball and take turns going around the circle having each student try to throw the ball in the wastebasket.
If they get the ball in the basket, ask them to tell you about a time that they kept their feelings hidden.
If they miss the basket, ask them to reveal a time that they expressed their emotions candidly/openly.
Closing Activity
Today, we learned about identifying personal feelings and how we express different feelings with words and our bodies. We practices skills to show empathy and talked about how feelings impact different situations.
COME FULL CIRCLE- Open Ended Questions
What new words did you learn today about feelings?
How will being able to better identify your feelings help you when you are feeling emotional?
How will being able to better identify emotions help you to be a better friend/classmate?
How will this new knowledge help you use the Four Awesome Questions?
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