Social Problem Solving (6-12)

Overview for Teachers: In this lesson students will learn to recognize social problems and tips for solving them effectively and will practice recognizing and shifting their thoughts in order to help solve social problems. Students will learn and practice different ways of understanding and solving social problems, which include information on perspective taking. Students will practice pausing to brainstorm a range of solutions to problems and evaluate consequences to choose the most effective solution. This module includes a lesson on assertiveness and advocacy and promotes students’ consideration of their social problems both interpersonally and as they exist within society at large.

How was Your Experience Using This Resource?

Heather Cisowski - High School (9-12th Grade) Teacher

• Having an equation to follow is super helpful for solving social problems with teens!

• I will say that the “facts” of a situation can really vary with perspective. My students and I discussed what constitutes a “fact” and we discussed how some people may see the facts differently or omit some facts that another person sees.

• Overally, I really loved this lesson! I work with therapeutic students so utilizing this for the rest of the year will be key to reinforcing it.

• Having it end with social justice was very empowering. I felt like it made a great connection to real world application of these strategies

Claudia Dumpson - 6th Grade Teacher

• Students were very invested in the conversations!

• If possible, use examples that relate to the specific problems your students are having. This will make it more relatable. 

• Before starting we brainstormed a list of social problems that middle schoolers face, and used one of those as an example to guide the lesson. 

• There’s a lot of content to cover, so I spread out the lesson over a few days.

• At this point in the year we’re dealing with a lot of drama that is taking away from students focus on academics. I think this module will help them think through their problems more thoughtfully.