Almost every teacher has heard students use the expression, “that’s so gay” as a way of putting down or insulting someone (or to describe something). These lessons will help students examine how inappropriate language can hurt, and will help them think of ways to end this kind of name-calling.

Students will write their own definition of support, then collaborate in small groups and a gallery walk to build a shared class vision of what supportive behavior looks like — which gets posted in the room as an ongoing reference.

Unity Day is a national day when students, teachers, and families wear orange to show they support bullying prevention. In this activity, students explore what unity means and collaborate in pairs on posters that show how working together can help stop bullying. Posters are then hung throughout the school.

Students will read short stories about characters who lack empathy, identify how each character could have responded more understandingly, then rewrite one story to show what empathy in action looks like.

Using Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches as a starting point, students explore what it feels like to be left out, how groups create “in” and “out” categories, and how to build fairer practices in their own community.

Students must navigate an obstacle course that represents a cave full of sleeping dragons. One student at a time is blindfolded and given the mission of getting to the treasure at the end of the cave. All the other students become Empathy Magicians who use their powers to stand in the shoes of the blindfolded adventurer who they help to avoid the Sleeping Dragons.

Students listen to the story of Ryan White, then work with a partner to complete a Compassion and Dignity word map before writing a first-person story from either the perspective of a student with a serious illness or a compassionate friend.

Students journal about someone who seems very different from them, then brainstorm a list of things they likely have in common with that person to see them in a new light — followed by a discussion on how finding shared identity builds empathy and respect.

Students watch Sir Ken Robinson’s TED Talk “Do Schools Kill Creativity?” and step into the role of Emotion Ambassadors — brainstorming, prioritizing, and electing peers to lead initiatives that bring creativity and emotional intelligence to the wider school community.

Students will write a bullying problem on an inflated balloon, brainstorm solutions, and release the balloon when the class agrees on a good solution — symbolically "deflating the bully." Through this activity, students practice empathy and critical thinking to develop strategies for standing up for themselves and others.

To introduce the concept of doing a good job by yourself and in a team, and to have participants explore ways they can be helpful to each other and their communities.

Students will explore different types of greeting cards and then design and write their own to build a class card collection, practicing empathy by thinking about how to acknowledge and respond to others' experiences through words and art.

Students mingle around the room and repeatedly "partner up" with whoever is nearest, each time sharing a positive memory about a third group member — focusing on moments when that person showed good values or was an ally — then debrief together about what the stories revealed about the community.

Students complete an "Are You Empathetic?" self-check and discuss empathetic listening behaviors as a class, then pair up with character cards to role-play sharing a situation while their partner practices empathetic listening — maintaining eye contact, not interrupting, and asking follow-up questions — before switching roles and debriefing with specific feedback.

Students have quick conversations with multiple partners while secretly tallying dots on each other's sheets every time their partner exhibits a specific assigned behavior (like making eye contact or saying "like") — then, after the reveal that each dot represents "breaking" someone's cultural norm, they discuss what it felt like and write a private reflection on how to honor others' norms going forward.

Students brainstorm and map clique nicknames at their school, discuss what distinguishes cliques from friendship groups, complete a Clique Survey reflecting on their own social circle, then practice reaching across group lines through a chosen activity — writing an anonymous letter to someone in another clique, becoming pen pals with a randomly drawn classmate, or contributing to an anonymous issue box.

Students explore the concepts of community, activism, and art through discussion and creative collaboration, discovering how art can be a tool for change.

Students practice empathy by guiding a blindfolded peer through a “cave” of obstacles using only one direction each, learning to see from another’s perspective.

Students reflect on what happiness means to them individually and collectively, then collaborate to create a shared classroom vision of happiness.

Using IMAGINIFF game cards, students select which of six descriptors best fits each important person in their life (a parent, coach, friend, etc.) and write it down — including at least one card about themselves — then share their descriptions and discuss whether they tend to view the people in their lives through a positive or negative lens.