Seventh - Eigth Grade
Developmental Characteristics
Physical
May appear awkward as result of rapid physical growth
Experiencing the beginning of puberty
Differ greatly in rate of maturation
Need to become familiar with changing body with strong drives
Tend to tire easily
Have a high activity level and appetite
Enjoy cooperative games and competitive sports
Social Emotional
Sensitive to their appearance
Establishing a personal moral code
Unsure of their place in society
Depend on their peer group to develop identity
Critical of their parents and home
May adopt extremes and fads in clothing, speech, handwriting, and mannerisms
Form close one-on-one friendships
Enjoy small, peer-dominated group discussions
Have a strong desire to assert individuality and independence
Cognitive
Capable of high level of abstract thought
Beginning to think about their future life roles
Need time and freedom to engage in self-reflection
Are able to postpone gratification
Can plan ahead and organize tasks with little or no guidance from adults
Beginning to develop views about social issues
Window or Mirror: Empathy Through Story
Students will read a short text featuring a character in an emotionally complex situation, identify the character's feelings and motivations, and connect the character's experience to their own.
Powerful Questions
Students will distinguish shallow from deep curiosity, craft open questions that invite someone to share their experience, and practice asking and listening.
From Awareness to Allyship
Students will identify everyday relationship behaviors that help classmates feel safe and supported, and commit to one ally action for the week.
Empathy Interviews
Students will interview a classmate about what makes them feel nervous, appreciated or misunderstood, listen without judgment, and introduce their partner's perspective to the group.
Checking Your Perspective
Students will predict a partner's reaction to a scenario, check the prediction against the partner's actual response, and conclude that asking beats assuming.
Safe Spaces and Belonging Agreements
Students will define what makes a space feel safe from different classmates' perspectives, and contribute to shared agreements about how the class will care for one another.
The Empathy Circle
Students will discuss one scenario in a round-robin circle, build on each other's interpretations, and reach a shared understanding of what the person feels, thinks and needs.
Listening to Understand, Not to Fix
Students will distinguish listening to understand from listening to fix or judge, and practice an empathetic check-in with active-listening responses.
Affirmation Verse
Students will write a four-line affirmation verse in their own voice that names a strength, a challenge, and a commitment, and perform or share it to practice confident self-expression.
Impostor Syndrome Myth-Busters
Students will define impostor feelings ("I don't belong here," "I just got lucky"), recognize them as common and not facts, and practice evidence-based responses to self-doubt.
I Wanna Thank Me
Students will practice self-gratitude by writing a short thank-you note to themselves that names specific effort, choices and growth, and reflect on why recognizing your own work builds confidence.
If-Then Plans: Confidence Through Preparation
Students will set a goal, identify internal and external obstacles, and write an If-Then plan so that confidence comes from being prepared rather than hoping nothing goes wrong.
Seeing The Good In Others
Students will recognize specific strengths in peers, give and receive written recognition, and reflect on how noticing strengths in others and in ourselves builds confidence.
Discover Your Strengths
Students will identify their top character strengths from a strengths word cloud, provide evidence, and design a quick poster showing how they use those strengths.
Rewrite Your Story
Students will retell a personal setback as a story of learning and growth, identifying the strengths they used and how the experience changed them.
My Most Confident Self
Students will distinguish confidence from self-worth, reflect on their favorite qualities and achievements, and set one action their most confident self would take this week.
Who Am I? Identity Charts
Students will define identity, build a personal identity chart showing the factors that shape who they are, and identify which parts of their identity are sources of strength.
My Identity Is A Superpower
Students will identify personal strengths and parts of their identity (culture, family, interests, talents, values) as sources of confidence rather than obstacles. Students will write and share a "My identity is a superpower because..." statement and recognize how positive self-talk and self-knowledge support confidence.
Read the Room
Students vote with their fingers (1, 2, or 3) to label each of five real-life scenarios — a quiet friend, a "ok" text, a hallway bump, being left out of plans, a teacher correction — as an overreaction, underreaction, or just-right response, then discuss what the balanced answers have in common and why it's easy to misread situations.
Would You Rather: SEL Edition
Students respond to five real-life social scenarios (friend drama, group chat conflict, feeling left out, bad mood day, argument with a friend) by choosing between two reactions and briefly discussing which choice leads to better outcomes, then learn the STOP skill (Stop, Take a Breath, Observe, Pick your response) as a tool to use before reacting in real life.