“There are many ways I can use my voice. I will remember my voice is important.”When approaching this theme with the younger groups, encourage self-expression and celebrate each student’s identity and ideas. All semester you have been telling your students how important and powerful they are – now let’s see how well they can say it themselves. With younger groups, such unabashed pride is fairly innocuous. Of course, if your students have a problem with arrogance, you should take an alternative approach – focusing instead on students speaking up for those in need.
With older groups, emphasize self-expression and standing up for others in equal measure. Usually, students of this age can benefit from them both. This is an appropriate time to confront some more knotty issues – like bullying, and persevering through unfair criticism. |