What Would You Do Video
Objective:
Students will examine a societal issue of some sort, see a variety of reactions, and then discuss their own thoughts or approaches to the situation. The purpose of the lesson in general is to build empathy among students.
Time & Materials:
Anywhere from 5 – 20 minutes, depending on if you do one or two excerpts (some have part 2 with a riff on the original theme).
Prior to activity: Generate “Group Norms” to make the following discussion to take place in a safe environment. Here are some ideas:
· Allow people to say mistakes
· Allow people to say the wrong words
· Do not judge
· What is said here stays here
· Ask class for others…
Step One: Preface the video with a brief intro about what they are going to see, including what the actual episode deals with. You can say something like “This show deals with some of the current issues that we see in society, including many types of discrimination, as well as how various people react to situations around them.”
Step Two: Show the video to students.
Step Three: Have students spend a few minutes writing down their reactions to the video and their responses to the following questions.
1) Are you surprised by what you just saw? Why or why not?
2) If you are surprised, what surprised you most?
3) What do you think you would have done in the situation?
4) Do you think your friends would have done the same thing as you? Why or why not?
5) What is your reaction to the people that chose not to be involved?
6) Could being silent be seen as a negative action in situations like the one shown today? Why or why not?
They can use bullet points to express their ideas or do a quickwrite. You could also have students do a pair-share to discuss their reactions.
Step Four: Debrief the video with the students. Discuss why people stand up for what they feel is right, and why people can be uncomfortable with standing up for what they feel is right. Create a list of how people in the video chose to confront the people involved and how it was successful.
Step Five: Ask students to reflect on actions they can take to speak up when they are uncomfortable in a situation or see something happening around them that they feel is wrong. Ask them to quietly write down one thing they can do different.