As a follow-up to our “Upstander Workshop” last week, Middle School students participated in group work on “Respect”.
We talked about how we give respect to someone because of who WE are, not because of who they are.

I don’t WAIT for someone to earn my respect, I GIVE it to them.
Through a visual of walking over a caterpillar or stepping on a caterpillar, I talked about how my actions have everything to do with ME, and very little to do with the character of the caterpillar.

If I’m the type of person to step over the caterpillar or step on the caterpillar, this has everything to do with ME and my character.
On the same note, if someone “steps” on me through unkind words or actions, this is a reflection of who THEY are, not who I am.

We made a circle and played a game in which we took turns identifying someone in the room who had shown us respect and identified how they’d done so. We took turns giving examples of how we show respect to teachers. We also took turns identifying how we have self-respect and why.
There were a few natural opportunities where students giggled when a student hesitated or rolled their eyes when they were asked to make a circle or had mini-conversations when a classmate was speaking. These things were pointed out and students were asked to consider whether they were leaking respect or leaking disrespect with those actions?

Since not all students had a chance to share, homeroom teachers will continue the games in homerooms!