That's Not Cool: Healthy and Respectful Relationships Online Lesson Plan
Level: Grades 7 to 10
About the Author: Matthew Johnson, Director of Education, MediaSmarts
Duration: 1-2 hours
This lesson is part of USE, UNDERSTAND & ENGAGE: A Digital Media Literacy Framework for Canadian Schools.
Overview
In this lesson, students begin by considering one of five scenarios that illustrate unhealthy relationship behaviours relating to digital media: pressuring others to share private content, cyberstalking, harassment and abuse of trust. Students then relate the scenarios to their own experience by brainstorming other examples of these behaviours and voting on which they feel are most relevant to their lives. The teacher then leads a guided discussion on the reasons why unhealthy behaviours may be more common when we communicate through digital media and ways in which they can be avoided or mitigated. Finally, students write their own scenario in which they portray young people successfully dealing with one of the unhealthy relationship behaviours.
Learning Objectives
Key concepts/big ideas: Students will understand...
Interactions through digital media have real impact:
- interactions conducted through digital media have real consequences for other people
- empathy traps—such as the absence of social cues (like facial expression or tone of voice)—can prevent us from feeling empathy, making it easier to forget the real impact of our online action
Digital media have unexpected audiences:
- content (such as private photos or texts shared in confidence) can be copied and spread widely, leading to context collapse and long-term negative impacts when seen by people outside the intended audience
Misconceptions to correct: Digital interactions are less "real" or carry fewer consequences than face-to-face interactions; abusive relationships are always between two people who are clearly differentiated as "victim" and "abuser"; if someone shares private material (like photos or passwords), it justifies or excuses the resulting abuse or sharing by others; abusive behavior is rare or only involves physical threats.
Framework topics: Students will learn…
Ethics and empathy:
- types of unhealthy relationships and their characteristics
- characteristics of “hot” emotions”
Media health:
- "red flags" of online exploitation
Key vocabulary: abuse, exploitation, cyberstalking, controlling, “hot” emotions, empathy traps, parasocial relationship.
Core competencies: Students will be able to…
Use:
- apply and articulate strategies for dealing with unhealthy relationships, including self-control techniques like getting offline to cool down when feeling "hot" emotions (anger, fear, etc.)
Understand:
- analyze and evaluate online scenarios to identify specific unhealthy behaviors (e.g., cyberstalking, controlling) and predict the negative outcomes of those actions
Student-facing learning goals: We will learn about the different types of unhealthy relationships. We will think about how digital media can lead to "empathy traps." We will practice self-control techniques and identifying and resolving unhealthy behaviors.
Home and School Connection
This lesson and all associated documents (handouts, overheads, backgrounders) are available in an easy-print, pdf kit version