Respect lesson plans middle school

In middle school, students are at an age where they are developing their independence, and this can sometimes lead to a lack of respect for authority figures and peers. Use the following middle school respect lesson plan and printable worksheet to teach showing respect!

What You’ll Teach

Objective: Students will learn to show respect to their teachers and peers in the classroom.

Materials:

• Whiteboard and markers
• Chart paper and markers
• Handout on respectful behavior

Procedure:

1. Start by explaining to your students what respect means. Use the whiteboard to write down the definition of respect and ask your students if they have any examples of respectful behavior.
2. Next, divide your students into small groups and ask them to brainstorm a list of ways that they can show respect to their teachers and peers. Have each group share their ideas with the class and write them on the chart paper.
3. Discuss the ideas on the chart paper with the class, highlighting the importance of each behavior. Ask your students to think about why it is essential to show respect to their teachers and peers.
4. Distribute the handout on respectful behavior and go over each item on the list. Ask your students to practice each behavior in the classroom.
5. Role-play scenarios where students have to show respect to their teachers and peers. Use our printable PDF at the top of this page with 5 scenarios to walk through!
6. End the lesson by asking your students to write down one thing that they will do to show respect to their teachers and peers.

Conclusion:

Teaching respect is an ongoing process, and it is essential to reinforce these behaviors consistently. By

In some of the educator/counselor Facebook groups I’m a part of, there has been a lot of talk about R-E-S-P-E-C-T. People complaining their students are disrespectful, people wondering how they can teach respect to their students, and people worried that their faculty and students have differing ideas of what respect really means. As human beings, we all have an innate need to feel respected by others. Everyone is happier and more productive when people show respect to one another at school. So how can you teach students about respect in a meaningful way?

Laying the Groundwork

The first step is getting students thinking about their own beliefs and ideas about respect. Four corners is a great movement-based way to do this. Ask your students questions about respect, or ask them to finish sentences about respect, by going to one of four designated corners. For example, “I feel respected at school…” A) All of the time, B) Usually, C) Sometimes, or D) Not very often. As you read the answer choices, move to different corners of the room so students know where to go to show their answers.

Next, come to some sort of an agreement with your students about the definition of respect. Here are the two I provide them:

Ask them what they think about the definitions. What would they want to change or take away or add?

Then work together to get a clear picture of what respect actually looks like, sounds like, and feels like within the school. I recommend tackling one section at a time, letting students chat with a partner about their ideas and then sharing out whole group. Or, have students work on their own mini-anchor chart independently first.

And then comes the discussion that might make some folks a little uncomfortable. The discussion about WHO deserves our respect and HOW we decide to respect someone. In my experience, there’s more disagreement here than there is in defining respect. Often times, facu

Students believe that the well-being and dignity of all people is important simply because they are fellow human beings and they treat every individual with respect, judging them on their character and ability without regard to race, religion, sexual orientation, political ideology, gender, age, or other physical or personal characteristics.

Key Beliefs:

I will be a better student if I act on the following beliefs:

• I will treat others the way I want to be treated.
• It is important to treat everyone with respect, even if I feel they don’t deserve it.
• I need to treat everyone the same by accepting their differences, whether they are my friends or people I don’t know very well.
• I must respect the personal space of others and keep my hands to myself.
• It is important for people to be included.

Application:

• Explain and illustrate how it is possible to treat everyone with respect, specifically when you are reading a story or having a discussion related to academic content.
• Practice courteous communication for email, phone, and in–person interactions.
• Role–play some typical situations in which disrespectful behavior leads to hostility and maybe even violence. Then, change one of the disrespectful actions into one of respect to demonstrate how the outcome is altered.
• Use examples from current events or literature to demonstrate the effects of bullying and discuss what can be done to strive for creating a culture of kindness and respect.
• Brainstorm ways to make your school environment more respectful. Create a list of recommendations and place them in your school newspaper or on a poster.
• Develop a list of dos and don’ts for being a respectful person. What happens when people live in accordance with these guidelines? What happens when they don’t? In what ways do respectful and disrespectful behavior affect our school and community?
• Bring in articles from newspapers and magazines describing situations in which respect or disrespect are issues. Re

In this guide

Whether in your classroom, online, or in a park, the world is full of diverse people with different perspectives. Sometimes, those world views may clash with our own, or we simply do not understand them. This is where respect can come in. Teaching children and teenagers to understand respect is a lifelong skill that can help your students navigate a complex world. 

Why teach respect? 

Respect is a deep topic that can take many lessons to understand and develop fully. You can see lessons about respect from an elementary school classroom to a professional development course in your workplace. It is a skill we are constantly building and improving. 

Understanding respect is a skill that will benefit your students for a lifetime, but it isn’t just about being polite. It encompasses showing respect to each other and ourselves. In this article, we will look at different activities you can use to teach respect as a concept, develop self-respect, and respect others.

A structured approach to teaching respect

Although there are three categories we can look at when teaching respect, there is a standard structure we can use for all of them. This is: 

1. Define it
2. Use role-playing to see real scenarios in action 
3. Model the behavior and continuously observe it

1) Define it 

No matter what type of respect you teach, you always want to define it to your students first. Some concepts may be new vocabulary for them, and giving them the definitions will help them develop their understanding. Never assume that your students come to you with this knowledge!

In a lesson on respect, you may write the word on the board and ask students to share what they know about it. This lets you understand what prior knowledge students already have on the topic, and it can easily be accomplished using a cooperative learning strategy like think-pair-share. Once students shared their ideas, I liked to go further and ask them