The Teachable Moment has a simple but effective middle school-level lesson plan for teaching coping skills for managing feelings:
"Lesson in brief: Working in small groups, students will categorize coping strategies as positive, negative, neutral and time-out behaviors.
Vocabulary: Positive, Negative, Neutral, Time-out
Materials: Coping Strategies handout (below), chart paper and markers for each group"Click here for the whole lesson: Coping Strategies: Managing Feelings
Update: I have uploaded my version of this lesson plan (with ASCA standards) in .pdf form here: Positively Coping with Emotions
The easy access language and style allows for students to consider if the way they cope with their problems is very effective. I find this particularly useful for my students who think just calming down is enough to deal with their problems.
What coping skills lessons have you found effective?
