Here are 13 situations that middle-school students decided were the most stressful and difficult problems to handle:
1.
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Someone challenges you to a fight and you feel upset.
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2.
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Your mother tells you that you can’t do something you want to do and you feel mad.
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3.
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Your friends try to convince you to smoke cigarettes, drink, or try drugs and you feel pressured.
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4.
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An adult blames you for something you didn’t do and you feel frustrated.
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5.
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A friend lies to you and you feel betrayed.
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6.
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Someone is spreading rumors about you and you feel furious.
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7.
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You meet new students and you feel worried about whether or not they will like you.
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8.
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Your friends are trying to get you to do something that might get you into trouble and you feel scared.
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9.
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You must undress for showers after gym class and you feel embarrassed.
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10.
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Your brothers or sisters are picking on you instead of being friendly and you feel angry.
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11.
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Your homework is difficult and you feel dumb.
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12.
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Your best friend argues with you and you feel nervous that you might stop being friends.
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13.
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Somebody likes your boyfriend or girlfriend and you feel jealous.
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(figure available in print form)
(figure available in print form)
After reading every line of the poem, the teacher will ask questions.
Ex.
Teacher:
What does “me” mean?
Student:
Myself, I.
Teacher:
That’s correct. In how many ways are people alike?
Possible answers:
They talk; they walk; they think; they go to school.
Teacher:
That is correct. So if we can talk, think, go to school does that tell you something?
Answer:
Yes, we are human beings.
Teacher:
Very good answer, but besides all these attributes, human beings also have feelings. (Note: the teacher will write the word
feelings
on the blackboard and say to the class: Let’s look up the meaning in the dictionary. The teacher will write the meaning on the board. Ex. feeling . . . emotion, passion, a pleasant or painful mental state produced in a person in reaction to a stimulus such as : love, fear, sorrow, joy, anger, etc.”
6
The teacher goes back to the poem written on the board and reads: All people laugh and cry, feel happy and sad and angry and afraid. Here the teacher asks questions and promotes class discussion. Have you ever felt sad? Afraid? When? Angry? When? What do you do when you are angry? etc. The teacher then continues analyzing the poem.
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“do good things and bad things and brave things and kind things.” Here again the teacher asks questions: What does “good things” mean to you?
Possible answers:
Help your parents, come to school.
Teacher:
Yes, good things produce pleasant feelings: happiness, joy, love, etc. What about bad things? What do bad things produce?
Possible answers:
People feel sad, mad, angry.
Teacher:
Yes, bad things produce unpleasant feelings. Here the teacher talks about pleasant and unpleasant feelings and explains both.
Teacher:
Which actions produce unpleasant feelings?
Possible answers:
Fighting with your brother or friend, not going to school, being bad in school, not respecting the teacher.
Teacher:
That’s correct. These are bad actions. You have to think that your parents, your brothers and sisters, your friends and teachers are also human beings. They also have feelings like you, and add: you know that unpleasant feelings produce stress. The teacher writes the word “stress” on the board and says, “Let’s look for its meaning in the dictionary.” Ex. “feeling: pressure, force”
7
Teacher: Stress produces discomfort, anxiety, headache and even sickness. People with stress cannot concentrate on tasks, don’t eat well, don’t sleep well, feel very unhappy, etc. This is why people have to try to avoid stress. Here the teacher will introduce the problem solving program.