Boy’s Group Interactive Book

All too often I have boys
come into my office upset because of something that happened that caused them
to lose their cool, or in trouble for how they responded to the situation that
angered them. Sometimes they act out in anger intentionally, sometime they just
don’t know how to better handle the situation. 

The kids I work with are young; anger is a big emotion. Most adults do
not even appropriately handle their anger, how can we expect these little ones
to keep in control? Instead of punishing them for losing their cool, I want to
teach them the skills to understand and manage their anger. I want to teach
them skills they can take with them into adulthood that will help them to
become better people overall.


Building on this idea, I created a small group curriculum for
boys designed to do just that. It’s not that girls don’t get angry, I just see a
lot of resources for girls and not many specifically for boys.  I made it just for boys to get them hooked,
excited, feeling like they were invited to a special class by someone who
cares.

 This small group curriculum is packed with 10
interactive activities designed to teach students more about their specific
type of anger, how to handle situations that anger them and role-play common anger
inducing situations all while they have fun making their own interactive book. 



I just finished up a small group using this resource with
four fifth grade boys. They had a blast learning how to control their anger and
keep calm while they designed their own Calm Down Control book. Each session, they
created an additional page or two of their Calm Down Control book. I utilize cardstock
paper instead of an actual notebook. At the end of each session, I collected
the pages and keep them all until the end of our group. I then stapled the
pages together and let the students take their Calm Down Control Book home. 

I made a book along with the boys. They said I was the only girl allowed
in the group and I was invited in under special circumstances. I’m currently
pregnant with a little boy so they said I was kind of like a boy and could join
in. kids are seriously so funny.

Below is an outline of our sessions together and pictures of the book
that I created.

I cannot wait to run this group again with another set of students.

Session
#1: Group Intro, Group Norms, Get to Know Me Activity

Session
#2: Anger Triggers

Session
#3: Anger Types/Describing Your Specific Anger

Session
#4: What Does Your Anger Feel Like?

Session
#5: Steps to My Anger

Session
#6: Who Has the Control?

Session
#7: Who Should Have Control?

Session
#8: Keep Calm Tools

Session
#9: Role-playing, How Could You Control Yourself?

Session
#10: What Works Best For You/What Did You Learn?

In the
end the boys have a clear understanding of their specific type of anger, acceptable
behaviors when upset, ways to handle their anger, calm down tools/strategies
and what works best for them.

I’ve
seen a major decrease in episodes of anger explosions with the boys in the
groups that I’ve had create this book so far. I’m sure your students will learn
a lot about their anger, while having fun too!

You can
download your own copy HERE.

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