Circle of Support: Teens Helping Teens
	T R A I N I N G   T H E   H I G H S C H O O L   S T U D E N T S Lesson 1:

Inclusion/Exclusion

Goals

1. To be able to define a circle of support and list two reasons for its importance for everyone.
2. To be able to describe how exclusion denies people a circle of support.
3. To increase students' desire to include others.
4. To build empathy for what it is like to be excluded.

Activity

The opening activity dramatically portrays the issue of inclusion/exclusion.

Assign students in groups of about seven people each. Each group must choose one person to be the "outsider." Participants may choose this person any way they want, but nobody can volunteer himself or herself. These "outsiders" then leave the room.

Give the following instructions to the remaining students:

In all three of the role-plays, the outsider will be instructed to try and talk his or her way into your group. Stand in a tight circle with your arms on each others' shoulders. The outsider will be encouraged to use any type of argument (but not physical force) to join the circle.

In the first role-play, keep your backs to the outsider and be exclusive--keep him or her outside. Also, you can say not-so-nice things to the person to reinforce your point.

In the second role-play, let the outsider inside (putting your arms on this person's shoulders, too), but then ignore him or her. Speak to each other and change the topic when the outsider tries to speak. (This demonstrates how we sometimes accept people "halfway," and may hurt them even more through mixed messages.)

In the third role-play, genuinely include the person and try to make him or her feel welcome.

After finishing the directions, bring the "outsiders" back into the room. Tell them that their task is to talk their way into the group without using any physical force.

Discussion

Ask questions immediately after each role-play.

First Role-Play

1. Does this happen in real life? Where do you see it happen?
2. How many of you have ever had the experience of feeling excluded from a group, of having people turn their backs on you? (Have them raise their hands.)
3. What feelings did you have when you were excluded? How does it affect anyone to be excluded? (Have two or three high school students share a few examples from their own lives of being excluded at any age. You might share an example first, but keep it short).
4. How might someone be affected who has been repeatedly neglected or rejected by others? How might a person who is treated this way act around others?
5. How did the groups select the outsider for this activity? How did this feel for the person chosen?

Second Role-Play

1. How was this role-play different from the first one?
2. Ask the outsider: Did you like this role-play better or worse than the last one?
3. In real life, do people sometimes only pretend to accept someone? How do you feel about such behavior?

Third Role-Play

1. Ask the outsider: How did you feel this time?
2. As demonstrated in this role-play, people often seek out a circle of support--a group of people who take an interest in you, who are friendly, and who think you are important. Why is this circle of support important? (List reasons on the board.) Is it important for EVERYONE to have some kind of circle of support? My or why not?

Survey Results

Tell the students: Schools differ in the type of atmosphere that exists among students. In one school, it might be much more common for students to put other people down; in another, students might be much more welcoming to new students. We wanted to share the results of the pretest survey we did with your class.

You might show students the questions on the pretest (Appendix A) one item at a time and ask for any guesses about the results before sharing them. Have the results already written on the chalkboard or bring them already printed on a poster board or handout).

Ask: What are your reactions to the survey results? Are you surprised?

What do they tell you about our school? About how other students in the school feel?

Closing Reflection: Optional Question for Homework

It is easier to talk about others being cliquish or exclusive than to look at ourselves. As you look at yourself and your friends, how exclusive or inclusive do you see yourselves? What, if anything, makes it difficult to be inclusive? If you wanted to be more inclusive, what would you do?

Drawing Your Own Circle

Goals

1. To help students personalize their understanding of the circle of support concept.
2. To help students assess their own current circle of support.

The Activity

Provide one small piece of paper and a pencil for each student. Give the following instructions:

What you are going to write will be private. It will not e shared with anyone else in the room.

1. Draw a circle about the size of a half-dollar. Write your name in the center of that circle.
2. Now draw your own circle of support by drawing other circles around you and putting in the names (initials or first names) of people who support you in important ways.

You might want to draw some of the circles larger and e smaller to distinguish the level of support you feel. The circles may even be a distance from your circle. You can be creative about how you illustrate the relationships of those around you.

Your circle can contain people:

1. of any age, including your peers and adults
2. inside or outside of school
3. who have given you support for many years or who have more recently entered your life.
4. who live here or elsewhere
5. who are relatives and friends

Sample of personal circle of support

Discussion

Have students get into pairs. Have them discuss the following:

Look at the names you put closest to your circle and at those you put farther away. How did you make up your mind? Discuss your reasons for placing people closer to you. What do they do or have they done in your life? (This is a way to define a genuine circle of support.)

HOW did these relationships come about? What did it take for them to develop? Can you make any generalizations from how you formed your own circle of support that might help someone trying to enlarge his or her own circle?

Have students return to large group.

Make a list of why students placed certain people closest to their own circle. Ask:

What do these people do that is so important?

What can we learn about good friendships by studying your circles of support?

How do these relationships form? What advice would you give to someone who wanted to increase his or her own circle of support?

What else did you learn or think about while completing this activity?

Reinforce the idea that having social support represents that someone cares about you, that you are not alone, that what happens to you makes a difference to others. It provides you with people you can count on, recognition from others, and caring and affection.

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