Welcome to a social emotional learning (SEL) lesson plan for teenagers about pausing!!!
Do you remember being told to 'calm down' at a time when you were very upset? Can you recall how that made you feel? If you are anything like me, it was an infuriating sentiment. My mind reeled with questions and thoughts like, "Why should I be calm? You're not calm. You can't control me..." you get the gist.
Sometimes, being told to pause can have a similar sentiment to being told to calm down, and that is not the desired effect. Pausing is a learned skill that has the benefits of calming our nervous system, but we have to also acknowledge that it isn't like flipping a light switch.
Learning to pause takes practice, and to avoid revving up the nervous system by commanding someone to pause, it is incredibly helpful to build that skill in low stress environments. This normalizes the process and lets everyone explore how it works for them with an awareness that it may be different than for their classmate.
Do you remember being told to 'calm down' at a time when you were very upset? Can you recall how that made you feel? If you are anything like me, it was an infuriating sentiment. My mind reeled with questions and thoughts like, "Why should I be calm? You're not calm. You can't control me..." you get the gist.
Sometimes, being told to pause can have a similar sentiment to being told to calm down, and that is not the desired effect. Pausing is a learned skill that has the benefits of calming our nervous system, but we have to also acknowledge that it isn't like flipping a light switch.
Learning to pause takes practice, and to avoid revving up the nervous system by commanding someone to pause, it is incredibly helpful to build that skill in low stress environments. This normalizes the process and lets everyone explore how it works for them with an awareness that it may be different than for their classmate.
Let's Dive Into the Lesson



