BASEAL Changes - 1

L.O.1 I am aware of common responses to difficult changes and that they are sometimes similar to our responses when experiencing loss. L.O.2 I understand how I might feel when a change takes you away from familiar people and places. L.O.3 I can try to understand why people might behave the way they do when they are facing a difficult challenge. L.O.4 I know how change can interfere with our feeling of belonging and can make us feel insecure and unconfident. L.O.5 I know that sometimes there can be positive outcomes from changes that we didn’t welcome initially.

Circle time! - 1 Changes One person will leave the room and while they’re out some things will be changed. When they return they have to guess what has been changed.

Circle time! - 2 Rounds We will pass round these ideas: If I ran the school for a day I would change… If I were king / queen for a day I would change… If I could change the world I would…

What have you learned about change? What about imposed change i.e. change which is forced upon you? Let’s read the story “Melanie’s Journal”

You have two sheets of paper each of which has 4 concentric circles. On the innermost circle on one write your own name. Write MELANIE in the same place on the other. Now, using the sheet with your name: 1.In the same circle as your name write the names [or initials] of people you love or care for a lot, 2. In the next circle write the name of people you like a lot –best friends, family friends, relatives, 3 in the next write classmates – people you might chat with but not share secrets or know closely, 4. In the outer circle write names of people who are paid to be in your lives – doctors, dentists, teachers, social workers. Do the same for Melanie when she started her new school.

Does Melanie have a “full circle” of friends? How do you think she feels and might behave when compared to someone who has a “full circle” of friends? Remember how our behaviour is closely linked to our feelings and thoughts. Let’s look at the “Feelings, thoughts and behaviour” sheet on the next slide to see what we could put in the spaces.

Situations to illustrate how feelings and behaviour might be very different in the two cases (yourself and Melanie) might include: A girl starts picking on you at school. You don’t know her name but she is always laughing with her friends at playtime when she looks at you; You come top in the weekly spelling test; You get an invitation to a party. Can you think of any others???

We could role-play some of these situations ….. or we could use ‘hot seating’ ….. or ‘freeze framing’. “You” and Melanie might approach each situation differently.

We need to remember that CHANGE can take away much of our feeling of belonging and also our feelings of security and confidence. We do not always welcome CHANGE - even though it is often positive and exciting - since it can make us uncomfortable and feel a sense of loss.

We may feel: SHOCK DENIAL – IT CAN’T BE HAPPENING! ANGER ACCEPTANCE POSITIVE THINKING

You will need to be in a small group. Within your group try to identify the feelings Melanie was experiencing in each section of her journal. Remember the “working together” skills we learned earlier this year. You will need to appoint a leader for your group and agree what the group should do. At the end of the activity you will need to review your progress using the checklist on the next slide. Record the POSITIVE outcomes of the changes Melanie experienced.