1. Friends Checkup Take out a piece of paper, add your name, the date, your period, and the title. Number your paper 1-10. Answer the check-up on page 92 of your 6 Decisions Book. Answer these questions in complete sentences. 1. What is popularity? Are you popular? Who is the most popular person you know in your grade? 2. What is the worst thing a friend has ever done to you? Did you forgive him or her? 3. What are some ways that you compete with your friends? 4. In what situations would you “dump” a friend?

2. -Take out a blank piece of paper and set it up for Cornell notes. - Add your name, date, period, and the title: “Friendship Survival Notes”

3. “You will be the same person in five years as you are today, except for the people you meet and the books you read.” - Charles Jones

4. Friendship Survival Notes “Don’t walk in front of me, I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Don’t walk behind me, I may not lead. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” Just walk beside me and be my friend.”

5. Surviving the Everyday Ups and Downs of Friendships  Friends will always show their TRUE COLORS (what kind of friend they really are) Survival Tip #1: Choose steady friends who like you for who you are, not fickle ones who like you for what you have. Steady friends stick around during the good and the bad times.

6. Group Discussion  When do you need your friends the most?  Why do your friends enjoy spending time with you?

7. Survival Tip #2 Make as many friends as you can, but never center your life on them.

8. Discussion  What is popularity?  Who determines who is popular?  Can a person go from being popular to not being popular? If so, how?

9. Popularity  Stereotypes about popularity  Bad: stuck-up, snotty, bratty people  Good: Genuine, friendly  Good people don’t have to be popular  Popularity is secondary, not primary to greatness  Greatness is based on your character, not your popularity.  Tip #3: Stop trying to be popular. Just be yourself, be nice to everyone, and good things will follow

11. Queen Bees, Wannabees, and Gamma Girls  Alphas-Queen Bees  Protect their clique at all costs (Mean Girls)  Popularity means everything  Betas-Wannabees  Will do whatever it takes to be in good with the Queen Bees  Gamma Girls  Comfortable in their own skin  Not mean  Smart  Think being popular is overrated

12. Friendship Tip #4  If you are tired of playing the Queen Bee and Wannabee game, be a Gamma Girl.

13. Discussion  Is the example from Valhalla High School applicable to TLH? Do we have “Queen Bees. Wannabees, and Gamma Girls” here?

14. Quirks, Faults, & Foibles  Your friends are human, too  They will make mistakes  They will have bad days  “Don’t sweat the small stuff” and “Choose your battles” are other ways of saying… Tip #5 Be quick to forgive your friends all their little faults, just as you hope they’ll forgive yours.

15. Discussion  What are common mistakes friends make?  What are things that cross the line?  How long does it normally take you to forgive one of your friends?

16. Gossipers and Bullies  Boys often bully by threatening or pushing someone up against a locker  Girls often bully in more subtle ways through backbiting, gossip, exclusion, rumors, etc.  Tip #6 If people are gossiping about you or you’re being bullied, confront the bully or find a way to live above it.

17. Crabs and Competition  “Thinking Win-Win doesn’t mean you cave in and let your friends walk all over you.”  Tip #7 When it comes to friendships stop competing and comparing, and start thinking win-win

18. How Come You Don’t Kick With Us No More?  You and Your friends change  There’s a big difference between abandoning your friends and developing new friends because your interests have changed  Tip #8: Remember, you and your friends may change and pursue different interests and that’s okay.

19. Making and Being A Friend Page 104

20. Making and Being A Friend  Be Slow To Judge  Most people cut themselves off from a lot of potential friends because they are quick to judge. Discussion:  How have you been judged by others?  Have you ever unfairly judged someone else?

21. You Make The Effort  Everybody wants to belong to something bigger than themselves.  Proactive people make friends.  Reactive people wait around for someone to make friends with them.

22. Build your RBA: Relationship Bank Account  Deposits  Do Small Acts of Kindness  Say you’re sorry  Be Loyal  Keep Promises  Listen  Withdrawals  Do little mean things  Be too proud to apologize  Gossip and talk behind people’s backs  Breaks promises  Talk too much

23. Make Yourself More Likeable  You can’t make people like you, but you can make yourself more likeable.  Focus on things you can control, let go of things you can’t control.

24. People are Annoying  Get in your assigned group.  Have one student take out a piece of paper, write everyone’s names on it, and label it “People are Annoying”.  As a group, make a list of things that others have done that make you not want to be their friend.  Do not use anyone’s real name.

25. Reflection As each group shares their list of how people can be annoying, think about whether or not any of these behaviors apply to you. Ask yourself: Am I someone that I’d like to be friends with?

26. Be Inclusive Being inclusive means you make the effort to open up yourself and your group to outsiders. This shows your true character!

27. Treat Unkindness With Kindness  Instead of fighting back, be kind to your enemies, and they will either leave you alone or become friends. "Am I not destroying my enemies when I make friends of them?" -Abraham Lincoln

28. Lift Others 1) Find friends who build you up 2) Be the friend who builds people up The best way to find out if you have good friends is to ask yourself… “Am I a better person when I am around my friends?”

29. Group Discussion  What are some ways your friends make you a better person?  What are some ways your friends make you a worse person?

31. Peer Pressure  What situations do your parents prepare you for? What are some situations you think your parents don’t want to talk to you about?

32. Winning The Daily Private Victory  GET IN TOUCH with yourself through writing in your journal, reading inspiring literature, praying, meditating, or doing whatever inspires you and increases your self-awareness  REVIEW your goals, ambitions, or mission statement  VISUALIZE the challenges you will face in the upcoming day. Decide now how you will handle them.

33. Peer Pressure Shield  Strong Support System – surround yourself with people who make you your best!  Courage In The Moment - you should make a plan to stand up against peer pressure, but you still need to be brave when faced with a decision.

34. It’s time to make new friends if…  You have to change your clothes, language, friends, or standards in order to keep your friends  You’re doing stuff you don’t feel good about, like stealing, fighting, or doing drugs.  You feel like you’re being used.  Your life feels out of control.