One method for incorporating respect activities into instruction is through discussion groups. The teacher presents groups of students with an issue written out on a sheet of paper. Each group discusses its situation and identifies ideas for increasing respect in that specific scenario. Example: a popular group of boys tease a student in your class. What actions will you take to show respect for everyone involved while attempting to put an end to the teasing? Groups present their situations and ideas to the class.
For this activity, students are required to explore a culture different than their own. Students can work in pairs to conduct research on a specific culture. Students gather information to create a short presentation to the class to identify differences that may lead to stereotyping and prejudice toward that specific group. In the presentation, students challenge the stereotype by identifying it and presenting ways to reverse it by showing alternate behaviors that model respect and acceptance.
Students work in pairs to show respect in certain situations using body language, including facial expressions. This nonverbal activity requires students to role play a situation where two individuals have opposing intentions. One student takes on the positive role and the other student takes on the negative role. The situations are created by the student pairs. After each pair performs the role play activity, the class identifies how respect was modeled by the pair of students.
Students work as a whole group to identify respect for others' opinions and differences within the school, community and world. The teacher leads the students in generating lists to identify these situations by making three columns on the board. The first column is labeled school; the second is labeled community; and the third is labeled world. Students are asked to think about different ways respect is shown through interactions for each column. When the three lists contain five or more points, the teacher directs students to choose one point from one column and write a paragraph explaining the importance of respect in that chosen situation.