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Coping Skill Crew

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Lesson Plan

Coping Skill Crew

Students will be able to identify and practice at least three healthy coping skills to manage stress and difficult emotions.

Learning healthy coping skills is crucial for managing daily stressors, building resilience, and promoting overall mental well-being in high school and beyond.

Audience

9th Grade

Time

30 minutes

Approach

Discussion and interactive activity.

Materials

Prep

Preparation

10 minutes

Step 1

Introduction & Warm-Up

5 minutes

Step 2

What Are Coping Skills?

7 minutes

  • Use Slide 3 to define coping skills.
    - Facilitate a brief discussion using the question on Slide 4: "What do you currently do when you feel stressed or upset?"
    - Introduce the concept of healthy vs. unhealthy coping skills on Slide 5.

Step 3

Coping Skill Crew Activity

10 minutes

  • Transition to the Coping Skill Crew Activity using Slide 6.
    - Explain the instructions for the activity: students will brainstorm and identify healthy coping skills in different categories.
    - Circulate and provide support as students work individually or in small groups.
    - After 5-7 minutes, bring the class back together and have a few students share their ideas (use Slide 7 to guide sharing).

Step 4

Wrap-Up & Cool Down

5 minutes

  • Summarize key takeaways from the lesson using Slide 8.
    - Distribute and have students complete the Coping Skill Crew Cool Down exit ticket.
    - Collect cool-down tickets for a quick assessment of understanding.
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Slide Deck

Coping Skill Crew: Your Toolkit for Tough Times

Ready to build your resilience?

Welcome students to the lesson. Briefly introduce the idea that everyone faces challenges and that today, we'll explore tools to handle them.

Today's Mission: Master Your Emotions

  • Understand what coping skills are
  • Identify healthy coping strategies
  • Start building your personal coping toolkit

Explain that today's objective is to understand what coping skills are and to identify various healthy ways to manage emotions. Emphasize that these are life skills everyone can benefit from.

What are Coping Skills?

Coping skills are strategies or actions we use to handle stress, difficult emotions, or challenging situations.

Define coping skills clearly for students. Provide simple examples of common situations where people might need to cope (e.g., test anxiety, friendship drama, feeling overwhelmed).

What do YOU do when you feel stressed or upset?

Think-Pair-Share: Reflect on how you currently respond to stress.

Open the floor for a brief, safe discussion. Ask students what they currently do when feeling stressed or upset. Encourage a range of responses without judgment, then gently steer towards the idea that some ways are more helpful than others.

Healthy vs. Unhealthy Coping

Healthy Coping:

  • Helps you deal with emotions constructively
  • Leads to positive outcomes
  • Builds long-term resilience

Unhealthy Coping:

  • Provides temporary relief
  • Avoids the problem
  • Can create new problems

Clearly differentiate between healthy and unhealthy coping skills. Give examples of each. Emphasize that unhealthy coping might provide temporary relief but causes more problems long-term.

Let's Build Our Coping Toolkit!

Time for the Coping Skill Crew Activity! We'll explore different types of healthy coping skills.

Introduce the upcoming activity. Explain that they will be brainstorming and categorizing healthy coping skills. Distribute the Coping Skill Crew Activity worksheet.

Sharing Our Strategies

What healthy coping skills did you discover or think of?

Let's share and learn from each other!

After the activity, invite students to share some of the coping skills they identified. Write them on the board or have students add them to a shared digital document. Encourage diversity in ideas.

Your Personal Coping Toolkit

Remember, coping skills are like muscles – the more you use them, the stronger they get!

Keep building your toolkit and practice what works for you.

Conclude by reiterating the importance of practicing these skills and building a personal toolkit. Assign the Coping Skill Crew Cool Down as an exit ticket.

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Warm Up

Coping Skill Crew Warm Up

Instructions: Take a moment to think about how you're feeling right now or how you generally feel when faced with a challenge. Respond to the prompts below.

  1. On a scale of 1 to 5, where 1 is 'feeling great' and 5 is 'feeling overwhelmed', how stressed do you feel right now? Circle your answer.
    1      2      3      4      5

  2. In one word, how do you typically react when you feel stressed or upset?



  3. Name one thing you do that helps you feel a little better when you're having a tough moment (even if it's just for a little while).



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Activity

Coping Skill Crew Activity: Build Your Toolkit

Instructions: Everyone has different ways they cope with stress and tough emotions. In the boxes below, brainstorm and list as many healthy coping skills as you can in each category. Think about things you can do to feel better when you're feeling overwhelmed, sad, angry, or anxious.

Physical Coping Skills

(Things you do with your body to release stress or energy)











Creative Coping Skills

(Ways you express yourself or engage your imagination)











Mindfulness & Relaxation Coping Skills

(Activities that help you focus on the present moment and calm your mind)











Social & Emotional Coping Skills

(Ways you connect with others or process your feelings internally)











What's YOUR Go-To?

(If you could only pick one coping skill from your lists to use today, which one would it be and why?)











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Cool Down

Coping Skill Crew Cool Down: Exit Ticket

Instructions: Before you go, reflect on what you've learned today.

  1. Name one new healthy coping skill you learned or thought of today.



  2. When might you try to use this coping skill?



  3. Why is it important to have a variety of coping skills in your toolkit?



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