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Your Amygdala: Emotion's Boss?

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Cat Montgomery

Tier 1
For Schools

Lesson Plan

Your Amygdala: Emotion's Boss?

Students will be able to identify the amygdala as a key brain region for processing emotions and describe how it influences their emotional responses.

Understanding the amygdala helps students recognize that emotional reactions are a natural brain function, empowering them to develop strategies for managing intense feelings and promoting emotional intelligence.

Audience

7th Grade Students

Time

45 minutes

Approach

Interactive discussion, visual aids, and a reflective activity.

Materials

Whiteboard or projector, Your Amygdala: Emotion's Boss? Slide Deck, Warm-Up: How Do You Feel?, Discussion Guide: Amygdala Explorer, Activity: My Amygdala Moment, and Cool-Down: One Word Emotion

Prep

Prepare Materials

15 minutes

  • Review the Your Amygdala: Emotion's Boss? Slide Deck and familiarize yourself with the content.
  • Print or prepare to project the Warm-Up: How Do You Feel?.
  • Review the Discussion Guide: Amygdala Explorer.
  • Prepare copies of Activity: My Amygdala Moment for each student.
  • Prepare to project or write the Cool-Down: One Word Emotion.

Step 1

Warm-Up: How Do You Feel?

5 minutes

  • Begin by displaying the Warm-Up: How Do You Feel? on the board or projector.
  • Instruct students to quickly write down or think about their initial feeling entering class today and why.
  • Briefly discuss a few responses (without sharing names unless volunteered) to get students thinking about emotions.

Step 2

Introduction to Emotions & Brain

10 minutes

  • Use the first few slides of the Your Amygdala: Emotion's Boss? Slide Deck to introduce the concept of emotions and how our brain plays a role.
  • Facilitate a brief discussion using prompts from the Discussion Guide: Amygdala Explorer regarding different emotions and where students feel them in their bodies.
  • Introduce the amygdala and its function as the 'emotion's boss' or 'alarm bell' of the brain, using visuals from the slide deck.

Step 3

Exploring the Amygdala

15 minutes

  • Continue through the Your Amygdala: Emotion's Boss? Slide Deck to explain the amygdala's specific role in fear, anger, and other strong emotions.
  • Discuss the 'fight, flight, or freeze' response and how the amygdala triggers it.
  • Use relatable scenarios to illustrate how the amygdala reacts (e.g., sudden loud noise, unexpected test).
  • Encourage questions and use the Discussion Guide: Amygdala Explorer to delve deeper into student understanding.

Step 4

Activity: My Amygdala Moment

10 minutes

  • Distribute the Activity: My Amygdala Moment worksheet to each student.
  • Instruct students to reflect on a time their amygdala might have taken over and describe the situation, their feelings, and how they reacted.
  • Allow time for students to share their reflections with a partner or small group, if comfortable. Emphasize that this is a safe space for sharing personal experiences related to emotions.

Step 5

Cool-Down: One Word Emotion

5 minutes

  • Project the Cool-Down: One Word Emotion prompt.
  • Ask students to write down one word that describes how they feel about learning about the amygdala today.
  • Collect responses or have students share out briefly as an exit ticket.
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Slide Deck

Your Amygdala: Emotion's Boss?

Understanding Your Brain's Emotional Center!

Welcome students and introduce the topic of emotions. Ask them to think about what emotions are and why they are important.

Warm-Up: How Do You Feel Today?

What emotion are you feeling right now as you walk into class? Why?

Engage students with the warm-up activity. Remind them that all emotions are valid.

Emotions Everywhere!

What are emotions?
Why do we have them?
Where do you feel emotions in your body?

Start with a general discussion about emotions. Ask students to share examples of different emotions and discuss how they feel them in their bodies. Introduce the idea that our brains play a big role in emotions.

Meet Your Amygdala!

A tiny, almond-shaped part of your brain.
It's your brain's emotional alarm bell!
It helps you process and react to strong emotions.

Introduce the amygdala as a small, but mighty part of the brain. Explain its primary role in processing emotions, especially strong ones like fear and anger. Use the 'alarm bell' analogy.

Fight, Flight, or Freeze!

When your amygdala senses danger (real or perceived), it triggers a quick response:

  • Fight: Confront the threat.
  • Flight: Run away from the threat.
  • Freeze: Stay still to avoid detection.

This happens automatically to keep you safe!

Explain the fight, flight, or freeze response. Give examples of situations where this response might be triggered. Emphasize that it's an automatic, protective reaction.

Amygdala Overload?

Sometimes your amygdala can get a little too excited.
It might react strongly even when there's no real danger.
Think about a time you felt a super strong emotion (like anger or fear) that seemed bigger than the situation.

Discuss how the amygdala can sometimes overreact or trigger responses that aren't necessary for the current situation. This helps students understand why they might have intense reactions to non-threatening events.

Calming Your Amygdala

How can we help our emotional alarm bell calm down?

  • Deep Breaths: Slow, controlled breathing signals safety.
  • Mindfulness: Focusing on the present moment.
  • Talking It Out: Sharing feelings with a trusted person.
  • Physical Activity: Moving your body can release tension.

Introduce coping strategies. Encourage students to think about how they can calm their amygdala down. Provide a few examples and ask for student input.

Your Amygdala Moment

Think about a time your amygdala might have taken over.

  • What happened?
  • How did you feel?
  • How did you react?

Transition to the activity. Explain that they will be reflecting on a personal experience.

Cool-Down: One Word Emotion

What is ONE word that describes how you feel about learning about your amygdala today?

Conclude with the cool-down activity, asking for one word reflections on what they learned. Reinforce the idea that understanding their brains can help them manage emotions.

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Warm Up

Warm-Up: How Do You Feel Today?

Think about how you are feeling right now as you walk into class. It could be happy, tired, excited, nervous, calm, or anything else!

  1. What is one emotion you are feeling right now?


  2. Why do you think you are feeling that way?





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Discussion

Discussion Guide: Amygdala Explorer

Understanding Emotions

  • What are emotions and why do we have them?
  • How do emotions feel in your body?

The Amygdala

  • What is the amygdala's role in emotions?
  • Explain
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Activity

Activity: My Amygdala Moment

Think about a time when you experienced a very strong emotion (like fear, anger, or extreme excitement) that seemed to take over. This might have been when your amygdala was really active!

  1. Describe the situation: What happened? Where were you? Who was involved?










  2. How did you feel? (Physically and emotionally)






  3. How did you react? What did you do or say?






  4. Looking back, if you could, how might you have tried to calm your amygdala in that moment?










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Cool Down

Cool-Down: One Word Emotion

Now that you've learned about the amygdala and how it processes emotions, think about how you feel about this new information.

What is ONE word that describes how you feel about learning about your amygdala today?




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