Category:
- Social Wellness 🧑🤝🧑
Age Groups
- Grade 4-6
- Grade 7-9
Introduction
Strong bonds that create a deep sense of belonging to a group are built through mutual respect and positive, reciprocal behaviors. In Indigenous cultures the shared belief is that all people belong and have purpose and that group membership is based on respect for all members and the gifts they bring to the group. Group behaviour expectations are often very established into cultural protocols or very specific ways of doing things.
Objective
Build awareness of expected social norms of “reciprocity” for membership in a group.
Materials
- Ball
Steps
- Read the following quote:
“Different groups have different expectations for how their members should act. Sometimes the rules are written down and strictly enforced, sometimes they are just understood from example.”
- Reflect on the meaning of the quote:
- What kinds of groups were you born into? What groups have you chosen to join?
- Focus on one group that you belong to and think about what the group expectations are. Are these written down or just “understood”?
- Do the expectations influence how you behave?
- What would you like to see changed or enforced within the group expectations?
- Form a circle with your peers.
- Start a conversation with the sentence, “In this group, we…………………..”. Then, gently toss the ball to the next person to speak about the group. They say, “In this group, we…………..”. Toss the ball to the next person to speak and continue until each member of the group has had a turn.
- Example: “In this family, we all like spaghetti. Toss the ball. “In this family, we all want to have campfires when we camp. Toss the ball. “In this family, we all like to listen to music in the morning.”
Reflection
- What do you like most about belonging to your group?
- What would happen if there were no rules about behavior in a group like a family?
- At school, what could you do to make the classroom group stronger?
- Can you think of a situation in your life where the differences between your group and another group were causing more and more problems? What could be done to change that?
Extension
Interview your mother or father about how the behavior of one person influences and is influenced by the behavior of another person within the family. What does the family expect to see in the behaviours of the members when they are dealing with one another? Where do those expectations/rules come from? Did they have the same expectations when they were growing up? Which of the expectations do you think is the most important?