Module 9

“Mental Toughness”

Weeks 17 and 18

“One of the lessons in this module requires some advance preparations”

When introducing Mental Toughness, speak to the students in the following manner.  Pause and ask questions to check for understanding as needed:

STUDENTS, this lesson is designed to help you understand the power of your Mind and how you must develop the Toughness in your Mind to defeat bullies.

The bully uses nasty words to:

  • Destroy your self-confidence (belief in yourself and your abilities).
  • Destroy your self-esteem (appreciate and value yourself) and weaken your mind. This occurs face-to-face or online.
  • If the bully is successful, you could have unhealthy and unpleasant thoughts that can last a very long time.
  • Knowing how to use specific Words and Actions can empower you and weaken the bully’s negative hold; this can result in the bully no longer seeing you as a potential victim.
  • You must become Mentally Tough and display EMPOWERED Self-Confidence and Self-Esteem that a bully CANNOT Penetrate or Deflate.  (STUDENTS MUST TRULY BELIEVE THEY ARE EMPOWERED to become mentally stronger.)

ACTIVITY

  • Students should sit in a crossed-leg position, as done in the previous Meditation training.
  • Practice the inhale, and exhale relaxation drill five (5) times.
  • Each time students breathe in and out, lip-sync (with eyes closed) “I am mentally tough.”
  • The fifth and last time students do not lip-sync the phrase, but instead do the following: 

Students open their eyes, and as if looking directly at the imaginary bully.

  • “I am mentally tough” will be repeated as many times as necessary.  Five times is not etched in stone.  (Teacher’s discretion)

  • For the remainder of your lives, no matter the circumstance, you must always remember and believe you are and must remain MENTALLY TOUGH!

  • No one can take your mental toughness away from you unless you allow them to.

REINFORCE WITH STUDENTS:  THEY ARE NOT GOING TO ALLOW A BULLY TO  STRIP THEM OF THEIR MENTAL TOUGNESS!

This technique and all BBGP skills, if learned well and retained, will give students a much better chance of preventing and eliminating a bully problem, permanently….. if instructions are followed and practiced as taught and recommended in BBGP training.

“THINK ON YOUR FEET”

Students write their interpretation of the main idea/theme of the above illustration and any possible hidden messages as they apply to bullying.

“THINK ON YOUR FEET” – Poem

When a bully aggressively gets in another kid’s face, the bully’s main objective is to take control and instill fear.

The kid being bullied becomes confused, and often, that kid’s thinking becomes unclear.

Now the bully has the upper hand.  The bully is totally in charge.

A kid being bullied has to quickly think on his/her feet.  If a kid has been trained to do so, this will not be very hard.

To think on your feet simply means to decide how you’re going to get yourself out of any bullying situation fast as you can.

Here are some choices you have as a kid: 

Talk your way out of the bully situation, make any kind of excuse necessary to leave the scene, use your strong convincing voice.  The last resort is to aggressively use your hands.

Most kids have no clue what it means to think on their feet.

Now you have an idea, but you’ll need to learn more and then practice consistently to make your training complete.

By having the ability to think on your feet, your chances of being caught off guard by a bully will be a lot less.

Kids, by having the ability to effectively think on your feet with a Bully, could result in confusion in the Bully’s MIND. The Bully
may quickly decide to leave you alone, and find another kid to sweat!

    Al Johnson

Remind students: Select your favorite words or phrases in the poem. Copy them onto your “My Favorites” at the end of your workbook! Practice repeating them over and over again, so you are ready to confidently respond to a bully.

“THINK ON YOUR FEET” VOCABULARY LESSON

  • Main objective
  • Instill
  • Unclear
  • Strong convincing voice
  • Resort
  • Aggressively
  • Caught off guard
  • Conclude
  1. Go around the classroom with each person taking a turn at reading a stanza of the poem.

  1. Repeat this activity, starting with a different person, until everyone has had a turn.

  1. Discuss with students the meaning of “thinking on your feet.”

ACTIVITY (THIS ACTIVITY REQUIRES ADVANCED PREPARATION)

4. In advance of the session, prepare typed sentences or phrases (see suggestions below).  If possible, laminate them for future use.  Cut them into strips and place them in a container.

  1. Students, without looking, pick a strip.

  1. The student reads it twice, out loud, and then responds immediately by “thinking on their feet.” 

  1. The responses can be true or fictitious, but CONTINUOUS! 

  1. Response must last for 60 seconds, non-stop.

  1. Following are some suggestions:  When I was a baby; The reason dogs wag their tails; Have you ever wondered why the ocean stops at certain places and doesn’t come on the land?; The reason the sky is blue; Once I climbed a tree; How to bake a cake; I am an astronaut; How to please a teacher; If I were a parent; If I were president of the USA; What it would be like if every person was the same; What to take to a cook-out, and things to do at a cookout; Exercising is fun because…; If I could fly; How to ride a bike; How to get ready for a new school year; What makes an airplane fly; How to draw a picture; Why cell phones should be allowed in school and why they should not be allowed in school; If I were the school principal; If I were a school teacher; How to teach a child to tie their shoes; My favorite school subject and why it’s my favorite; Names of animals and insects; My favorite games and why; Names of people and places.

“Thinking on Your Feet” comes easy for some people, and not so easy for others.  Give students lots of practice whenever time permits or during “down” times.  The more practice they get, the more proficient they will become.

REMINDER:  Modules 1-16 are followed by a short quiz (in the student workbooks) so students can demonstrate mastery of the lesson.  This is followed by a teacher evaluation, taking into consideration various aspects of what the students have learned from that module.  Please make special note of any particular accomplishments, improvements made, or areas in need of improvement, FOLLOWED BY YOUR SIGNATURE AND DATE.