Transforming Anger to Personal Power: An Anger Management Curriculum Guide for Grades 6 Through 12 - Softcover

Fitzell, Susan A

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1932995013 ISBN 13: 9781932995015

Publisher: Cogent Catalyst Publications, 2004

Synopsis

This resource is formatted into eight lessons, ideal for 45 minute classroom/counseling periods and appropriate for longer sessions, as well. These lessons are ideal for small groups as contained units, but will work just as well in a classroom setting for larger groups. Most lessons have extension activities and are geared to grades six through twelve, though some lessons could be implemented with younger students.

About this title

About the Author

Susan co-facilitated anger management support groups for teens at the high school and middle school level since 1999. Those experiences formed the foundation of this curriculum guide. The work was done with real time groups in public schools with all its inherent challenges.

Susan, a veteran teacher with over 20 years experience working with public and private schools as a learning disabilities specialist, is in demand nationally as a presenter for school in-service and conference keynotes and breakouts. She specializes in special education inclusion, differentiated instruction, conflict resolution, bullying, and anger management. Susan stays active in the classroom through her work as a consultant and by continuing her direct work with students in various school and after-school settings.

Susan is also the author of "Free the Children: Conflict Education for Strong, Peaceful Minds", a book that offers a unique approach to helping ourselves and our children break free from negative cultural and media conditioning that creates aggression and conflict, and "Special Needs in the General Classroom: Strategies That Make it Work" a practical handbook for special education and general classroom teachers.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Introduction This book is the result of five years of working with middle and high school aged students in an evolving anger management program. What you see here today is not what I started with and most likely will change as I learn more about what works and what doesn t. One thing you won t see in this program is a multitude of worksheets. I know that I m taking a risk here saying this because teachers, counselors and program facilitators generally like worksheets, however, students generally do not. I tried a student handbook. It didn t work. I found it on the floor and under the desks. Worksheets were filled out with halfhearted effort and there was much grumbling about being made to write! Well, some students could not write very well at all and that was part of the problem.

There is one worksheet in this program and it is an essential exercise. I explain it as such to the students and they get over their complaints about writing pretty quickly. I have found that Adolescents don t want to spend their time writing in a group process session. They want to talk, think, share, compare, evaluate, analyze, and challenge.

That s the work that needs to be done. It s their work. So, consequently, I threw out the student handbook and all the worksheets. Instead, I have tried to format this book so that it would be very easy to follow.

I imagine that if you are going to be using this book that you have considerable background with youth, as an educator or counselor. Think of this book as a template where you may add additional strategies and techniques as you see fit.

These are the most important aspects of this book: *The progression One lesson builds off another and there is very little room for changing the order. *The philosophy This book is about teaching students to keep their power. It s not about adults trying to fix youth, tell them how to live or show them that they know better. This is important because adolescents will tune out if they believe that the adults in the room want to change them to fit an adult agenda. *The format These lessons can be taught as classroom lessons by teachers. However, as an anger management curriculum used in a psychoeducational group, it is best run by co-facilitators, preferably a male and a female. One of the two ideally would be a counselor. The other might be an educator (psychoeducator), social worker or other professional knowledgeable about youth. *The follow-up The lessons in and of themselves are not enough. Students need to know that they have a place to go or person to talk to when they are in need. Often in a group, a student will want to discuss something personal. This should be avoided in the group. This is not a therapy group. If a lesson isn t taught because the group becomes more therapeutic instead, it undermines the effectiveness of the program. *The Gender Language For the purposes of this book, he, she, him and her are used alternately. This simply makes for ease in reading. *The Research Model Draws from several bodies of knowledge: Martial arts and Eastern philosophy, Cognitive Intervention techniques, brain research theories and educational psychology.

Note: The author is not a psychologist, counselor, or therapist. All sessions tested with this model included a team of an educator (the author) and a counselor. Therefore, if this program is used as a "therapy" program, it is used outside the scope of the curriculum and consequently may not be successful.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cogent Catalyst Publications
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1932995013
• ISBN 13: 9781932995015
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 107