Controlling Anger

A Solution Focused Approach for Young People

Tina Rae, Sara Daly

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9781351686242
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Many pupils experience difficulty in controlling their strong feelings and in managing conflict in both school and home settings. This programme aims to help young people: * avoid or manage situations of conflict * understand that they can create change * realise that it is possible to resolve difficulties and achieve a positive outcome. In this thoughtful approach to anger management, the authors suggest a teaching and learning model and use 'story' as the focus of pupil engagement. The book uses eight newspaper articles to help pupils to develop emotional literacy through subjects such as: * Road rage * racist incidents * Happy slapping * street fights. During the 10 session programme young people will: * understand anger in a variety of situations * learn about physiological and behavioural aspects of anger * rehearse coping strategies * plan positive responses to provocative situations. This book offers teachers and non-teaching staff a practical, exciting and well-designed resource with full facilitator notes and all handout materials printable from the downloadable resources.

Controlling Anger

Session 1
Introduction

Resources to photocopy or print from the CD-ROM

Group Rules

Circle Time Tags

How Do I Feel?

The Assault Cycle

Keeping Calm

My Strong Feelings Diary: Week 1

Session 1: Introduction

Group session – 45 minutes to 1 hour

Setting the scene

In order for the programme to run smoothly it is essential to establish a set of group rules and to briefly examine the main objectives of the course. It will be important to create a positive atmosphere and to ensure that all students involved in this course understand the primary objective of the sessions: to provide them with useful and practical strategies to effect positive changes and manage themselves more effectively within a range of potentially volatile contexts.

The facilitator can briefly outline the main aims and purpose of the course. This includes helping pupils to:

• identify and understand anger triggers and triggers to other strong emotions

• understand consequences of expressing strong feelings in an inappropriate manner

• become more aware of physical reactions to expressing strong feelings

• identify methods they may use to calm themselves after becoming angry, upset or stressed

• identify how they feel once they have managed to calm down

• identify methods they may use or be aware of to prevent uncontrolled loss of temper.

Activity One – Group rules

To enable students to claim ownership of the group rules it is extremely important that they are given enough time to discuss and agree their own set of rules. By ensuring that students have ownership of their rules it will help considerably towards establishing a workable code of conduct that they will adhere to in each of the sessions.

The group rules may include ideas from the following:

• An undertaking to keep all discussions within the group private – this will build upon the Circle Time rules that are operating within many schools.

• To allow everybody to contribute equally within every group session.

• An agreement to avoid criticising or putting each other down.

• To try and respect each other’s point of view.

• An undertaking to try to work together co-operatively.

• An undertaking to be kind and supportive towards each other.

• A promise that all within the group will try to maintain a positive solution focused attitude and problem solve rather than be negative.

Once the group have decided upon the rules that they feel are essential to the smooth running of the sessions, the facilitator can record them on the appropriate activity page provided in this session plan. Alternatively, students could design and illustrate their own activity pages or work co-operatively as a group to create a poster that illustrates the agreed rules.

It is essential that these rules are reinforced throughout this session. Allow a little time at the beginning of each subsequent session to revisit the group rules and reinforce the importance of abiding by them.

Activity Two – Circle Time Tags

This can be organised with the facilitator acting as a scribe for the students ideas and thoughts. Students may like to conduct this aspect of the session verbally within a Circle Time style. This method requires a much more ‘hands on’ approach from the facilitator, who introduces the question and then models the answer for the students. Once the facilitator has modelled the question or answers, she can provide students with opening sentences that they are required to finish:

• When I get mad, it’s usually because…

• When I get mad, I want to…

• When I get mad, my body feels…

• When I get mad, it helps me to calm down if I…

• When I get mad, it helps to talk to…

• After I’ve been mad, I feel…

• To prevent getting mad, I could…

Activity Three – How do I feel?

The next aspect of this session is to get students to recognise and examine the physical signs/reactions they experience as their anger escalates.

Seated in a circle, students can discuss the provided activity page and identify their own physical indicators and reactions to escalating anger:

• I feel hot.

• My hands start to sweat.

• I find it difficult to stay still, I get fidgety.

• My mouth gets dry.

• My hands go into fists.

• My body feels tense.

• My heart races.

• I breathe more quickly.

• I feel panic...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• My Anger Poems
• Pre-course Assessment
• Letters to Parents/Carers
• Session 1: Introduction
• Session 2: Road Rage
• Session 3: Exclusion
• Session 4: Supermarket Battle
• Session 5: A Racist Incident
• Session 6: Foul Footballer
• Session 7: Happy Slapper
• Session 8: Property Matters
• Session 9: Street Fight
• Session 10: Review and Evaluation