Year 6 learning about the power of words and actions

Recently, Year 6 undertook a very effective exercise in learning about the power of our words and actions. We started off with having a figure of a person (purposefully very general). This figure represented a new member of the class.

Students were then asked to say something unkind or inappropriate to the new student. Students said thing like “You’re stupid” or “You’re fat” to the new student. When they did this, they tore off a piece of the person. Then we had each student say something kind to the new student, and the ripped off pieces were put back on with band-aids.

We then discussed how the power of language affects us, and how, even if we take hurtful things back, the person will never be quite the same (as can be seen in the bandaged figure). This exercise also leaves a lot of room for subseqent discussion.