Grade Levels: 3-5, 6-8, 9-12

*Click to open and customize your own copy of the Getting Help Lesson Plan.

This lesson accompanies the BrainPOP topic, Getting Help, and addresses self-awareness standards related to knowing how and when to seek help for social and emotional issues. Students demonstrate understanding through a variety of  projects.

Step 1: ACTIVATE PRIOR KNOWLEDGE

Write the following phrases on the board:

  • I’m stuck.
  • I can’t do it.
  • I don’t know how to do this.

Ask students to think about these phrases and to respond to the following questions in a journal: 

If you’ve ever said one of these sentences to yourself, what was the circumstance or situation?

What do you do when you feel this way?

 Step 2: BUILD KNOWLEDGE

  • Read aloud the description on the Getting Help topic page. 
  • Play the Movie, pausing to check for understanding.
  • Assign Related Reading. Have students read one of the following articles: “Quotables” or “In Depth.” Partner them with someone who read a different article to share what they learned with each other.

Step 3: APPLY & ASSESS 

Assign Getting Help Challenge and Quiz, prompting students to apply essential literacy skills while demonstrating what they learned about this topic.

Step 4: DEEPEN and EXTEND

Students express what they learned about getting help while practicing essential literacy skills with one or more of the following activities. Differentiate by assigning ones that meet individual student needs.

  • Make-a-Movie: Produce a movie showing a student asking someone for help with a challenging homework assignment. In your movie, address this question: How might the student feel before and after asking for help?
  • Make-a-Map: Create a concept map showing different scenarios where people might need to ask for help and strategies they can use.
  • Creative Coding: Code a meme that encourages people to get help when they are stuck or when something feels challenging.

More to Explore

Social-Emotional Learning Collection: Continue to build understanding around empathy and respect with BrainPOP’s six-week SEL curriculum that addresses the five CASEL competencies. 

Teacher Support Resources:

Lesson Plan Common Core State Standards Alignments