Friends - How Many of Us Have Them?
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Entry Event
Friends
How many of us have them?
Friends
Ones we can depend on
Friends
How many of us have them?
Friends
Before we go any further, let's be
Friends
- Rap Chorus by Whodini
Building healthy, strong, friendships are important when experiencing transitions in life. The definition of what it means to be a friend may not be the same for everyone. Students will work in groups of four to complete a survey project, visually report the findings with bar graphs or pie charts in the classroom, complete a reflection, and produce a rap or newspaper article series called Friends -- How Many of Us Have Them?
Using the questions below as a guide, each group of four will create four options or choices that best suit the question and then survey 40 students for their answers. Options or choices will emerge from the students’ reading. What do the experts say about friendship? Have students’ questions previewed by another group of students in the class to make sure everyone understands the possible responses. Once the survey is edited and ready to administer, each student will randomly select 40 students of the student’s age group to answer the survey. Students will summarize the responses and present the results in a bar graphs or pie chart to be displayed in the classroom.
Students will individually write a reflection about the survey and results using the prompts as a reflection guide. After completing the first two stages of the project, the final stage for each student to report to peers within the school what they learned from the readings and survey results. The title of this project is called "Friends -- How Many of Us Have Them?" Inspired by the lyrics and chorus of this hip-hop rap, each student group has the choice of writing a new rap (four verses plus a chorus) or a series of four short articles for the school newspaper. The rap or newspaper articles should address at least four aspects of the survey results that students of the same age will benefit from knowing and thinking about related to friendships and building relationships. The rap will be performed (videotaped) and the news articles distributed within the school.
Survey questions
Directions for survey: Develop only one answer that you think is the best response for each question.
- What circumstance is most helpful for choosing friends?
- What action is most likely to cause you to lose a friend?
- What personal characteristics are the most helpful toward making friends?
- What technology helps you stay in touch with friends?
- When does technology interfere with friendships?
- What risky Internet behavior are you most aware of?
- What is the most common form of peer pressure you’ve experienced?
- What one action would most likely cause conflict with a classmate?
- What behavior is most helpful to overcoming stereotypes?
- What single factor has had the greatest impact on your longest friendship?
- What can you do when you see someone being harassed or bullied?
- What communications skills are most needed at home, in the classroom, in the workplace?
Reflection prompts
Directions for reflection-to-survey experience: Respond to each of the following prompts in complete sentences. Push yourself to think of substantive answers for every question.
- What one survey finding surprised you the most? Why?
- What one finding was the most predictable? Why?
- For which question did you have the most trouble finding responses? Why?
- What one question would you add to the survey? Write the question and possible responses, and then explain why you would add it.
- What question informed you the most about friendship? Why?
- For me, friendship is most sustaining when…
- I get in the most trouble in my friendships when…
- One thing I could do to improve my friendship relationships is…
