Unit
11: Emotions
I Think.... |
||||||
 |
||||||
|
||||||
|
||||||
Lesson Plan: Major philosophical issues Is there a difference between emotions and feelings? What is the relationship between the brain and the emotions? Is there ever a time when we don't feel any emotion? What are the sources of our emotions? If we respond inappropriately to an emotion, how does that change its value? Can we feel two different emotions at the same time? If so what does that mean for how we see the world and the way we act? View Munch Kids segments: Because It Feels Good The MUNCH KIDS explore bodily experiences, particularly thoughts that feel good. Feeling good can be either the result of something that has occurred or the expectation of something pleasurable. William and Brendon compare a steroid-taking athlete who feels terrible inside although feeling physically fit on the outside and a runner who has won a race who feels great inside (because of their performance), but terrible outside (hot and sweaty). At the end of the segment the students discuss whether too much pleasure can become something else - like pain. The MUNCH KIDS discuss whether too much pleasure can be come something else - like pain, or whether you can have too much pleasure in either quantity or quality. Quotes 'Your skin might be happy but your inside isn't or your inside might be happy but your outside isn't.' 'Just say, for example, that you are a runner and you take steroids, you feel really good on the outside ... except, inside you think, "Oh God, what have I done?" ' 'It really depends what kind of person you are ... what do you call pleasure and what do you call boring? Everyone has different pleasures.' 'Do you think that if you have too much pleasure then it can turn into something else, like pain?' '... and the pleasure goes over the top of the barrier and on the other side of the barrier it's not pleasure any more.' Questions If you have too much pleasure can it turn into something else, like pain? Why would someone say this can happen? Can you describe a time when your skin was happy but your insides were not? How is this possible? What part of your insides might think, 'What have I done?' Give an example of when you have had this experience. What is going on? Out of Order The MUNCH KIDS explore a connection between what is going on in their minds and their bodies when they are 'out of order'. The idea of a breakdown between mind and body is discussed, as is the idea of a breakdown in communication, when language is not adequate or fails to cope with an experience. Zoe describes her state of being out of control by saying '... you feel like you want to turn the world upside down'. She also describes the physiological effects of her anger as her heart beats faster and faster until she is in a temper, whether she wants to feel that emotion or not. Tristan describes the mind and brain as in control and the limbs as 'servants', but Rosheeka disagrees that the mind is in control. She uses behaviour driven by temper as an example of when the normal communication between mind and body breaks down. Rosheeka also believes that there are no words which adequately describe the emotions at times like this. Zoe agrees, and gives an instance where happiness is so great that descriptions are inadequate. Quotes '... crying doesn't exactly have to be for grief or anything, it can be for frustration when you're angry ...' '... like your mind is trying to control you but your body isn't letting it get through to control you.' '... it's sort of like a machine going to explode in maybe a few seconds and then when it does you get - 'bang".' 'I've got this big hole in the wall from my door 'cause I had this really bad temper once.' Questions Someone said that your temper can make you act before your brain gets into gear. What is a temper? Is it separate from the brain? One of the children uses an analogy when saying 'anger is like a machine going to explode in a few seconds.' Can you think of an analogy that describes your anger? Is there a difference between being in a temper and being angry? Can you be one and not the other? For Sale The MUNCH KIDS discuss whether happiness can be bought and sold and whether in selling a book, for instance, you are selling the feeling of happiness. Luke distinguishes between buying and making happiness, saying that happiness cannot be bought. Kira believes because you are buying the product that makes you happy, you are paying for happiness. They consider how you can put a value on the images and emotions which are part of the experience of what you buy. Quotes 'Like if you sell a book to someone, you're selling some more imagination, ... you're selling something to make the other person feel happy.' 'You can't really buy happiness you have to make it for yourself.' 'You pay to see something you've always wanted to see, and then when you see it, you feel really happy so it's sort of buying a feeling.' Questions Can you buy happiness? A MUNCH KID said when you sell a book you are selling imagination? What did they mean? Whose imagination is being sold? Can you put a price on the emotions you feel watching a film or video? Should tickets to see 'thrillers' be more expensive than documentaries? Does feeling happy involve both thoughts and emotions? Face The discussion in this segment moves between face, personality, mind, brain and body. The MUNCH KIDS query whether swapping faces would change someone's personality or whether the whole head, or even the whole body, would need to be exchanged. Two notions of the face are discussed: as a facade or shield which hides the inner self, and a window which communicates between the inner self and the outer world. Most of our understanding of others comes from making inferences based on what we observe with the face used or manipulated to control our interaction with others - either as a true or false control. Quotes 'If you didn't have anything on your face, why would it be called a face?' 'If I took my face off and put it on you, um would you be the same person?' ... when I get hurt or I'm angry or something, I sort of try not to show it. I keep a smile on my face but I'm really angry inside.' '... sometimes the expression on their face tells the story of what happened. You don't know the exact story, but you know most of it.' Questions Can you use your face to control the interaction you have with other people? How well can your facial expression hide your feelings? Why would you use this action? One of the MUNCH KIDS described a churning stomach when afraid. Do you have physical reactions to fear? Can you feel another person's fear? Wanting The conversation in this segment progresses from the idea of wanting something, to wanting something so much you get angry if you don't get it, to wanting too much. The MUNCH KIDS also describe the feeling of disillusionment when the object of their desire does not meet their expectations - perhaps because of false expectations. The way advertising manipulates one's emotions is discussed in this context. Quotes '... you really, really want it and you get angry if you don't really get it.' 'And then you don't really want it any more cause you've realised it's not very good just like they make it on the ads ...' 'Like you really wanted to do this, this is like a goal in life and then once you do what you have to, then you'll finally get to the goal.' Questions Do you sometimes want something and not know why? The MUNCH KIDS seem to think that wanting something somehow causes a good feeling. Can you explain this? What happens to your emotions between wanting and having? What are the emotions that are involved with wanting and how do they
get Can someone else know what you want before you do? Unit Eleven Activities Emotions and Colour Activity One: The Arts, English Colours are associated with emotions in much of our language. Even the expression 'colourful language' suggests the use of words to express strong feelings. We use colours in many expressions including similes and metaphor, which relate to emotions, for example: I am green (with envy) or I feel off colour. Students can collect more expressions that connect colour with emotions and create their own. To create an emotion wheel, students can make or be given a colour wheel that may include black and white. Ask them to add emotional words to appropriate colours. For example, anxiety can be placed on the grey colour or happiness on the yellow. Words can be especially hand written or typed in particular fonts to add to their emotional appeal. This activity could be extended to other painting activities where emotion is to be expressed through the use of colour. Working in pairs, one student can describe a newly decorated room using lots of colour words. The other student can then explain what sort of person lives in the room by linking the colours to the way the person was feeling at the time the decorating decisions were made. Activity Two: English Encourage the students to reflect on the characters, emotions and associated
'colours' from a class novel. Short story or picture story book. Provide
the students with some examples: Activity Three: The Arts Ask the students to make up a new colour, give it a name and explain what emotions are associated with it. Look at some of the paintings from Picasso's blue period and discuss the response to his use of colour. What could be the possible reasons for this sustained use of one colour? Emotions and Value Activity One: Health/PE This activity directs students to explore why they want things. Working
in pairs they share ideas using the following format. Activity Two: The Arts, Health/PE The reasons we want things are often influenced by advertisements. Ask the students to collect advertisements for products they want to own. Display the advertisements in the classroom and discuss the emotions which the designers and companies want us to feel when we think about these products. Explore the techniques used to generate our emotional response to the products. Expressing Emotions Activity One: The Arts Find a collection of portraits in a text or during a visit to a gallery,
and as a class, interpret the emotions depicted. Activity Two: English Brainstorm all the words that name feelings and emotions. These could be recorded on a display board for further reference. Working in groups, the students can rearrange the words in different categories, for example from powerful - (rage) to less powerful - (concern). Other categories may include pleasant to unpleasant. Activity Three: The Arts, English In Because It Feels Good sensory impressions are discussed. In pairs, ask the students to draw whole body outlines of each other on to paper and then individually use magazine cutouts, coloured paper or old wallpaper samples to 'fill their body with a feeling'. Ask each student to describe what they have created and why. Activity Four: The Arts Use facial expressions and body movement to express emotions and ask students to guess which emotion is being expressed. Demonstrate a limited list of emotions to start, and introduce new ones as students grow in confidence. Activity Five: Maths When students are constructing three dimensional structures they can draw human faces on each geometric face of the object. When construction is complete, the faces can be used as a stimulus for writing or telling individual stories. Activity Six: Technology Using three different types of materials like string, fabric and cotton wool, design an 'emotion trap' and market it to the class, explaining to them how they would use it and why it would be a great thing to have. Activity Seven: The Arts The footballers in Because It Feels Good whirl around and form a pattern with their interlocked arms. Ask students to make their own figures and paste them onto paper to form a pattern showing cooperation in a group to which they belong. Emotions and the Group Activity: Health/PE Many students are involved in sport or are avid followers of a team. Brainstorm the various emotions felt when (a) watching (b) playing a team sport. List all suggestions and compare the two lists. Discuss any differences. In what ways is it acceptable to display emotion in public places, e.g. if you feel very unhappy that your team has lost? How do you express this unhappiness in an appropriate way when in a group? We often feel more than one emotion at a time and that can be confusing. As a class share experiences where we feel good on the outside and differently on the inside. In pairs, one student remembers an experience which involved some strong emotions while the other observes. Students should focus on not retelling the story but on the physical response to the memory, eg. heartbeat, skin response eye movement. As a class, discuss non-verbal communication that encourages and discourages interaction in a group. Video and then view freeze frames of the class at particular times to reflect on the emotions being expressed by the body language, e.g. just before bell time.
|