Lesson Plan: Managing Impulsivity

Objective:​ Students will learn how to recognize impulsive behavior and apply skills to help them
think about the consequences and results before reacting. Students will be able to react
positively to others.

Vocabulary:
Impulse - sudden, at times, involuntary action
Alternatives: multiple courses of action, different options
Consequences: the outcome of something that took place
Reaction: an action in response to an initial action or event

Intro:
This morning, we are going to learn strategies that will help us succeed in the classroom, in
school, and in our personal lives outside of Green Valley. We are going to learn to recognize
impulsive behavior. Impulses are actions that are sudden and sometimes involuntary. For
example, pretend your friend is walking down the hallway. She sees the girl she doesn’t like
coming down the opposite side. The girl turns to your friend and makes a rude comment about
her hair. Your friend turns around and punches the girl. What was your friend’s reaction? Was it
positive or did it show impulsivity?

Group Discussion:
What was your friend’s reaction?
Was it positive or did it show impulsivity?
What are ways that we can be impulsive?

Activity 1:
In front of you, you have a sheet with three columns. On the first column, you are going to
identify acts that shows impulsivity. On the second column, you will identify strategies that you
can use to help you manage impulsivity. On the last column, you will recognize how these
strategies can give you different results.

Activity 2:
Now you will watch two commercials. The first one is an ad for a canadian hockey organization.
The second ad is for the yellow pages. You will then recognize the impulsive behavior behavior
each and relate to you own instances where you have demonstrated impulsivity.

Reflection:
1. What does impulsive behavior look like?
2. In what ways can we manage our impulsivity?