Seeing Through Someone Else’s Eyes: Understanding Mental Health Shows Up Differently For Everyone

Country:

United states Alabama

Grades:

High school

Author:

Veronica Pitts
Teacher Fellow

SECTIONS

This lesson was created by Veronica Pitts, a Government and Economics teacher in Selma, Alabama, as part of the Fall 2024 Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellowship program. It is designed for facilitation across approximately two minute class periods.

For more lessons created by Pulitzer Center Teacher Fellows in this cohort, click here.

This lesson addresses the community's unique challenges by focusing on mental health awareness. Aiming to educate and empower students, it uses a jigsaw activity to explore diverse perspectives and connect mental health issues to students' lives.

Lesson Overview

This lesson helps students build awareness and empathy around mental health, helping them to understand various emotions and mental states in themselves and others. Since COVID-19, the rise in mental health challenges have highlighted the importance of students knowing it’s okay to face struggles and that support is available. By exploring mental health in a safe environment, they learn to recognize signs of struggle and ways to offer support. This fosters a more compassionate and connected school community.

The lesson goes beyond identifying emotions, encouraging students to feel seen and empowering them to seek help when needed. Themes like empathy, self-awareness, and support are directly relevant to their lives, helping them manage well-being and assist others. The pedagogical vision emphasizes collaborative, inquiry-based learning, inviting students to create social media posts on mental health. This approach blends practical mental health education with creative expression, helping students become advocates for mental well-being.

Essential Questions

How can understanding mental health help us support ourselves and others?

Objectives

Students will create an evidence based resource to help peers recognize signs that someone may be struggling, offering support strategies and raising awareness of available mental health resources to foster empathy.

Performance Task

The culminating activity is the creation of an infographic that highlights key information from each mental health resource. After collaborating in groups to synthesize the main points, students will design an infographic that is visually engaging and easy to understand, emphasizing critical elements like definitions, symptoms, warning signs, and ways to seek help. This infographic will not only serve as a classroom resource but will also be shared on a dedicated social media platform, making the information accessible beyond the classroom.

Assessment

Checklist for Infographic

Does the graphic summarize key information from your assigned resource?
Does it include definitions, symptoms, warning signs, and/or ways to seek help?
Did you ensure all information is accurate and clearly represents the resource?
Did you clearly cite the source of your information (title, author, or website as appropriate)?
Did you use graphics, icons, and colors that enhance understanding and engagement?
Is the layout optimized for sharing on social media (e.g., clear visuals, easy to read on a phone)?

Notes on Context & Content Advisory

This lesson contains references to suicide and emotional distress, which may be triggering for some individuals.

This content is essential as our school has seen a rise in mental health challenges since COVID-19. It’s crucial for students to know it’s okay to struggle and that resources are here to help.