Purpose
I use this exercise after the anger response style exercise which introduces assertiveness. This gives students a chance to practice generating assertive statements.
Materials
Procedure
I usually start by reviewing the "Basic Human Rights" and "Basic Human Responsibilities" with the class.
Then I read through the 5 types of assertive statements and discuss them briefly.
I make a list of several situations where assertive statements could be used. There are a few examples at the bottom of the handout, plus often we can draw some examples from the weather reports that the men wrote. I then present the situations, and using the handout, I ask students to think of assertive statements for each situation, making sure I include some of each of the following:
- A simple assertion
- A considerate assertion
- A Response-invited assertion
- An "I" message
- An inconsistancy assertion.
I summarize that assertiveness is a choice that often leads to better resolutions than our automatic responses.