Leadership Activities - Group Counseling Lesson Plans for Middle School Students

This 8-week middle school leadership counseling group is designed to help students define the qualities of a good leader and develop leadership skills like taking initiative, empathy, active listening, and intrinsic motivation. This curriculum includes everything you need to run a successful school counseling small group including self-assessments to make data tracking easy. The included weekly outlines are aligned with CASEL Standards and ASCA Mindsets and Behaviors.

Students will learn the qualities of a good leader, how to take initiative, and to develop intrinsic motivation, active listening skills, and empathy.

Middle School Leadership Group Outline:

Week 1: Working and leading as a team

Week 2: Leadership Skills

Week 3: Taking Initiative

Week 4: Developing Empathy

Week 5: Active Listening Skills

Week 6: Intrinsic Motivation

Week 7: The qualities of a good leader

Week 8: Being a leader at school

Lessons/Activities Included:

• Scavenger Hunt
• Video Discussion
• Discussion Dice
• Discussion Cards
• Team-building Activities
• Beach Ball Toss
• Mad Gab Game
• Board Game
• Interview Activity
• I Spy Game

Here is what's included each week:

• Outlines: Easy to implement outlines with ASCA and CASEL-aligned objectives
• Group Rules: Suggested and DIY Group Rules poster so students can take ownership of the creation of the group rules and norms.
• Feelings Check: Feelings Check Poster to serve as a visual aid for students to self-reflect on their emotional state at the start of each session.
• Self-Assessments: Pre and post-group self-assessments to track student growth and make data collection easy!
• Engaging games and activities: I include everything you need to run each session. Simply print each week before the students arrive and you are ready to go.
• Self Reflection Journal: Weekly journal reflections with writing prompts.

Benefiting Students:

Each week students will develop leadership skills as well as empathy and self-esteem.

At a minimum, being in the counseling group allows students to identify and share their feelings, develop important social skills through participation, and practice empathy while hearing others’ experiences.

Saving Time:

With easy-to-implement outlines and activities, this group curriculum is very low-prep. Simply print out each session before students arrive and keep them in a file folder.

The included self-assessments are a great way to get students to self-reflect on their progress and you can then share this information with teachers, and parents, or in your program report.

Who is this Group Designed For?

This leadership small group is designed for students in grades 6-8 but it can be modified to work with students across different grade levels.

When creating this group I had male students who are lacking father figures in mind, but many students from different backgrounds will benefit from this group.

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