LEARNING OBJECTIVES

Define consent and understand its five main characteristics; understand why consent is important; be able to identify what consent is and isn’t in a range of common scenarios.

HEALTH ED STANDARDS

NHES 4: Use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health.

CASEL: Relationship skills, decision-making skills

KEY VOCAB

intimacy

boundaries

Lesson Plan: A User’s Guide to Consent

Here are five things to know about this important part of any relationship.

PREPARING TO READ

Before you read the article “A User’s Guide to Consent,” ask your students the following pre-reading questions:

What is consent, and why is it important in relationships?

READING AND DISCUSSION

  • Have your students read the article “A User’s Guide to Consent”; read the article out loud to them; or have students partner-read the article out loud.
  • After they’ve read the article, revisit the pre-reading questions. Have their answers changed?

BUILDING COMPREHENSION

Check students’ comprehension of and engagement with the story with the following assessment tools:

  • Comprehension Quiz with vocabulary questions

EXPANDING SEL OPPORTUNITIES

Continue the learning journey with the following extension activity:

In IS IT CONSENT? elicit class feedback to create a list of common scenarios involving consent in friendships and other relationships. Some examples of these could be “holding hands,” “posting apicture you took of someone on social media,” or “inviting someone to the movies.” Have students work in small groups to role-play giving (or refusing to give) consent in those scenarios. Encourage them to use verbal cues for this as well as body language. At the end of each role-play, have the class discuss whether consent was given or not. Spark discussion by asking the class to think about how someone should respond when consent is not given to them or how they can check in with a person who seems uncomfortable.

Print the Lesson Plan

Text-to-Speech