Module One: Coping Power Lesson Overviews
Lesson Overview
Lesson Goal:
Students will learn to identify problems and generate solutions using the PICC Model.
Lesson Objectives:
Students will identify and explain the steps of the PICC model for social problem-solving.
Students will practice problem identification in situations where there may be opposing goals or perspectives.
Students will ask themselves questions about others’ perspectives when solving peer disagreements.
Students will describe possible actions and the positive and negative consequences of those actions when resolving conflicts.
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Welcome back to the third installment of our Coping Power Classroom video series! As a quick reminder, in the last two lessons, your students learned about recognizing emotions and their intensity, and then they started to practice perspective taking by recognizing the thoughts and feelings of their classmates and those around them.
Now that students can recognize the different sides or perspectives in a conflict, they’re learning about a new method for identifying problems, breaking down problems into easily identifiable parts, and developing healthy, effective solutions. To do this, they’ll use something called the PICC model. PICC stands for problem identification, choices, and consequences.
The first step, problem identification, involves breaking down a problem or conflict into small, solvable steps. Students are encouraged to use a set list of questions to do this. If you’re familiar with the antecedent-behavior-consequences model, these questions will look really familiar to you. If not, no worries! We’ve broken the steps down in the remainder of this video, just like your students are learning it.
Students will be asking themselves: When does the problem occur? What are some of the specific difficulties I’m encountering? How often is this problem happening? When is this happening? Is something always happening right before the problem, that could be causing the problem? What is and what is not affected by the problem?
By asking themselves these questions, students will begin thinking about their emotional intensity, the emotional intensity of those around them, and the overall situation surrounding the problem.
Once students understand what the problem is, they can brainstorm all of the different choices they might have as reactions to the problem. They should think about all of their possible options without thinking of certain choices as good or bad. For example, if someone is teasing them on the bus, they could 1) ask that child to stop, 2) sit somewhere else, 3) tell the bus driver, or 4) slap the child who is teasing them. These are just choices. It doesn’t mean they can or should do all of the ideas they’ve listed.
Once they’ve brainstormed all their ideas, they’ll evaluate which choices might actually be healthy and effective, and lead to the best possible outcome for everyone involved. In this example, they might recognize that slapping another child will get them in trouble, so they’ll decide that’s not their best option. Meanwhile, moving seats could stop the teasing and lead to them making a new friend, or telling the bus driver might also stop the teasing.
Once your students have thought through the different consequences of their choices, they’re ready to make a safe and healthy decision!
This week, we encourage you to focus on finding times when you can help your students apply the PICC model, both in their own lives and in stories and the experiences of others. For example, maybe you had a challenging experience recently that you are comfortable sharing with the class. You might ask your students to help you PICC apart your own challenging situation. Or, you could ask students to PICC apart a situation between two characters in a book that they’re reading.
If students are facing a conflict or challenge in a class, at lunch, on the playground, etc., you could also guide them through the PICC model for their own situation, so that they can better process the problem and make a decision.
We hope you and your students will enjoy this new strategy for effective problem solving! See you next week.
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Academic Extensions of Lesson Content
Looking for ways to include this week’s Coping Power content in your classroom lessons? Check out our suggestions below:
Math
Incorporate the PICC model into word problem solving. As students solve word problems, have them fill out the PICC model. For example, underline the “problem” that they are finding an answer for. Then identify various ways to solve the problem using math strategies. Students will then identify the best strategy to solve the problem using the “consequences” section of the model to describe the advantages and disadvantages of each potential strategy.
English/ Language Arts
As students read independently, or during guided class reading, ask them to identify a conflict in the text. Students will practice completing the PICC model for their chosen conflict. This could be verbally as a whole class, individually on paper, or in small groups. Students will either discuss or write answers to the following questions as they work through the PICC model for the conflict they are dissecting from the text:
Problem Identification: What is the conflict? What events and actions led up to this conflict? What are the perspectives of the individuals involved in the conflict?
Choices: What choices do the characters in the text have to react to this conflict? If you were in the characters’ shoes, what choices might you make?
Consequences: What are the negative and positive consequences of the choices you thought of? What choice do the characters in the text make to approach the conflict? Would you have made the same choice or a different one? Why?
Social Studies
Deepen students’ understanding of historical events by inviting students to practice perspective taking through the lens of problem solving via the PICC model.
4th grade: In conjunction with lessons on the American Revolution, facilitate an activity designed to help students think more deeply about the American Revolution. Separate the class into two groups. One group will take the perspective of the king of England in the years leading up to the war, and the other will take the perspective of a prominent colonist (e.g., Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson). Either through discussion, a graphic organizer with a fill in the blank version of the PICC model (the one used in Coping Power), or on whiteboards/looseleaf, have students work through the PICC model according to their assigned perspective, answering questions like:
What is the conflict?
What events led to this conflict?
Who is involved and affected by the conflict? What might they be thinking and feeling?
What are the choices that could be made to approach this conflict?
What actions and choices were made to approach this conflict in history?
What are the positive and negative consequences of these actions?
5th grade: Incorporate the PICC model and perspective taking into lessons on historical social issues (Women’s suffrage, segregation/post Civil war/Jim Crow laws). With the context of the chosen historical conflict in mind, ask students to reflect on the following questions individually, in small groups, or as a class, following the framework of the PICC model.
What is the conflict?
What events led to this conflict?
Who is involved and affected by the conflict? What might they be thinking and feeling?
What are the choices that could be made to approach this conflict?
What actions and choices were made to approach this conflict in history?
What are the positive and negative consequences of these actions?
Science
Deepening understanding of the purpose of the scientific method using the PICC model: After students have been introduced to the scientific method, extend their thinking by discussing the similarities and differences between the scientific method and the PICC model. For example, both the PICC model and scientific method involve identifying a problem. Once students discuss some similarities and differences, ask students to reflect on ways that becoming comfortable with the PICC model and identifying multiple pathways to a solution will help them become better scientists.