Let’s Talk Respect — Classroom Curriculum (Grades 9–12)

A full year of classroom follow-up to the “Let’s Talk Respect” assembly, built for high school. Eight lessons, one a month, each one scripted so a teacher can run it cold.

What each lesson contains

• What they heard — the exact language and demonstrations from the assembly, so you can reference them accurately.
• Discussion questions — seven or eight, in the order that works.
• The activity — one interactive thing, 15–20 minutes, no technology and almost no prep.
• The assignment — something real to do independently.
• Teacher notes — what tends to go sideways and how to handle it.

How to use it

One lesson a month keeps the assembly alive for a full school year, which is the whole point — a single assembly fades in about a week. Run them in order the first year; Lessons 1–5 build the thinking that 6–8 depend on.

Each lesson runs 30–40 minutes and fits an advisory period, a health class, or an English or social studies block.

Three things to know before you start

1. This version is not the middle school one. There is no breathing exercise in the high school assembly — no counted breaths, no three-box calm-down plan, no straitjacket. If you also teach the younger grades, don’t import those; students notice, and “that’s not what he said” costs you the room. What the high school talk has instead is the argument that your attitude is a choice, and the sequence put it down, calm down, then talk face to face.

2. The opening was a setup. Robert is deliberately short with the room early on, about phones and earbuds. Around thirty minutes later he tells them it was on purpose and asks what it did — they withdrew. That is the rope demonstration, run live on your students. It’s the centrepiece of Lesson 5 and worth knowing before a student brings it up.

3. He does not run an anti-bullying unit for most of the hour. The majority of the assembly is about judgment, emotion, communication and disagreement. Bullying arrives late and is explicitly separated from everything before it: “all of this stuff is emotions and how we interact — that’s not bullying.” Lesson 7 is where that line gets drawn. Do not let this unit become a hunt for the bad kid.

The idea the assembly turns on

Robert tells students the Rule of Shoe is what he gives younger kids, and that it falls short with teenagers — because “would you want that said to you?” gets answered honestly with “I don’t care.” So he replaces it. A volunteer writes the name of one person she would protect; it comes back alone, in a sealed case. Her answer was “my dad.”

Everybody is that person to someone.
Treat others as you would want that person treated.

Robert Hackenson Jr., MBA, CAOL · Dynamic Influence · dynamicinfluence.com