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Lesson plan · Grades 9-12 · 50 minutes

Mind Map

I can describe the mental health continuum and common conditions, correct myths that feed stigma, and practice helping a friend connect to support.

▶ Open the tool Download the tool
Standard
NHES.S1 NHES-2024
NHES.S8 NHES-2024
Shape
Explore first
Grouping
Whole class, then pairs on devices.
You need
The tool on the projector and on student devices. The names of your school counselor and nurse on the board. The crisis lines: 988 (call or text), text HOME to 741741, and 911 in an emergency.
Tool
curioclass.org/tools/mind-map/
  1. Hook5 min
  2. Explore15 min
  3. Make sense8 min
  4. Apply17 min
  5. Exit check5 min

Before class

  • Preview the whole tool. It covers depression, eating disorders, trauma and suicide.
  • Decide whether to use the second practice conversation ("Sam sends a goodbye"), which talks about suicide.
  • Tell your counselor about the lesson, and tell students the day before what's coming and who they can talk to.
  • Check the crisis lines again if you print them.

Hook 5 min

  1. Point out the Get help now button and the names on the board. "Anyone can step out today if they need to."
  2. "Your body has a health continuum, from fit to sick. Does your mind? Today we find out."

Explore 15 min

  1. On the projector, open The map and start with Everyday stress in the middle.
  2. Tap the zones on the continuum: thriving, coping, struggling and unwell. "Can someone with a diagnosis be thriving? Can someone without one be struggling?" (Yes to both.)
  3. Pairs pick two conditions and read the cards: what it is, what it can look like, what it is not, and what helps.
  4. Play Myth or fact as a class vote, reading the evidence after each one.

Make sense 8 min

  1. "Which myth surprised you? Where do you think it comes from?"
  2. Read the last Myth or fact screen together: how myths feed stigma.
  3. "What makes it hard for teens to ask for help? What would make it easier?"

Apply 17 min

  1. Pairs open Help a friend and work through "Jordan has been quiet." Each choice gets feedback; only the most helpful reply moves on. Name the steps: notice, ask, listen, connect.
  2. If you are using it, do "Sam sends a goodbye" together as a class. "Why was asking directly the best reply?" Highlight refusing to keep the secret and calling 988 together.
  3. Pairs open Stress bucket. Add stressors, then open taps. Notice what clogs the taps. Try the box-breathing guide together.

Exit check 5 min

On a private card: "Name two taps you could open this week. Name one adult at school you could connect a friend to." Collect the cards, and follow up privately with anything that worries you.

Support and stretch

  • Support: focus on Everyday stress and one condition, and the four helping steps.
  • Support: let students read silently first, then talk.
  • Stretch: compare two conditions' "what it is not" sections. Why does that section matter?
  • Stretch: design a poster for the school that corrects one myth, with its source.

Short on time

  • The continuum in The map (7 min).
  • Help a friend with Jordan (8 min), then the exit card (4 min).

How each button works is in the teacher notes. From Curio Class, free under CC BY 4.0: change it, print it, share it.