Stand Your Ground: Managing Peer Pressure
How can we navigate peer pressure while staying true to ourselves and supporting others?
How to Use This Lesson
This is a Harmony Student Wellness lesson, a week-long, music-centered social-emotional learning lesson designed to be taught across multiple sessions, culminating in an arts-based project. This lesson can be taught in isolation or as part of the larger Harmony Student Wellness program. For more support on implementation, see the Implementation Guide on the program page.
Essential Question
How can we navigate peer pressure while staying true to ourselves and supporting others?
Objectives
Mastery Objective
- Students will be able to identify different types of peer pressure, apply effective response strategies, and support others facing peer pressure by creating and performing collaborative tableaux.
Day 1 - Students will:
- Listen to "Here" by Alessia Cara
- Define peer pressure and understand why adolescents are particularly susceptible to it
- Show what peer pressure looks like and feels like from the inside in their art journals
Day 2 - Students will:
- Listen to "Am I Wrong?" by Nico & Vinz
- Identify what peer pressure looks like
- Recognize where peer pressure occurs
Day 3 - Students will:
- Listen to "I Won't Back Down" by Tom Petty
- Identify four strategies for responding to peer pressure effectively
- Apply response strategies to realistic scenarios in their art journals
Day 4 - Students will:
- Listen to "Backup" by Ripe
- Recognize signs that someone needs help with peer pressure
- Demonstrate ways to support others facing peer pressure situations
Arts-Based Activity - Students will:
- Create tableaux that demonstrate understanding of what peer pressure looks like and how to respond
Background
In this lesson, students will explore peer pressure as a common experience and develop practical skills for navigating it confidently. Students will define peer pressure and understand why adolescents are particularly susceptible to it. They will identify what peer pressure looks like and practice four response strategies: knowing what’s right, using ready responses, changing the subject, and seeking support. The lesson extends beyond personal coping to include recognizing when others need help and learning concrete ways to support peers facing pressure. The lesson culminates in a collaborative tableau project where students synthesize their learning by creating and performing scenes that demonstrate effective responses to peer pressure situations.
Materials
Required for all lessons:
- Student Journals
- Art Supplies
Arts-Based Activity:
*optional