Suggested Grade/Age Range: Grades 7-8

Activity Objective: The objective of this activity is to explore a series of behaviours on a continuum of harassment and encourage discussion about what qualifies as harassment.

Materials Required:

'Is This Harassment?’ chart - one for each pair

Prep Time: 10 minutes

• Photocopy ‘Is This Harassment?’ chart
• Draw a copy of the ‘Is This Harassment?’ chart on the board to take up with the whole class

Task Time: 40 minutes

Activity Description:

1.       Tell the class that in pairs, they will look at a series of behaviours and decide whether or not each behaviour qualifies as harassment. They are to discuss this in their pairs and then join a whole class discussion

2.       After getting into pairs and given the ‘Is This Harassment?’ chart, the partners are to go through the behaviours one by one and check off if they think the behaviour qualifies as harassment ‘always’, ‘never’, or ‘sometimes’ and then to provide reasoning for what could make the behaviour harassment

3.       Give the pairs about 10-15 minutes to do this and then gather the whole class to take up the chart on the board

4.       Go through each behaviour in the chart on the board and invite individuals to provide their feedback for each one. In the rightmost column around  what would make the behaviour harassment, prompt the class (as needed) with questions around:

• What is the tone of voice like?
• Where does the situation happen?
• Is a threat implied?
• Who has the power in the situation?

 5. After taking up all the whole chart, it is likely that most of the behaviours end up in the “sometimes” category. Acknowledge that harassment is on a continuum and depending on the context, some people may find certain behaviours harassing while others may not. It always comes back to how safe or comfortable individuals feel in the situation - that comes first. We need to listen to our intuition and our gut and get help when we do not feel safe or comfortable with a situation or behaviour directed towards us. As for the individual initiating the behaviour, it is important to consider the impact the behaviour would have on the other person and whether or not consent is needed in a situation - even if a behaviour was not meant to be harassment, it may still turn out to be so. We have to be aware of the choices we make and the impact it can have on another

Activity Extensions:

Have small groups create skits for the scenarios and act them out. They can act out different versions to demonstrate how harassment is on a continuum and then have the individual who initiates the behaviour as well as the individual receiving the behaviour speak to how they felt during the scenario

Additional Comments:

Additional Resources:

Refer back to the module discussion questions for the definition of harassment and assault as well as some of the legal implications for youth