Training > Curriculum Summary
Owning Up™ is a 15-class curriculum that can be taught as one complete unit or selected according to the students’ needs and scheduling limitations of the school or organization.
The following is a list and description of Owning Up™ program classes for both boys and girls. Owning Up™ master educators are always available for technical assistance in designing an individual program:
Girls' Curriculum
Getting Started establishes guidelines between educators and students. The class surveys the students' preliminary knowledge of topics, introduces students to Owning Up™ and discusses the positive and negative aspects of friendships with girls.
Groups allows girls to examine how and why they exclude each other in different social settings. This class breaks down the social structure of a clique, the power of popularity, and how bystanders can take a more active role in confronting negative behavior.
Friendship is Not a Joke challenges girls to understand the difference between good natured teasing and using the appearance of joking as a way to disguise putting each other down. Through role-plays and discussions, the class examines why girls can have clost friendships where they can’t tell their friends what they truly feel about behavior taking place within the friendship or group of girls.
Knowing Your Culture demonstrates the connections between popular culture and the students’ behavior. Girls will learn how women and men are influenced through gender role stereotypes—from their choice of friends to material purchases of clothes, music, and “must have” gadgets. Students are asked to bring examples of their favorite music as a way to discuss these issues.
Knowing Your Image challenges students' preconceptions of beauty and explores models of femininity that affect girls’ feelings and decisions about self, friendships and intimate relationships. Students examine how the dominant paradigms of beauty impact girls of different races and ethnicities and are given skills to decrease the influence of cultural pressure on their sense of self-worth.
What’s Up With Guys identifies how ideals of masculinity impact boys’ behavior and how it impacts boys interactions with girls. Girls do interactive exercises that give them clear guidelines for improving their interactions with boys. The class also identifies the differences in communication styles between boys and girls and the role of socialization in creating these differences. Students learn the skills to achieve productive communication through role-plays and discussions.
Reputations & the Double Standard explores how students’ define “good” and “bad” reputations and how that in turn impacts the student’s group social hierarchy. The class will also discuss the incentives for of getting involved in gossip and the negative impacts of reputations and gossip on girls’ friendships.
Sexual Harassment defines and identifies the three main components of sexual harassment: visual, verbal, and physical. Students develop an understanding of differences between male and female perceptions of sexual harassment and learn to recognize and respect their own boundaries. The class creates a safe space in which students can speak up about sexual harassment and become familiar with the sexual harassment policy of the school.
Knowing When To Date And Dump reviews standards for friendships between girls and boys and sets standards and boundaries for dating. The class also highlights the program’s understanding of the culture’s impact on girls’ ability to communicate clearly with people they do or don’t want to date.
Consent and Rejection defines girls’ personal boundaries with intimates and teaches clear communication skills. This class explores situations that might make it difficult to say “no” and discusses how to confront these difficulties, including situations of date rape. The class also informs girls about the connection between alcohol and drugs and nonconsensual sex.
When Relationships Go Bad discusses abusive relationships and helps students recognize the signs of abuse. Students discuss the actions that can be taken to prevent and respond to abusive relationships and well as the issues and situations related to being a bystander to abuse. Students will learn to identify the personality traits of abusive people.
Getting Involved gives girls safety plans for themselves and others when facing an abusive relationship. Girls learn how to speak out safely when someone is experiencing abuse. They also learn strategies for safely bearing witness when others are targets for abuse and violence.
Support: Giving and Getting It helps girls identify and learn how to strengthen their support networks. The class expresses the necessity of support in relationships and friendships. Students discuss how support can best be offered, as well as how to receive support and advice.
The Power of Apologies teaches students to acknowledge wrongdoing—at their own hands or at the hands of others. The class helps students own up to mistakes they've made, own up to negative behavior like gossiping and being exclusive, and raises their awareness of when they have let someone down. Students recognize the power of apologies as a way of transforming relationships and communities.
Self-Acceptance creates an opportunity for students to identify and deconstruct negative messages about themselves. Girls will conceptualize their bodies and selves in positive terms and reflect on their strengths that they reviewed during the course. This class aims to help girls accept themselves for who they are, take responsibility for their actions and understand that they are their best protectors.
The Last Word is the final class of the Owning Up™ and addresses students’ questions and unresolved issues from previous class sessions. The teacher and the students will reflect on and discuss their experiences in the program and how to take the lessons from the program forward into the students’ futures.
Boys' Curriculum
Getting Started introduces students to the Owning Up™ program while setting the guidelines and tone for the course. It lays the foundation for understanding the impact of cultural expectations of masculinity on boys’ self identify, decision-making, and vulnerability to social cruelty, degradation, and violence.
Groups explore the idea of popularity in “Boy World” and defines the different roles that boys play in their social structures. The class introduces the connection between bullying, social cruelty and violence on cultural ideas of power and masculinity.
Friendship is Not a Joke challenges boys to understand the difference between good natured teasing and using the appearance of joking as a way to disguise putting each other down. Through role-plays and discussions, the class examines situations that cause young men to have friendships where they aren’t treating each other with dignity and creates a dynamic within the friendship where boys can’t tell their friends what they truly feel about behavior taking place within the friendship or group of boys.
Knowing Your Culture demonstrates the connections between popular culture and the students’ behavior. Boys will learn how women and men are influenced through gender role stereotypes—from their choice of friends to material purchases of clothes, music, and “must have” gadgets. Students are asked to being examples of their favorite music as a way to discuss these issues.
Knowing Your Image explores the definitions and expectations of masculinity. This class includes showing videos clip that leads to a discussion about influence of the media on the students’ individual and group behavior.
What’s Up with Girls identifies how ideals of femininity impact girls’ behavior and how it impacts girls interactions with boys. Boys will do interactive exercises that will give them clear guidelines for improving their interactions with girls. The class also identifies the differences in communication styles between boys and girls and the role of socialization in creating these differences. Students learn the skills to achieve respectful communication through role-plays and discussions.
Reputations & the Double Standard explores how boys and girls get good and bad reputations and the differences between the different implications of these reputations for boys and girls. This also looks at how the desire to change or maintain one’s reputation can control boys’ actions.
Sexual Harassment defines and identifies the three main components of sexual harassment: verbal, physical and visual. Students develop an understanding of differences between male and female perceptions of sexual harassment and learn to recognize and respect their own boundaries. The class creates a safe space in which students can speak up about sexual harassment and become familiar with the sexual harassment policy of the school.
Knowing When to Date and Dump reviews standards for friendships between girls and boys and sets standards and boundaries for dating. The class also highlights the program’s essential understanding of the culture’s impact on boys’ ability to communicate clearly with people they do or don’t want to date.
Consent and Rejection continues the previous two classes by establishing students’ boundaries with intimates and clarifies what motivates both boys and girls in sexual situations. The class challenges students' assumptions about when they can say "no" to physical intimacy (i.e. that the culture teaches boys to be sexually aggressive and welcome all sexual attention to affirm their masculinity and girls to believe there is a point where they lose the right to say no).
When Relationships Go Bad discusses abusive relationships, the cycle of violence and the dynamics of these situations that prevent someone from getting help. The class will teach students how to detect signs of abusive relationships and will place emphasis on distinguishing between healthy and abusive intimate relationships. The class looks to boys as key advocates and allies with both boys and girls in stopping their peers’ experience with abusive relationships.
Getting Involved reviews the concepts of abusive relationships and discusses the actions that can be taken to prevent and intervene in abusive relationships. Students discuss the issues and situations related to being a bystander to abusive relationships and rape and learn skills for creating safety plans for themselves and others.
Support: Giving and Getting It focuses on students’ support networks. Students will create a “web of support.” The class will generate discussion about giving and getting good advice and will teach students about good listening and advising.
Power of Apologies explore the connection between masculinity and difficulty in apologizing and forgiveness from the basketball court to intimate relationships. The class will teach students to realize the importance of apologizing by acting out scenarios and discussing them. The class will help students realize that apologizing is a sign of strength of character and not one of weakness.
Self-Acceptance creates an opportunity for students to reflect on their values, personal behavior and standards for themselves, friends, and intimates. This class provides time where the students can end the course sharing their thoughts and feelings.
The Last Word is the final class of the Owning Up™ and addresses students’ questions and unresolved issues from previous class sessions. The teacher and the students will reflect on and discuss their experiences in the program and how to take the lessons from the program forward into the students’ futures.