Inside Out 2 for Middle Schoolers
Social-emotional skills, the Arts, and ELA
Okay, I LOVE this movie!
I loved it when I watched it with my best friend, and I love it for middle schoolers.
This blend of story, the arts and social-emotional skills is absolute perfection in the classroom. Thank you, Disney!
Just before the end of the school year, my teammates and I took 225 seventh graders to the movies. We walked to our local theatre, got our popcorn and enjoyed the show. There were a LOT of us: we filled two theatres!
I didn’t plan this field trip myself, so please consider this a BIG shout-out to the teacher who organized the day. What started as a plan for a “fun” field trip as we closed the school year led to huge learning in our classrooms.
A quick synopsis:
In case you somehow missed it, Inside Out and Inside Out 2 follow a middle school student named Riley. In the first film, Riley moves to San Francisco with her family. We see her navigate the big change through the eyes of her personified emotions: Joy, Anger, Disgust, Fear and Sadness, which live in the “control room” of her brain.
The second film begins with the arrival of puberty: Anxiety, Ennui, Envy and Embarrassment join the ensemble as Riley takes on new challenges.
As someone who’s worked with thousands of middle schoolers, I laughed constantly throughout the first half of the film. The writers did an absolutely beautiful (and hilarious) job of illustrating the challenges and characteristics of kids this age, from their half-way-charged cellphones to their awkward attempts to fit in and move through life in their ever-changing bodies.
If you know anything at all about brain science, you’ll also enjoy metaphors like the absolute destruction of the control room at the onset of puberty.
As the story progresses, Anxiety replaces Joy at center stage and leads Riley through shifting friendships and fears while she’s at hockey camp. During the climax of the film, Riley experiences a panic attack that’s poignantly illustrated and impressively accurate.
Disney got this one right. Anxiety and the panic attack she causes are impressively relatable.
Because I saw the movie ahead of my students, I was able to prep the few students I thought might need a heads-up about the panic attack they were about to see. My colleagues and I also followed the movie with lessons on brain science, mental health and mindfulness. These were among the most powerful lessons I taught all year, and opened beautiful and honest conversations with my students.
My only complaint is that we saw Inside Out 2 so late in the year that we couldn’t revisit it throughout the year!
My team and I have been talking about showing Inside Out 2 to our new students in the fall, or taking them on the same field trip if the movie is still playing. Ideally, I’d like to do this in October, after we’ve begun to build some trust with our students.
I’m excited about the possibility of building a larger ELA unit around the film. There are so many opportunities for learning here!
Follow-Up & Reflection:
I think any good learning opportunity includes an opportunity to debrief and reflect, and seeing Inside Out 2 was no exception. I had three main goals for our first lesson after the film:
Get a sense of students’ current understanding of the film and the many topics it covered.
Give kids the chance to reflect privately.
Create an opportunity for guided and meaningful conversation that might shift kids’ thinking and decrease stigma and fear within our school community.
To achieve these goals, I asked questions and provided prompts verbally, and my students wrote their initial responses on paper. Then, after setting some clear boundaries, we talked through the questions together to clear up any misunderstandings and extend our thinking.
To be clear, I did not formally assess or “mark” my students’ reflections, but I did collect them to gain insight into their level of understanding and provide a space for kids to ask questions or seek supports confidentially. I read the reflections before the end of the school day just in case any of my students needed help right away.
Here are the questions I asked, and some notes about the conversation that followed:
Consider the whole movie. What did you relate to? List at least 3 things that felt familiar or that you’ve experienced yourself.
Popular answers included playing hockey or another sport, the stress of trying out for a team, friendships and friendship trouble, waking up feeling completely miserable, struggling with homework, feeling badly after snapping at parents, and coping with big changes like losing friends or going to a new school. A few students also related to Riley’s experiences with self-doubt and anxiety, had had a panic attack themselves, or had witnessed one. When it came up in conversation, most students agreed that the thought “I’m not good enough” is one they’ve experienced themselves.
How did you feel as you watched Riley’s panic attack? Specifically, I want to know what emotions you felt if you can name them, AND I want to know how your physical body felt. Did you feel your muscles tense? Did you laugh unexpectedly, which can indicate that you were uncomfortable with what you were seeing? There are no wrong answers here; we’re just noticing.
This time we had a huge range of answers. Here are a few examples:
“I felt my ears hurt because the scene was loud.”
“I got goosebumps.”
“I felt my stomach tighten.”
“I felt bad for Riley because I know what that feels like.”
“I felt mad because Riley’s coach and friends took so long to get to her.” *A note: remember, speaking to Riley too soon probably wouldn’t have helped her. Her friends actually checked on her at the best time, just as she began to recover.
Does the presence of anxiety in Riley indicate mental illness?
Many students said a strong and absolute “YES” here, which is incorrect. Everyone feels anxious sometimes, and some stress is actually helpful! This is a great time to talk about eustress, or normal stress, which is often considered beneficial.
That being said, when anxiety or any other big emotion takes over and gets in the way of our usual way of life we may need to consider supports for mental illness. Riley’s panic attack definitely indicates increases in her anxiety and decreases in her ability to cope, and it would be wise of her to talk to a trusted adult and seek supports, especially if it continues. But it is not a guarantee that she has a diagnosable anxiety disorder.
Encourage students to talk with a trusted adult if they’re concerned about their own mental health or the mental health of a peer.Were there any strategies you saw Riley use to help herself feel better during the panic attack or throughout the film? Are there any strategies you know about that might have been helpful for Riley if she had known to use them?
As she recovers, Riley notices the sunlight on her shoes, feels the bench beneath her with her hands, and begins to breathe more normally. She might also benefit from a sensory activity (list 3 things you see, 3 things you hear, 3 things you smell, etc.).
Taking a sip from her water bottle might also help her to regulate once she has begun to recover, as it’s impossible to be in a state of flight/fight while swallowing.
My students were able to identify many of these strategies, but very few knew about the sip of water trickWhat did Riley’s friends do that was helpful? Are there other strategies you know about that might be helpful for us to know if our own friends experience this?
While we’re in full flight/fight mode, like during a panic attack, our prefrontal cortex is offline. We don’t have access to language or logic, or many other key processes. Therefore, trying to talk Riley through her panic attack wouldn’t be helpful.
Just sitting beside someone and letting them know you’re there can be a huge gift during a panic attack. The occasional reminder of “You’re safe,” “I’m here,” or “You’re okay,” is more than enough speaking until the panic begins to subside.
Other strategies like noticing our breath, using our senses to help us be present, making eye contact and taking a sip of water can be helpful as someone begins to recover. Students should also be encouraged to seek the support of a parent, teacher, coach or other trusted adult in situations like this.
My students were noticeably less confident when asked how they might help a peer experiencing a panic attack, and were very engaged in learning how to help their peers.
Wrapping Up:
To conclude the lesson, I provided students with a couple of minutes to make at least 3 changes or additions to their responses. Then I asked one final question and collected their papers.
My closing question: Is there anything you would like to share or ask?
I asked everyone to write something, and suggested that if they didn’t have anything to add, they could write, “Thanks for the lesson and the talk.” That way, students who wanted to write more wouldn’t feel like they were being watched.
**It’s SO important to read students’ reflections as soon as possible. If anyone asks for help or shares that they’re struggling, address it immediately.
When I did this lesson, I had several good questions that I saved for the following day. I also had one student who shared they were having a hard time. I spoke to them myself, referred them to our school counsellor, continued to follow up with them myself each day throughout the final week of school, and contacted parents as well.
Finally, I always share our local number to the Kids Help Phone during mental health conversations and before long breaks from school. Kids should know that they can access help on their own if they need it.
Possible ELA connections for the fall:
As I mentioned, I’d love to expand this work with my new students in the fall. I think my team is on board, and I’m already brainstorming. Here are a few of the ideas that I have in mind:
Review of story elements: character one-pagers, adventure maps for plot, cause and effect charts to connect setting to plot, review of theme and discussion of common themes that are present in the film
Reading strategies: making connections (text-to-self, text-to-text, text-to-world); drawing inferences about characters’ personalities, feelings and motivation
Discussion of metaphor and opportunity to create their own metaphors
Illustrations of students’ own emotions, in the style of Disney’s animation
Introduction of social-emotional vocabulary and identification of emotions that are related to, but not the same as, the emotions that are personified in the film. This could include the creation of a new character for Riley’s control room: schadenfreude, maybe? Curiosity? Cynicism? This activity would provide beautiful opportunities for differentiation, and could easily be connected to any other text you might share with students.
Interested in joining me as I try this work with students? Email me to let me know which of these activities you’re most interested in, or to make suggestions. Maybe I’ll share it with you when it’s ready!
Like what you see here? I post every other week, so stay tuned for more! In the meantime, please check out the free guides to teaching Art and integrating the Arts & SEL into core subjects! You can find them here.
