1. Level: Grade 8 to Adult
Skill Area: Interpersonal Communication
Time: 20-40 minutes
Up Close and Personal:
National Health Education Standards
-Students will demonstrate the ability to use interpersonal communication skills to enhance health.
Ready (Objective)
1. Integrate affective (emotional) and cognitive (informational) domains.
2. Communicate personal opinions, feelings, and values related to sexual health
Set (Materials)
“Up Close and Personal” sheet with 8 to 10 sentence stems
-Small lamp (Optional)
Up Close and Personal provides the opportunity for students to talk while others actively listen. They
develop the ability to clarify their feelings and develop a heightened self-awareness.
By sharing their thoughts in a safe environment, without the threat of being “wrong,” students can
learn skills that will enable them to become responsible for their own health and behavior.
Go (Procedure)
Students will form a circle with their chairs. Turn off overhead lights and turn on the lamp to make the
environment more conducive to informal discussion. Introduce the activity in the following manner:
“Today we are going to do an activity called Up Close and Personal. It is very simple to do, but in order for it
to go smoothly, there are some rules that will be strictly enforced.”
1. This is not group therapy! It is just an opportunity for you to talk about how you feel about yourself,
relationships, likes, dislikes, things that have come up in class, memories, and just life in general.
2. I will read an unfinished sentence. You will think about how you would finish the sentence.
3. Someone on the circle will raise their hand and start us off by saying how they would complete the
sentence. That person will then determine which way around the circle we will go by pointing to their left or
right.
4. When going around the circle there is absolutely no talking by anyone else. If something is said that you
want to respond to or comment on, you must wait until we have gone all the way around the circle. If you
cannot think of anything to say or choose not to respond, you may simply say “PASS” when it comes around
to you.
5. No personal names should be used at any time during the activity. “I know someone who...............” is a
better alternative.
6. Confidentiality. What is said here stays here. Do not share anything that is too personal or that makes you
uncomfortable.
7. When we have gone around the entire circle, the teacher will ask those who “PASSED” if they would like to
respond at this time. Then the teacher will ask:
“Any questions or comments about anything that was said when we were going around the circle?”
At this point there can be open discussion. If no one has a question or comment, the facilitator should try to
get some discussion going by asking some questions or commenting on something that was said. Stay on that
topic for as long as it is viable, and then move on to the next unfinished sentence.
Closure

2. All Up Close and Personal sessions should end with some brief closure in the form of another unfinished
sentence. Examples would be “Today I leaned………..”, “I learned that I……”, “Right now I feel…..”,
“Something I want to say to one of my classmates is…..”, etc.
Thank the class for following the rules and sharing their thoughts and say:
“That ends our Up Close and Personal session for today.”
Suggestions for Facilitating an UCP session
-Facilitation is a skill and you will get better with practice
-Silence is not always a bad thing. Often, it indicates that higher level thinking is taking place
-Going over ground rules at the beginning of each session is a helpful preventive technique
-Unacceptable behavior should be stopped the moment it is recognized. Stop and point out the offense to the
individual, i.e.
“That’s a put down/personal name and that’s not allowed in the circle discussion. Please don’t do that again.”
or
“Please don’t talk to your neighbor when you should be listening to the one person who is supposed to be
talking.”
If a student persists in breaking the rules, talk to them one-to-one after class. Let them know that if it
continues, they may not be able to participate in the future. This almost always stops the offensive behavior
-Remind students that there are three things that teachers must report if shared:
1. If they are going to hurt themselves
2. If they are going to hurt others
3. If they are being abused
Possible UCP sentence stems for discussion human sexuality
1. Sex is…………
2. One embarrassing thing about puberty is…………
3. When girls talk to each other, they……………………..
4. When guys talk to each other, they…………………….
5. I don’t understand when/why girls…………………………….
6. I don’t understand when/why guys…………………………
7. If I found out that one of my friends was gay…………
8. Abstinence is…………………….
9. When I hear the word “AIDS”………..
10. If I got pregnant or got someone pregnant……………..
11. Someone is ready to have sex when……
12. One advantage of being a girl is………………………
13. One advantage of being a guy is…………………….
14. One thing I learned today is………………………..
*Note to teacher
The best way to utilize this activity is to devise questions that have some tie-in to the subject areas that you are
presently teaching. It is also helpful to begin with some form of “feelings” statement at the beginning (“Right
now I feel....) and a learning statement at the end (“Today I learned / found out that....................”).
Occasionally, something will strike a nerve and emotions will start to flow (anger, fear, sadness, strong
disagreements, hysterical laughing, etc.). This is where the facilitator’s skill at reinforcing rules and guiding
discussion is most important.
Dom Splendorio
President at Prime Time Health Consulting
Greater New York City Area