6 classroom activities for building healthier mindsets in boys

Why healthier masculinity belongs in your classroom

What does it mean to “be a man” in today’s world? For many teenage boys, the answer is still shaped by outdated expectations: don’t cry, don’t back down, don’t show weakness. These messages show up in locker rooms, on social media, and in the media students consume every day, and they take a toll. According to the American Psychological Association’s 2018 Guidelines for Psychological Practice with Boys and Men, traditional masculinity ideology is linked to higher rates of aggression, substance use, and reluctance to seek help for mental health concerns.

Here’s the thing: most boys aren’t getting the space to question these norms in a structured, supportive setting. Health class touches on emotions, and English Language Arts (ELA) might explore identity through literature, but how often do we give students the tools to examine masculinity itself? That’s where these activities come in.

The six activities below are designed for middle and high school classrooms and draw on ClickView’s Healthy Mindsets for Teenage Boys Topic resources. They’re organized around the four pillars of masculinity explored in the series: constant effort, emotional restriction, heterosexism, and teasing, plus broader themes of growth mindset and positive role models. Whether you teach health, social studies, ELA, or advisory, there’s something here you can use.

6 classroom activities for exploring masculinity and building healthier mindsets

1) Unpack the “man up” mindset

Before students can challenge unhealthy norms, they need to see them clearly. This activity uses the short film Man Up from ClickView’s Healthy Mindsets for Teenage Boys series as a starting point for examining what masculinity means to them — and where those ideas come from.

• Screen Man Up, which introduces four pillars of masculinity and asks what it means to be a young man in the United States today
• Before pressing play, have each student write down three words they associate with the phrase “be a man.” Collect these anonymously on sticky notes or a shared digital board
• After the video, reveal the class responses. Look for patterns together: Are most of the words about toughness, strength, or control? Are emotions like kindness, vulnerability, or creativity on the board?
• Facilitate a discussion using these prompts:
  • Where do these ideas about masculinity come from: family, friends, media, sports?
  • Which of these expectations feels helpful, and which feels like pressure?
  • How might these expectations affect someone who doesn’t fit the mold?
• Close by having students write a short reflection: “What’s one expectation of masculinity you’d like to keep, and one you’d like to let go of?”

Why it works: Starting with students’ own assumptions creates instant buy-in. They’re not being told what to think — they’re examining what they already believe.

For further context on why adolescence is such a critical window for this kind of self-reflection, follow up with Why You Need to Have a Proper Adolescence from The School of Life series. It makes a compelling case that adolescence is a time to explore who you are outside of the expectations others place on you.

2) Challenge the tough guy act

Constant effort: the pressure to always be tough, in control, strong, and right, is one of the most pervasive pillars of traditional masculinity. It’s also one of the hardest for teenage boys to recognize in themselves, because it’s so deeply woven into how they’re socialized. This activity brings that pressure into the open.

• Screen Tough Guy Act, which explores the constant effort pillar through dramatization and interviews with young people navigating the pressure to always appear strong
• After the video, divide students into small groups and give each group a scenario card. Examples:
  • “I’m fine” — A student is struggling with a difficult class but won’t ask for help because they don’t want to look weak in front of friends
  • “Walk it off” — A player gets hurt during practice but refuses to sit out because they think the team is counting on them
  • “Figure it out” — A student is overwhelmed by a family situation but tells everyone they’ve got it handled
• Each group discusses: What’s the “tough guy” response in this scenario? What might a healthier response look like? What’s stopping the person from choosing the healthier option?
• Groups share their analysis with the class, then open up for a broader discussion: Is there a difference between being strong and pretending nothing bothers you?

Cross-curricular tie-in: In an ELA class, pair this activity with a character study. Have students identify a character in a novel or film who performs “toughness” at a cost. What would have changed if that character had asked for help?

3) Build emotional literacy through video and reflection

If constant effort is about suppressing struggle, emotional restriction is about suppressing feeling. Many boys grow up hearing variations of “suck it up,” “don’t be soft,” or “boys don’t cry” — and over time, those messages shrink the range of emotions they feel comfortable expressing. This activity helps students name what they’re feeling and recognize the cost of bottling it up.

• Begin with Suck It Up, which follows young men as they navigate the pressure to hide fear, sadness, worry, and even joy
• After the video, display a feelings wheel or emotion vocabulary chart (easily available online or created beforehand). Ask students: How many of these emotions do you express openly? How many do you keep to yourself? Are there emotions that feel “off-limits” for boys?
• Then screen Developing Emotional Intelligence from the What You Need to Succeed series, which introduces the concept of emotional intelligence as a predictor of success and satisfaction in life
• After the second video, give students a private journal prompt (not collected or shared unless they choose to): “Think of a time you held back an emotion because you thought you weren’t supposed to show it. What happened? How did it affect you?”
• Close with a class discussion: What changes when we give ourselves permission to feel the full range of human emotions?

Tip: This is a topic where trust matters. If your classroom culture doesn’t yet support vulnerable conversation, start with the vocabulary work and video discussion, and let the journaling stay private. You’re planting seeds — they don’t all need to bloom in a single class period.

For a deeper exploration of emotions and emotional well-being, explore ClickView’s Emotions topic page, which brings together additional resources for follow-up lessons.

4) Redefine “masculine” and “feminine”

Heterosexism, in the context of masculinity norms, is the idea that to be considered masculine, a person must avoid behaviors and attitudes thought of as being “feminine.” It’s why some boys won’t join choir, take a cooking class, or comfort a friend — because doing so might invite ridicule. This activity challenges students to question who decided which traits belong to which gender, and why.

• Screen Don’t Be Such a Girl , which explores this pillar through dramatization and real interviews with young people
• After the video, create a two-column chart on the board labeled “Masculine traits” and “Feminine traits.” Ask students to call out traits they’ve heard associated with each category. Fill the board without commentary first
• Then ask the class: Are any of these traits actually exclusive to one gender? What happens when we treat them as if they are? Who benefits from these categories, and who gets hurt?
• For a hands-on extension, have students work in pairs to create a “trait mashup”, a short profile of a fictional character who embodies traits from both columns. What does this person’s life look like? What challenges might they face? What strengths do they have?
• Debrief together: Did anyone find it hard to combine traits from both columns? Why might that be?

Why it works: The two-column exercise makes invisible assumptions visible. Students often realize mid-activity that qualities like “caring” or “brave” don’t actually belong to one gender and that the categories themselves are the problem.

5) Draw the line between teasing and bullying

Teasing is perhaps the most common pillar of masculinity norms. It’s often described as “just how guys are with each other” — but that framing hides a wide spectrum of behavior, from genuine playfulness to targeted cruelty. When does a joke stop being funny? And who gets to decide? These are the questions this activity helps students wrestle with.

• Start with It’s Just a Joke from the Healthy Mindsets for Teenage Boys series, which examines teasing as a key part of male peer culture through dramatization and interviews
• After the video, give students a set of scenario cards describing different interactions between friends. Some should be clearly playful, some clearly harmful, and some deliberately ambiguous. Have students sort them into three categories: “Friendly teasing,” “Gray area,” and “Bullying”
• Discuss the gray area pile as a class. What made those scenarios harder to categorize? Does intent matter if someone is hurt? Is it enough to say “I was just joking”?
• For further depth, screen What Is Bullying? from the Amaze series and Bystander from the Kids Matter series. These videos shift the focus from the person doing the teasing to the people around them
• Close with a written or spoken response to the prompt: “What’s one thing a bystander could say or do when teasing crosses a line?”

Cross-curricular tie-in: In a social studies or advisory class, use this activity to launch a conversation about school culture. Have students survey their peers (anonymously) about whether teasing is a problem at school and what kinds of responses they’ve seen that actually work.

6) Spotlight positive role models

After spending time examining the pressures and pitfalls of traditional masculinity, students need to see what healthier masculinity looks like in practice. Who are the men, historical and contemporary, who showed courage, vulnerability, or moral conviction in ways that challenge narrow definitions of manhood?

• Begin by watching one or more of these short ClickView videos from the Hidden Figures and Black History Activators series:
  • Jim Thorpe — an athlete who overcame extraordinary adversity with resilience and humility
  • Roberto Clemente: True Baseball Hero — a baseball star who used his platform for humanitarian work
  • Thomas Garrett and the Underground Railroad — a man who risked everything to fight for the freedom of others
  • Thurgood Marshall — a legal pioneer who challenged systemic injustice through the courts
  • Stetson Kennedy: Unmasking The Ku Klux Klan — a journalist who went undercover to expose hatred
• After viewing, ask students to identify the qualities these men demonstrated. Write them on the board. How many of these qualities appeared on the “masculine traits” list from Activity 4? How many qualities might students not have initially associated with masculinity?
• Then assign a “role model profile” project: each student selects a man (public figure, community member, family member, or fictional character) who models a healthy version of masculinity. They create a one-page profile or short presentation that includes:
• Who the person is and what they’re known for
• Which qualities make them a positive role model
• How they challenge at least one traditional masculinity norm
• Share profiles with the class. Consider creating a “Redefining Strength” display wall with the finished work

Why it works: Students need examples, not just critique. Seeing real men who were brave enough to be compassionate, principled, or vulnerable gives boys a broader vision of what strength looks like.

For a broader exploration of growth mindset and perseverance, pair this activity with ClickView’s A Growth Mindset video from the What You Need to Succeed series, or explore the full Growth Mindset Topic page.

Tips for weaving masculinity conversations into everyday lessons

These six activities work well as a focused unit, but the real impact comes from building these conversations into your classroom culture over time. Here are a few ways to keep the momentum going:

• Name it when you see it. When a student says “that’s so soft” or “don’t be a girl,” treat it as a teachable moment rather than a disciplinary one. A simple “What do you mean by that?” invites reflection without shutting down the conversation
• Use video as a regular warm-up. ClickView’s Healthy Mindsets for Teenage Boys and Relationships Topics pages offer short clips that work well as five-minute discussion starters at the beginning of advisory, health, or homeroom periods
• Create space for private reflection. Not every student is ready to share in front of the class, and that’s fine. Journaling, anonymous exit tickets, and one-on-one check-ins give quieter students a way to process
• Connect across subjects. Character analysis in ELA, historical figures in social studies, mental health in health class, data on gender norms in math, these themes naturally cross disciplinary boundaries when you look for them
• Involve all students. These conversations aren’t just for boys. When everyone examines how gender expectations shape behavior, the whole classroom culture shifts

Talking about masculinity with teenage boys isn’t about telling them who to be. It’s about giving them the tools to decide for themselves and the confidence to know that strength comes in many forms.

Sources

1. American Psychological Association, Boys and Men Guidelines Group. (2018). APA guidelines for psychological practice with boys and men. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/about/policy/boys-men-practice-guidelines.pdf
2. Way, N. (2011). Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
3. Reichert, M. C. and Hawley, R. (2014). I Can Learn from You: Boys as Relational Learners. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Education Press.
4. Chu, J. Y. (2014). When Boys Become Boys: Development, Relationships, and Masculinity. New York: NYU Press.