Creating Relationship Maps

Learning Area

Personal Development, Health and Physical Education (PDHPE)
Year Level: 10
Unit: Building Respectful Relationships
Lesson Number: 6 of 14
Duration: 45 minutes
Class Size: 30 students

---

WALT

• We Are Learning To:
  Create a relationship network diagram to identify and categorise the various relationships in our lives and understand the dynamics and influences these relationships have on us.

---

NSW Curriculum Links

• PDHPE Stage 5 – Relationships and Sexuality (Year 10):
  Content focus: Building respectful relationships, understanding social and emotional wellbeing, recognising influences on behaviour and skills to maintain respectful relationships.
  Outcomes to address:

  • PDP5.3 Investigate strategies to develop and maintain respectful relationships.
  • PDP5.4 Analyse influences on emotional responses in relationships and how to manage these respectfully.

• General Capabilities:

  • Personal and Social Capability: self-awareness, managing relationships, social awareness.
  • Critical and Creative Thinking: analysing perspectives and synthesising information.

These outcomes been selected to foster students’ abilities to reflect on personal and social relationships consistent with the NSW PDHPE syllabus requirements.

---

Success Criteria

Students will be able to:

• Identify and list different types of relationships in their lives (family, friends, peers, mentors etc.).
• Categorise these relationships based on their influence and nature (supportive, challenging, neutral).
• Create a clear and well-organised relationship map/diagram showing these connections.
• Reflect on how these relationships influence their feelings, values, and behaviours.
• Identify a new relationship and explain its potential significance for homework extension.

---

Resources Needed

• Large sheets of paper or cardboard (A3 size recommended)
• Coloured pens/pencils/markers
• Sticky notes (optional)
• Whiteboard and markers
• Projector/screen for instructions and examples
• Relationship map exemplar visual (prepared by teacher)

---

Lesson Breakdown

1. Introduction and Context (7 minutes)

• Brief review of prior lessons on respectful relationships and social influences.
• WALT and success criteria shared visibly (on board/projected).
• Quick mind-mapping warm-up: Ask students to shout out types of people in their lives they interact with regularly; list these on the board.
• Teacher explains the purpose and benefits of a relationship map — visualising social connections to understand support networks and pressures.

2. Explicit Teaching and Modelling (8 minutes)

• Show a simple example of a relationship map (using a diagram with circles connected by lines, labelled by closeness/influence, and can include categories like positive/supportive, neutral, conflictual).
• Teacher models how to start their own map: placing themselves at the centre and branching out types of relationships.
• Discuss different categories of relationships and possible influences each might have.
• Highlight respect, trust, communication, and boundaries as relationship qualities.
• Discuss that some relationships may be new or evolving, setting up for homework.

3. Guided Practice: Relationship Map Creation (20 minutes)

• Students create their own relationship maps individually or in pairs based on comfort.
• Encourage use of colour coding or symbols to categorise relationships (e.g., green for supportive, red for challenging, yellow for neutral).
• Circulate and support students with scaffolding questions:
  • “Who do you trust the most and why?”
  • “Are there relationships that influence your decisions or feelings strongly?”
  • “What kind of support do you get from these relationships?”
• Prompt deeper reflection for students struggling: Using emotions, behaviours, or values influenced by relationships.
• Encourage neatness and clarity to aid thinking and future reference.

4. Sharing and Reflection (7 minutes)

• Volunteers share parts of their relationship maps, focusing on what they have learned about their social environment.
• Discuss common themes or surprises found.
• Reinforce importance of awareness of relationships to maintain respectful and healthy ones.

5. Homework Explanation (3 minutes)

• Homework task: Add a new relationship to your map (could be new friend, mentor, group, activity-based relationship) and write a short reflection on its significance and how it affects or may affect your life.
• Explain this maintains the ongoing learning process and encourages mindfulness about their social worlds.

---

Differentiation Strategies

• For diverse learners and students requiring support:

  • Provide sentence starters or relationship category lists.
  • Offer graphic organisers or pre-drawn template circles to help structure ideas.
  • Use pairing or small groups so students can discuss before writing/drawing.
  • Allow alternative formats such as digital mind maps if appropriate.

• For advanced learners:

  • Encourage analysis of relationship dynamics, for example, exploring how power imbalance, respect, or conflict affect wellbeing.
  • Suggest inclusion of indirect influences such as online contacts or community groups.
  • Challenge to incorporate how different relationships might influence decisions in a real-life scenario.

---

Assessment Ideas

• Formative: Observation of student engagement and understanding during map creation and sharing.
• Check for inclusion of different relationship types and reasonable categorisation consistent with lesson content.
• Review homework reflection for insight and application of the concept.

---

Teacher Reflection / Notes

• Consider class sensitivities with personal relationships; maintain confidentiality and optional sharing.
• Scaffold emotional literacy and vocabulary when discussing types of influences.
• Provide encouragement for students to recognise the value in less obvious relationships (mentors, coaches, community members).

---

This carefully structured lesson plan aligns with NSW Year 10 PDHPE syllabus outcomes on respectful relationships, supports personal and social capability development, and inspires meaningful student reflection on their social worlds. The visual relationship map is a pedagogically effective and engaging tool, promoting student-centred learning and critical thinking about key social and emotional factors.

This engaging approach maximises the 45-minute session with varied activities tailored to student abilities and needs, reflecting best practices in teaching respectful relationships in NSW schools.