Top Trumps

Explain to learners that they will be identifying role models who exist in their offline and online communities, and considering their qualities and how their words and actions might help everyone tackle cyberbullying. This can be true even if these role models don’t talk about cyberbullying; their qualities may provide inspiration for others to behave in ways that prevent or respond to cyberbullying.

Ask learners to consider who these role models might be – they could be a trusted adult, a member of staff at their school, an inspiring member of their local community, an online influencer who promotes positive messages and behaviour, or another online user who they look up to.

Show the Top Trumps template on slide 8 and explain that each learner is going to create one or more Top Trumps cards based on their role models. If learners are unfamiliar with Top Trumps, a good explanation can be found here. 

Before creating the Top Trumps cards, it is good to agree the following with learners:

• The qualities (maximum of five) to include on each Top Trumps card. The five qualities on slide 5 can be used, or a different set of five qualities as agreed by all learners.
• The role models to be represented on the cards. It may be a good idea to collect a list of suggestions from learners and then share these out amongst learners to create one or more cards each. This can help ensure there are no duplicates!

Provide learners with copies of the Top Trumps template and give them time to draw or add a picture of the role model and to rate that role model against the five key qualities. 

NOTE: Encourage learners to be fair and realistic in their ratings. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and learners should be positive in rating each quality but should also recognise this. Top Trumps isn’t a fun game to play if every role model has a perfect rating in all categories!

You should also remind learners that they should be sensitive to ratings given to role models who come from their local community (e.g. teachers or trusted adults). If these role models saw these cards, would they agree with learners’ assessment of their qualities?

Once learners have completed their Top Trump card(s), they should also fill in the box on the reverse of each card by considering what each role model might teach others about dealing with cyberbullying.

Collect all the Top Trumps cards completed by learners. Depending on the number of cards created, you could provide a set to each pair of learners to play the game, or invite two learners to play the game while others watch. After each hand is played, encourage learners playing the game to share the details of how that role model might help tackle cyberbullying with the rest of the group.

NOTE FOR EDUCATORS:

The completed set of Top Trumps cards form a resource that could be used in future sessions with young people to inspire and promote positive traits. You may wish to consider other young people who may benefit from seeing or using these cards – these could be fellow students of your learners, or other groups of young people in your community.

As these cards are a celebration of role models, you may wish to find ways to share these with your local community to publicly acknowledge and recognise these role models.