A lesson · Terms & Conditions: Dragon Edition
Grade 6-8Terms & Conditions: Dragon Edition
Every dragon comes with fine print (be louder, be right, pick a side, panic now). What if you just didn’t click “I agree”?
Assumptions & Caveats
Before you begin
What you should know
Middle schoolers are experts in fine print. They’ve been clicking “I agree” for years without reading a word, and that’s the bridge: dragons run on people agreeing to terms they never read. The lesson gives that a shape, five mock “clauses,” and then asks whether a person can simply decline to sign.
This is an age where self-worth is unusually tied to what others think, and where being watched while working something out feels risky. So every important move starts privately, and sharing is always optional. Quiet is usually engagement, not disinterest. The examples come from where this age actually lives: group chats, comparison, a scary headline about AI, a scary feed, and the same fight on loop with a friend or sibling. War and politics stay out of this band. The lesson never debates whether a fear is “right.” It only asks what the fear is trying to get someone to agree to.
Nothing you don’t already have: paper and pens. The four scenario cards are written out below; read them aloud or copy them onto slips.
What we're assuming
- Everyone in the room has clicked “I agree” without reading, literally and otherwise.
- Some students carry big, real worries: for the world, for family, for their own future. Some are in real conflict, including being targeted by others. The lesson never asks anyone to say which, and never treats a real worry as silly.
- Faith backgrounds vary. “Truth” and “Love” are offered as two names for God, as an idea to try, not a belief anyone has to claim.
- “True and kind” in this lesson is for ordinary conflict. It never asks anyone to be kind toward someone who is bullying or hurting them. See When Someone Feels Like the Enemy for that.
Learning goals
What they walk away with
- Can name the “clause” a specific fear or conflict is trying to get them to agree to.
- Knows that Truth isn’t a debate tactic and Love isn’t just a feeling, and can turn a technically correct reply into a true-and-kind one.
- Leaves with a three-step move (costume, small thing inside, one true and kind move) and one real situation to try it on this week.
How to hold the room
Before you start talking
- Read the fine print in a deadpan lawyer voice. The humor is the on-ramp, so let the room laugh at the dragon.
- Private writing first, sharing second, always optional. For the scenario cards, pairs work on the card. Nobody shares their own real dragon.
- Don’t argue about whether AI, the news, or anything else is “actually” scary. Ask about the fear, not the facts.
- If someone says “but it IS scary,” agree. The costume can be fake while the feeling, and the need underneath it, are completely real. This lesson never says “don’t feel it.”
- Let a skeptical comment (“so we just have to be nice to people who are terrible?”) stand and be answered honestly in Beat 4.
The lesson flow
Step by step
Each beat alternates a little input, a little doing, and a little reflecting. Skip, slow down, or stretch any of these to fit your group.
“I agree”
“Show of hands: who’s ever clicked ‘I agree’ without reading a single word?” (Expect every hand.) “Dragons run on exactly that.” Tell your own worst-dragon-slayer confession (a garden hose is a fine one). Then set the scene: “In the last book of the Bible there’s a dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and a tail that sweeps stars out of the sky. It’s dramatic on purpose. One writer, Mary Baker Eddy, said that’s the theatrical version of something much smaller: fear, lies, and hate in a costume big enough to make you forget it has no power of its own.”
Read the fine print
Read this aloud in your best lawyer voice (or put it on a slide):
Dragon Terms & Conditions. By engaging, you agree that:
- The Size Clause. I am exactly as big as I look.
- The Enemy Clause. Someone has to be the enemy: them, or you.
- The Field Clause. We fight on my field: louder, faster, more right.
- The Panic Clause. You will act right now, before you’ve thought.
- The Alone Clause. Nobody’s coming. You’re on your own.
Then give everyone a minute of private writing: “Which clause have I clicked ‘I agree’ on lately?” Offer sharing, and mean it when most people don’t.
Size up a dragon
In pairs or threes, choose one card (or invent your own) and answer three questions on paper. Read the cards aloud:
- The Screenshot. Someone posts a screenshot of something you said, and the group chat piles on.
- The Headline. A video says AI will take every job before you’re old enough to have one. Your stomach drops.
- The Loop. You and your sister, best friend, or parent have the same fight every week. It always starts with “you always...”
- The Feed. You saw something scary online and can’t stop thinking about it.
The three questions: Where’s the costume (the loud part)? What’s the small, real thing inside, meaning what am I actually afraid of losing? Which clause is it trying to get me to agree to? Share out on the cards only. Nobody shares their own real dragon. (A note for you: “The Screenshot” can be real harassment. If a student says it’s happening to them, follow the last section of this page.)
Refuse the terms
Read this once:
“Truth and Love prevail against the dragon because the dragon cannot war with them.”
Science and Health, Mary Baker Eddy, p. 567:10–12
“Notice what it doesn’t say. It doesn’t say Truth and Love fight harder. It says the dragon can’t war with them. There’s nothing to click.” Name the two tools plainly. Truth isn’t “well, actually.” It’s standing there steady and asking, “What specifically am I afraid of losing?” until the dragon is its real size. Love isn’t just a feeling. It’s the practical next move.
Then do Rewrite the Reply. Put these side by side:
- Technically correct: “Actually, if you’d read the whole message you’d see I never said that.”
- True and kind: “I think that got twisted. Can we talk? I don’t want us to be fighting.”
Ask: “Which one is still telling the truth?” (Both.) “Which one is playing by the Field Clause?” (The first.) Then each person writes one true-and-kind sentence for their scenario, privately or with a partner. Add the boundary out loud: “True and kind is for regular conflict. If someone is actually hurting or targeting you, the loving move is telling a trusted adult, not sending them a kind text.”
Carry it
Hand out the wallet card and teach the three-part move on it: What’s the costume? What’s the small, real thing inside? What’s one true, kind move? Give private writing time: “One dragon I’m sizing up this week, and one true, kind move I could make.” Offer sharing. Close with the Alone Clause, which is wrong on purpose: “You’re not on your own. That’s the one clause nobody has to agree to.”
What you'll need
The materials
- Paper and pens
- The fine print (Beat 2) posted or read aloud, and the four scenario cards on slips (optional; reading aloud works)
- The printable “Inside the Costume” handout — a take-home version of the costume and the small thing inside — and “The World’s Worst Dragon Slayer” wallet card, which carries the three-part move
If it's not going well
When this one gets heavy
Silence is normal and often means the writing beat is working. Give it room. Pushback (“this sounds like being nice to people who are terrible”) is a real and fair point. Take it seriously: love never requires liking someone, trusting them, or staying near them, and true-and-kind is never the same as tolerating harm. A strong emotional reaction, like a student who goes quiet or tears up about a real worry, calls for a pause, a private word, and permission to step out. A disclosure of real harm (being bullied, threatened, or hurt, or anything that suggests a student may be unsafe) should not be handled as group discussion. Respond as a caring adult, follow the site’s mentor safety guidelines, and observe your own mandatory-reporting obligations.
For the fuller tiered guidance — including what to do if someone discloses something serious — see For Mentors.
Help this get better
Teaching this to a group we haven't planned for?
Tell us — this only gets better with your eyes on it. We read every one of these.