Overcoming Obstacles
Setting Expectations
As Don Quixote asserts in the musical Man of La Mancha, it is possible to achieve your dreams. For the last lesson plan in the Getting Started Module, participants learn the importance of having dreams and setting goals that...
Overcoming Obstacles
Giving and Earning Respect
Middle schoolers learn what respect means to them and their classmates with the opening exercise in a series of confidence-building lessons. Participants list people they respect and why they respect them. They generate a definition,...
Overcoming Obstacles
Perservering
Hang in there! To conclude the Goal Setting module, class members reflect on the importance of perseverance by engaging in an activity that asks them to revise a plan when faced with obstacles. They then review their stepping stone goals...
Overcoming Obstacles
Stepping Stone Goals
Often the most challenging part of any journey is the first step, the getting started and figuring out where to start. Middle schoolers engage in a series of games and activities to learn the importance of setting short-term goals,...
Overcoming Obstacles
Making a Choice
The big idea in the last lesson in the Decision-Making module is that responsible decision-making is a process rather than a knee-jerk reaction. Participants practice the five steps in the decision-making process they have learned in the...
Overcoming Obstacles
Making Decisions Big and Small
Making responsible decisions can be hard, especially in difficult situations when the consequences can be difficult as well. Through a series of activities and games, middle schoolers learn that when making decisions, they must consider...
Overcoming Obstacles
Identifying Options
Making a decision can be more like a multiple-choice question than a yes/no one. Through a series of activities, middle schoolers learn how to consider and identify options, choices, and alternatives when faced with an important decision.
Overcoming Obstacles
Defining Problems Big and Small
Problems come in all shapes and sizes, but the first step in solving a problem is to identify just what the problem is. Through a series of games and activities, middle schoolers learn first to identify a problem, decide on a solution,...
Overcoming Obstacles
Identifying Options
"What should I do?" "How should I do it?" Middle Schoolers learn that answering these two questions is the key to solving problems. They begin with the first two steps of the Decision Making Process (gathering information and identifying...
Overcoming Obstacles
Finding Solutions
Middle schoolers apply all they have learned in the Problem Solving module by participating in a contest to see which group can build the tallest tower using only sheets of paper and masking tape.
Overcoming Obstacles
Playing by the Rules
The takeaway from the "Playing by the Rules" instructional activity is that it is each person's responsibility to learn the rules in a given situation and that they must accept the consequences if they choose not to follow the stated...
Overcoming Obstacles
Presenting Yourself
"Presenting Yourself," the last lesson in the "Looking to the Future" module, asks participants to review and reflect on what they have learned about themselves in the Overcoming Obstacles course. They review their course folder and...
Nemours KidsHealth
Getting Along: Grades 3-5
Two lessons boost social awareness and spread gratitude. In the first lesson, scholars write a newspaper article that describes a conflict and ways to solve it. In the second lesson, pupils offer kindness coupons to family and friends to...
Health Smart Virginia
Surviving High School Awareness Campaign
To demonstrate what they have learned in the Health Smart unit, sophomores design a resource for incoming ninth-graders that includes what they consider the most important information they gleaned from one of the eight topics studied.
Teaching Tolerance
Identity Artifacts Museum
Who are you? It's a simple question, but younger learners have the opportunity to express their complex identities by making artifacts that represent parts of their identities. After engaging in the activity, they share who they are with...
Teaching Tolerance
Identity Self-Portraits
What symbols represent you best? Individuals consider how they would draw peers using symbols about their identities with an interview and art activity. After conducting interviews and portraits, the art makes a great centerpiece for...
Health Smart Virginia
Summative Assessment
As a summative assessment of the Health Smart unit, middle schoolers create a five-chapter autobiography demonstrating what they have learned about self and social-awareness, decision-making, and communication skills.
Health Smart Virginia
Cyber Tattoo
Designed to inform high school freshmen about the ramifications of sharing personal information through social media, this lesson focuses on sexting. Investigators first check the validity of websites using a Website Evaluation Tool....
Thoughtful Learning
Setting and Reaching Goals
An activity boosts self-management through goal setting and reflection. Scholars choose one goal they wish to obtain by the end of the week. Participants brainstorm ways to make their goal a reality then reflect on whether or not their...
Story Corps
The Power of Active Listening
Listen up! The game of Telephone launches a study of active listening. Class members watch a short video that demonstrates active listening and tips on practicing active listening. Pairs then interview each other and practice their...
Health Smart Virginia
Networking
Sometimes it really is about who you know. High School freshmen engage in a series of activities to learn about the importance of networking.
Overcoming Obstacles
Listening
Focus, confirm, respond. Middle schoolers engage in a series of activities designed to help them improve their listening skills. They listen to and try to solve a riddle and play a version of the telephone game. Participants learn...
Health Smart Virginia
Building Self-Esteem and Self-Image
The ninth lesson in the Health Smart series is designed to get high schoolers to understand the factors that make them feel the way they do about themselves, their bodies, and their self-worth. Pupils watch a video about teens and body...
Overcoming Obstacles
Setting Expectations
Learning to work together respectfully is one of those life skills learned through practice. The second activity in the series has groups attempt to complete an activity and then discuss the obstacles they faced. Using what they learned...