CONTENT AREAS: Advisory, Health, Careers, Life Skills, Homeroom, English, Social Studies
GRADE LEVELS: 9-12
GOALS:
Students will reflect upon their attitude and gain key strategies to adjust attitudes.
STANDARDS ADDRESSED:\
A:A1.5 Identify attitudes and behaviors that lead to successful learning
A:B1.4 Seek information and support from faculty, staff, family and peers
PS:A1.1 Develop positive attitudes toward self as a unique and worthy person
PRIOR KNOWLEDGE:
It is helpful to have a few stories about attitude adjustment. Some instructors may want to find a few pictures of people with positive and negative attitudes. Or find a creative way to start this lesson about positive attitude.
MATERIALS:
Reproducible B and paper for writing
LESSON OVERVIEW:
This lesson has two parts: Part A contains questions to guide critical thinking while reading the article. Part B is a writing exercise to promote positive attitudes. Most of the lesson involves critical reading and writing,
ASSESSMENT:
Follow up with students next week and review the sidebar in Reproducible A, “5 ways to boost your attitude.” Instructors may lead a conversation or writing reflection to ask if students smiled, exercised, did something nice, and stepped away from a negative situation in the past week.
LESSON PROCEDURE:
Intro (5 minutes)
Ask students, “What do you do when you are in a bad mood? How do we adjust our attitude?”
Instructors may want to share a simple technique they use when they need an attitude adjustment. A simple example to share is the phrase, “Up until now!” Things may seem bad in life, but the phrase “Up until now!” provides power to change the situation.
Silent reading with critical and creative thinking (20 minutes)
Distribute the article “Positive Attitude” (Reproducible A) and Reproducible B handout with critical thinking questions. Instruct students to read the article, underline the main points the author makes, and answer the questions in Reproducible B.
Walk around the room while students read. Some instructors like to walk around with paper and answer questions through writing, not talking.
After 10 minutes of silent work, remind students to move onto Part B.
After 15 minutes, ask students how much more time they need to work.
Discuss ways to adjust attitude (5 minutes)
Conclude the lesson with a short discussion on attitudes. Remind students that positive and negative and optimist-pessimist are shallow ways to understand differences. The larger lesson to learn is how each of our individual attitudes impacts the way we live
our lives.
- Begin by asking, “What points of the author do you agree with?”
- After a few are listed, ask, “What points do you disagree with?”
- Move the conversation toward the question, “How does our attitude impact our life?”
There is no need to collect the handouts or assignments. Instructors may remind students during the lesson that the answers to the questions will help students develop their own attitude in life.
REPRODUCIBLE B
Part A -- Are you an optimist or pessimist?
Read the article, Positive Attitude, and answer the following questions:
- Explain why you agree or disagree with this statement, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you deal with it.”
- List 5 points that the author argues in this article. Do you agree with each point? Why or why not?
- What is one point that must be true?
- What is one point that would be hard to prove to be true?
- What are the differences between an optimist and pessimist?
- “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you deal with it” reminds us of the importance of attitude. There may be no way to know if it is true, but it helps us deal with situations in life. Write a few other phrases that could help you approach life with the right attitude.
Part B -- How do you boost your attitude?
Read 5 Ways to Boost your Attitude and complete the following tasks:
- Write down 5 positive things that happened this week.
- What are a few ways many of us could make more positive things happen in life?
- List a few people you would like to thank for their positive support over the years. Brainstorm a few ways you could thank them for their support.
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