While the bulk of 4th grade’s Life Skills curriculum this year is on positive communication, there’s a personal identity/awareness component as well. We kicked off 2017 with a lesson about personal values (with some mention of reputation thrown in). Due to a few scheduling issues, I ended up doing this lesson before the “Staying True to Yourself” (with Ludwig’s Sorry!) lesson in some of the classes and after in some others. Both ways were great for tying the lessons together; I haven’t decide which way I’ll do it next year.
A good friend of mine who is a middle school counselor sent me the link to this lesson that she adapts and uses: Overcoming Obstacles – Clarifying Values
I adapted it even further (to shorten it and to make it more elementary level) and began using it myself. It’s fun, it’s silly, it’s interactive, and it gets their brains going. I’ll admit that while the majority of my lessons are skills-based, this one is more “planting the seed” and helping develop some introspection as they prepare to enter the intense and challenging world of middle school.
I use a PPT to facilitate the first half of the lesson. We start with a quick game of “Would you rather?” – the students either move to the side of the room that goes with their answer or they use arm motions (which in one room resulted in us all “dabbing”!). I explain how their answers are the result of some of their personal values…and then I explain what personal values are and give some examples.
The last slide in the PPT gives them an example of how to complete their “personal values table”. It’s essentially a worksheet where they list 16 of their personal values using different categories to guide them. After they’ve all finished filling theirs in, I ask them to cut them all out and group them by category on their desk/table.
Then the real fun begins! I explain that just like in “Would you rather?”, in real life, we sometimes have to choose between values and decide what’s more important to us. In the activity we do next, I ask the students to literally throw away some of their values; they do much better if I prep them ahead of time and let them know that’s coming. Then I read aloud a silly story about them going on a wild and crazy trip to the zoo, with lots of shenanigans and dilemmas, that ends with them having their top three personal values left.
Then together we process and I ask them:
*This is a pretty accurate depiction of what most of them were left with!
10 Responses
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Thanks a lot! Took this lesson plan to a Norwegian class of 15 yo's.
Love this lesson and can’t wait to use it to get to know my new students!
Would you mind sharing the PPT?
Hello, and sorry for the delayed response! Since I didn’t create the lesson idea, I don’t feel comfortable sharing the slides without spending some time editing them to properly attribute the authors. It may be something I get to in the future!
Love this lesson and can’t wait to use it to get to know my new students!
Would you mind sharing the PPT?
Hi! I’m sorry, I don’t have it anymore – died with a computer crash a few years back. It was just a few Would You Rathers and then some directions for the activity. I lost so many things when that happened, unfortunately!
How did you explain to the students what to put in the “Important idea” boxes?
Hello! I had a slideshow I used, and there was a slide with example ideas like:
Honesty
Popularity (Being Cool)
Bravery
Self-Control (Making good choices)
Kindness
Beauty
Respect
Humor (Being Funny)
Thankful
Athleticism (Good at Sports)
Generosity
Intelligence (Being Smart)
Power (Being in Charge)
Grades
Perseverance
Family
Friendships
Religion (God)
Last summer I created a separate Personal Values lesson as well: https://shop.theresponsivecounselor.com/product/personal-values-lesson/
Best,
Sara
What exactly are “important ideas”. How do you explain those?
With examples! Here are some I shared with them that might be important ideas for them:
Honesty
Popularity (Being Cool)
Bravery
Self-Control (Making good choices)
Kindness
Beauty
Respect
Humor (Being Funny)
Thankful
Athleticism (Good at Sports)
Generosity
Intelligence (Being Smart)
Power (Being in Charge)
Grades
Perseverance
Family
Friendships
Religion (God)
Best,
Sara