Weekly Update
Hello!
First things first, I apologize for the delay in my weekly email being sent out!
Last week, we had many great class discussions and lessons that rounded out our Decision Making topic nicely. We had a great mixture of individual work, group work, worksheets, and hands on activities, which the kids really seemed to enjoy and engage with!
At the beginning of last week, we had bell work and a class discussion on the why the decisions we make at home vs. school are usually different. We listed some decisions that could be made both at home and school and what the different consequences (both good and bad) could be, based on the environment the decision was made in. After this, as a class, we discussed some factors we think affect our decision making, which were:
- Fear- whether you’re fearful of your parents, teachers, admin, etc.
- Caring- whether you care about the people around you and care about being good or bad.
- Self-Image- At school, your decisions may be different because others could be judging you.
- Setting- Being alone at home vs. being around others at school.
- Supervision- depends on who is watching you; parents, teachers, friends, no one, etc.
To recap our discussion on this topic, their bell work on the following day asked them to explain why and how those 5 things affect decision making. For assignment that day, we learned about potential, healthy, decision making processes. To do this, they partnered up and had to arrange steps of the decision making process in the correct order, which was harder than most of them thought!
The next day, they put the process to work and applied it to a hypothetical example. After reading the fictional dilemma, they had to identify the problem, list what that persons goals and values were, and list any other items to be considered (i.e. others’ feelings, will power, etc.). Afterwards, they partnered up, received an option card that pertained to the dilemma, and had to list the pros/cons of their card and to determine whether they thought it was a good option or bad option.
Students were introduced to the term “values” in the previous activity so to end our week, we discussed what our “personal values” are at greater length and how those values affect our decision making. To begin this lesson, we started with a bell work that asked them to explain three different situations where their decision making affected someone important to them; they could list both good and bad scenarios. For the assignment itself, they completed a worksheet that had them list what they believe are the top 5 values for themselves, their parents, and society. From there, they illustrated a visual representation of their own personal values.
This week, we will be finishing up our final decision making activity, which is to create their own decision making process/poster. They are already looking great! Once completed with that, we will move onto one of the biggest things students deal with in school: peer pressure.
As always, please feel free to reach out with any questions or concerns: btaylor@santancs.com.
-Mrs. Taylor
