Social Awareness Grade 7 – Lesson 1
Objectives:
- Understand the Impact of Attitude: Students will grasp the influence of their attitude on their actions and choices, recognizing that they have control over their responses to various situations.
- Identify Positive Attitude’s Role in Outcomes: Students will explore how a positive attitude can lead to favorable results, encouraging them to adopt a win/learn attitude and maintain an optimistic stance.
Introduction:
Our attitude plays a significant role in shaping our behavior, and we have the power to make choices about it. We can choose to approach situations with encouragement and motivation or with defeat and self-pity. While challenges and hardships are inevitable, what truly matters is how we decide to respond to them.
Defining Attitude:
Attitude is not merely a matter of having a good or bad outlook. It is one’s readiness to act or react in a particular way.
One step further:
- What do you do when you’re in a bad mood?
- How do you adjust your attitude?
Just for fun…
- How is Donkey’s attitude different from Shrek?
- Is one attitude better than the other?
Activity 1: Positive Energy vs. Draining Energy
Discuss with a partner:
“What does the statement ‘If you think you can or think you can’t, you will prove yourself right’ mean to you?”
Share with the class:
Allow a few groups to share their thoughts on the statement.
Explore the concept further:
Focusing on negativity often leads to negative outcomes, creating a self-fulfilling prophecy. On the other hand, a positive focus enhances the likelihood of achieving desired outcomes. Adopting a win/learn attitude helps maintain optimism even in the face of challenges.
Identify Energy-Draining Attitudes:
Ask students for examples of energy-draining attitudes, such as:
- I can’t
- I shouldn’t
- I’m not good enough
- I don’t have the energy
- I’m hopeless
- The situation is hopeless
- They would never let us
- I’m useless and no good at anything, etc.
Identify Energy-Giving Attitudes:
- I can
- I will
- It is possible
- That interests me
- I want to experience that
- I want to learn a new skill
- I want to have fun and enjoy myself
- I like trying new things
- Anything is possible, let’s give it a try, etc.
Activity 2: What’s Your Attitude Latitude?
Students describe how they act or react in different situations and explore if their attitude changes accordingly.
Distribute Handouts:
Graphing Attitude Latitudes:
Have students graph their introversion/extroversion score on the horizontal axis and their optimism/pessimism score on the vertical axis. This will place them in one of four quadrants, each symbolized by fictional characters like “Donkey” from Shrek for extroverted optimists. This activity will help students gain insight into their social traits and how to channel their energies most effectively.
Closing:
Present the following questions as a journal prompt:
- How can you leverage your strengths to maintain a positive attitude and achieve your goals?
- What is one thing you can do differently to cultivate and maintain a positive attitude?
Lesson adapted from: Developing Potential Ltd., and Social and Emotional Learning in Middle School