Classroom Lesson #6 Welcome students. Ask them to share with a partner what they remember about the previous five SSS lessons. (15 seconds) Next ask for volunteers to share with the class. Be sure to cover the Life Skills, Caring community, Calm Place, Positive Self Talk, typical challenges and the Seven Keys.

Goal reporting: Share with a partner how you did with your goal from last week. Be sure to share even very small improvements and if there was no improvement, brainstorm what to do differently next time to improve. Next, look at the first item on your Life Skills sheet. Ask volunteer to read the first item then ask: “Who has improved even a little during the past week, or stayed at a good level?” Get examples from 1-2 students and prompt: “Tell us what you did to improve or stay at a good level” “Who else has tried this or something similar? Another volunteer reads next item followed by the prompts above - continue pattern for rest of items Go to next slide for goal setting.

Goal Setting for Health & Wellness Think, Write, Pair Share & Volunteer Share GOAL: To get more rest so I won’t be as tired. ACTION PLAN: I will use my planner to be more organized about what I need to do for homework and to set a schedule. This will help me get to bed about 30 minutes earlier each school night. “Look back at your Life Skills sheet and pick one area you most want to improve this coming week and one thing you could do to show improvement. Here is an example. I will give you a few seconds of quiet time now to think of your goal and plan. When you have your goal and plan in mind I want you to write it down and give me the thumbs up sign. Now, I will ask you to share your goal and plan with a partner. When you share your goal, I want you to Listen with Eyes, Ears and Heart. “

Optimism Don’t doubt your ability Doubt your strategy If what you are doing is not working Try Something Different!!! Have students join you in the Optimism Cheer: Prompt students with these three lines and ask for a choral response: Students repeat the key word or phrase that is underlined below. Don’t doubt your ability. You can doubt your strategy. If what you are doing isn’t working try something different

Ask for different volunteers to share what they remember Imagine: It is important to be able to picture yourself being successful. Remember-Don’t doubt your ability. Practice: Put into practice the skill or strategy you chose to help you reach your goal. Notice even small improvements. Start over if your current strategy isn’t working pick a different strategy or maybe just make a slight change to the strategy you are currently using. You are Very Close reminds you to never give up.

Take A Break – Brain Gym “Let’s get started with a few movements to help you get your circulation going and your energy up. (Pat your head and rub your stomach or stretch, stand on one leg, or alternate finger movements with the “Spock-Live Long and Prosper” hand movements)” End with a few slow deep breaths.

Managing Test Anxiety To perform under pressure takes practice. Today we can practice using some of our new Student Success Skills strategies to keep in control of our anxiety during test taking. It is normal to feel a little anxiety during important tests. The problem comes when our anxiety gets too great and starts to limit our ability to think clearly. We have practiced several strategies to help you stay in control of your anxiety during tests. Let’s look back at a few. Next slide.

Calm Place Use your imagination to create a calm place. Remind students of the Calm place activity. Breathe, Picture, Focus sequence: Breathe: Take slow deep breathes counting to 5 on inhale, hold for count of 5 then exhale to count of 5 Picture: picture yourself in your favorite place to be, a calm place Focus: tell yourself to FOCUS, this will remind you of the strategies that you have decided to use for this task. Remind students that practicing the Calm Place strategy ahead of time will allow them to stay focused “

Breathe, Picture, Focus Breathe Picture Focus in slowly to count of 5 hold for count of 5 exhale to count of 5 Picture yourself in your “Calm place” Focus on your strategy for the task at hand Review slide

Seven Test Taking Strategies Use slow breathing to relax. If you begin to get too anxious, repeat slow breathing and picture your “Calm place” for a moment to break the stress cycle. Focus on your test taking strategy. Look over the entire test to determine how long it is and where the most points are. Determine a time limit for each section. If you use acronyms, or other memory aids write them down on a scratch piece of paper. (cont.) Review slide

Seven Test Taking Strategies (cont.) 5. Answer the easy questions first. Often these questions will have clues to harder questions. 6. Go back to the harder questions. Look for clues. Eliminate any obvious wrong answers. If you are still not sure of the correct answer take your best educated guess. 7. Budget your time so that you have a few minutes left at the end to check your answers. Make sure you do not leave any blank. Review slide

Positive Self-Talk Statements Positive Encouragement Statements “That’s not like me to__________, I’m usually more__________.” “Up until now I __________, from now on I will__________.” Kaizen “Little by little, bit by bit, I’m improving every day.” Notice even small improvements and keep trying to improve little by little every day. Breathe, Picture, Focus “Take a Slow deep breath, picture myself in my safe place and focus on what I need to do.” “Knowing you, you’ll be able to figure it out.” “Knowing you, I am sure you will do fine.” “I know I can count on you to______.” “That’s not like you to______, you are usually more/less______” Positive Encouragement Statements “Another way we can maintain our positive focus and confidence in stressful or difficult situations is through positive self-talk.” Have students work in pairs to write down 1-2 examples from their own experience of negative messages that would fit into the “that’s not like me I’m usually more…….” pattern. Ask for volunteers to share their answers with the class.

Have students rate themselves on each category for this week.

Seven Keys Goal Setting GOAL: To continue to use Student Success Skills strategies. ACTION PLAN: I will keep track of my grades in the front of my planner and update them each time I get a grade. I will look for small improvements and keep my self-talk positive. “Pick one of the seven areas that you most want to improve in this next week. For this area, write down one thing you could do to show improvement. Here is an example.” “Make sure your goal and action plan are specific.” Show examples of goals and action plans.

When students are ready ask them to share goal and action plan verbally with a partner. Remind the students to practice listening with eyes, ears and hearts, and ask for a few volunteers to share with the whole class.

Ask pairs to explain the Pyramid to each other Ask pairs to explain the Pyramid to each other. Then ask for volunteers to share their ideas with the class. Their explanation should be some version of the following. If not fill in the missing pieces. Fun and Joy come from Mastery. Mastery means being very good at something. When you are good at something you have confidence in your ability and you are successful at it. Ask pairs to explain the Pyramid to each other in 20 seconds and ask for volunteers. Their explanation should be some version of this: Fun and joy come from Mastery. To reach mastery it takes Practice and Persistence. The way to keep going is to be encouraging to yourself, not doubting your ability and noticing even small improvements. It also helps to be encouraging to others and notice their small improvements.

Kaizen Little by little, Bit by bit, I’m improving, Everyday Review slide

Next quarter we will continue focusing on Career Guidance Looking Ahead… Next quarter we will continue focusing on Career Guidance