1. Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions?
Search and deductive reasoning

2. About this Lesson
This lesson is designed to teach the Common Core State Standard: Reading—Informational Text
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.5 Use text features and search tools (e.g., key words, sidebars, hyperlinks) to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.6 Distinguish their own point of view from that of the author of a text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.3.9 Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts on the same topic.
Nell Bang-Jensen is a teacher and theater artist living in Philadelphia, PA. Her passion for arts education has led her to a variety of roles including developing curriculum for Philadelphia Young Playwrights and teaching at numerous theaters and schools around the city.
She works with playwrights from ages four to ninety on developing new work and is especially interested in alternative literacies and theater for social change.
A graduate of Swarthmore College, she currently works in the Artistic Department of the Wilma Theater and, in addition to teaching, is a freelance actor and dramaturg. In 2011, Nell was named a Thomas J. Watson Fellow and spent her fellowship year traveling to seven countries studying how people get their names.

3. Bing in the Classroom program Resources
9/12/2018 8:32 PM
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4. New Year’s Resolutions
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions?

5. New Year’s Resolutions
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions? 1
Web Search
What does it mean to resolve? What is a resolution? 2
When did people first start making New Year’s Resolutions? What is an example from history? 3
Web Search/Thinking
Why do people think the new year is a good time to set a resolution? 4
What are some of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions that people make? 5
Thinking
If you were to set a New Year’s Resolution for 2016, what would it be?

6. New Year’s Resolutions
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions?
5 minutes

7. New Year’s Resolutions
9/12/2018 8:32 PM
New Year’s Resolutions
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions? 1
Web Search
What does it mean to resolve? What is a resolution? 2
When did people first start making New Year’s Resolutions? What is an example from history? 3
Web Search/Thinking
Why do people think the new year is a good time to set a resolution? 4
What are some of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions that people make? 5
Thinking
If you were to set a New Year’s Resolution for 2016, what would it be?
© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

8. New Year’s Resolutions
9/12/2018 8:32 PM
New Year’s Resolutions
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions? 1
Web Search
What does it mean to resolve? What is a resolution? 2
When did people first start making New Year’s Resolutions? What is an example from history? 3
Web Search/Thinking
Why do people think the new year is a good time to set a resolution? 4
What are some of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions that people make? 5
Thinking
If you were to set a New Year’s Resolution for 2016, what would it be?
(Possible queries: “define: resolve”, “define: resolution”, “what is a resolution?”).
From
Resolve: to reach a firm decision about <resolve to get more sleep> <resolve disputed points in a text>
And from
Resolution: the act or process of resolving.
© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

9. New Year’s Resolutions
9/12/2018 8:32 PM
New Year’s Resolutions
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions? 1
Web Search
What does it mean to resolve? What is a resolution? 2
When did people first start making New Year’s Resolutions? What is an example from history? 3
Web Search/Thinking
Why do people think the new year is a good time to set a resolution? 4
What are some of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions that people make? 5
Thinking
If you were to set a New Year’s Resolution for 2016, what would it be?
(Possible queries: “for kids, New Year’s resolutions, history”, “for kids, history of New Year’s Resolutions”).
From
People have been pledging to change their ways in the new year—whether by getting in shape, quitting a bad habit or learning a skill—for an estimated 4,000 years now. The tradition is thought to have first caught on among the ancient Babylonians, who made promises in order to earn the favor of the gods and start the year off on the right foot. (They would reportedly vow to pay off debts and return borrowed farm equipment.) The age-old custom of breaking one’s newly formed resolutions within several months—a fate that befalls the majority of would-be reformers, according to statistics—probably originated shortly thereafter.
© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

10. New Year’s Resolutions
9/12/2018 8:32 PM
New Year’s Resolutions
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions? 1
Web Search
What does it mean to resolve? What is a resolution? 2
When did people first start making New Year’s Resolutions? What is an example from history? 3
Web Search/Thinking
Why do people think the new year is a good time to set a resolution? 4
What are some of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions that people make? 5
Thinking
If you were to set a New Year’s Resolution for 2016, what would it be?
(Possible queries: “why do people set New Year’s Resolutions?”, “why do people set resolutions on New Year’s?”).
From
One reason is the allure of starting from scratch. “The beginning of the year offers a fresh start and a clean slate,” according to Nona Jordan. The idea of bettering ourselves is another motivator. “Most of us have a natural bent toward self-improvement,” said John Duffy, Ph.D, clinical psychologist and author. And even though the New Year is an arbitrary date, Duffy explained that it “gives us time and a goal date to prepare for the change, to fire up for the shifts we plan to make.”
© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

11. New Year’s Resolutions
9/12/2018 8:32 PM
New Year’s Resolutions
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions? 1
Web Search
What does it mean to resolve? What is a resolution? 2
When did people first start making New Year’s Resolutions? What is an example from history? 3
Web Search/Thinking
Why do people think the new year is a good time to set a resolution? 4
What are some of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions that people make? 5
Thinking
If you were to set a New Year’s Resolution for 2016, what would it be?
(Possible queries: “popular New Year’s Resolutions”, “most common New Year’s Resolutions”).
From
Popular goals include resolutions to:
-Improve physical well-being: eat healthy food, lose weight, exercise more, eat better, drink less alcohol, quit smoking, stop biting nails, get rid of old bad habits
-Improve mental well-being: think positive, laugh more often, enjoy life
-Improve finances: get out of debt, save money, make small investments
-Improve career: perform better at current job, get a better job, establish own business
-Improve education: improve grades, get a better education, learn something new (such as a foreign language or music), study often, read more books, improve talents
Improve self: become more organized, reduce stress, be less grumpy, manage time, be more independent, perhaps watch less television, play fewer sitting-down video games
-Take a trip
-Volunteer to help others, practice life skills, use civic virtue, give to charity, volunteer to work part-time in a charity organization
-Get along better with people, improve social skills, enhance social intelligence
-Make new friends
-Spend quality time with family members
-Settle down, get engaged/get married, have kids
-Pray more, be closer to God, be more spiritual
-Be more involved in sports or different activities
© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.

12. New Year’s Resolutions
9/12/2018 8:32 PM
New Year’s Resolutions
Why do people make New Year’s Resolutions? 1
Web Search
What does it mean to resolve? What is a resolution? 2
When did people first start making New Year’s Resolutions? What is an example from history? 3
Web Search/Thinking
Why do people think the new year is a good time to set a resolution? 4
What are some of the most popular New Year’s Resolutions that people make? 5
Thinking
If you were to set a New Year’s Resolution for 2016, what would it be?
Answers will vary. Students may find it helpful to search for examples of other resolutions.
(Possible queries: “New Year’s Resolutions list”, “New Year’s Resolutions for kids”).
© 2014 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS, IMPLIED OR STATUTORY, AS TO THE INFORMATION IN THIS PRESENTATION.