Grade 5 - Lesson 9

Confidence in Actions

Objectives:

  • The learner will be able to define confidence and to name a problem-solving skill at which they are adept and might use in a problematic social situation.
  • The learner will be able to evaluate multiple options, choose an appropriate action, and provide reasons for their choices.
  • The learner will respond to fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and drama using interpretive, critical, and evaluative processes making inferences and conclusions about characters, events, and themes. (SCS - LA 3.01)

Materials:

A Confident Response worksheet, star cards, Game Show problem situations, Here Comes the Judge Scoring Sheet, I Am Really Good At ... worksheet

Introduction:

Introduce the concept of confidence. Lead the class in developing a definition (record it on the board, chart paper, or transparency) that emphasizes the notion that being confident means feeling like I can do this!  Remind students that one purpose of Making Choices is to help them become more effective and confident in social situations. Ask students to name one or two new Making Choices skills they have learned thus far.

Review the following Making Choices steps with the students:

  • Looking for clues
  • Deciding what the clues mean or what needs to change.
  • Thinking of a goal/goals
  • Thinking of actions you could take to accomplish the goal(s)
  • Determining which action is best

Activity I:  A Confident Action

Re-emphasize that in order to feel confident about an action, students must also believe that the action will work, (i.e., it will help them achieve their goal).  Provide some simple examples such as

I know I can make the teacher hear me if I yell in class.  But I'm not confident that yelling will get me some time on the computer.  It just wouldn't do any good.

 

Ask the students:

What is the problem?  What needs to change?
What are some possible goals?
What is the best goal?
What are the steps you can take?

Explain to the students that sometimes an action will not work because it won't help to change the situation. For example, just wishing the teacher would call on you will not change the situation.

At other times, an action may not work in the situation because the action doesn't fit the situation. For example, if you yell in class the teacher will probably hear you, but it won't get you what you want, because yelling doesn't belong in the classroom.

Remind students that it is important to learn from the consequences of a negative action, and try to pick a better response the next time a similar situation is encountered.

Give the students the worksheet, A Confident Action. In this activity, students will read situations, then circle the action they are most confident will work in the situation. Then students can explain why they are confident the action will work. Remind the students not to select actions that might not be good enough or actions that don't fit the situation.  Write these questions on the board or on a transparency for students to consider as they are analyzing each action.

Is it the right time or place for the action?
Does the action deal with the problem?
Will the action be helpful in reaching a goal?
Is the action too difficult to accomplish?

Tell the students that if they can think of a better action—one they are confident in—then they can record their own action on the line labeled Other.

Activity II: Here Comes the Judge

Explain that the class will be participating in a game show called Here Comes the Judge.  In this game, three pairs of contestants are selected to come to the front of the classroom, choose response actions for a situation, and the rest of the class will rate (or judge) the actions they chose for the situation. Give every student a set of three “Star Cards”.

 

Teacher Tip: Students can also record their scores on their own paper. Ask everyone to record their score for each action before sharing, so that students are not influenced by others' scores.

 

Put the Here Comes the Judge Scoring Sheet on the overhead for the students to refer to during the game.

 

Explain to the class that you will be reading a different social situation for each round of the game. In each round, the contestants must decide on a response action for the situation within the time limit (e.g., 30 seconds, 1 minute). The class will then rate the contestants' responses by holding up one of the three rating cards (poor=1 star; good = 2 stars; or excellent = 3 stars). 

 

Ask three pairs of students to come to the front of the room to be the first group of contestants. Read a problem situation from the list on the Game Show Problem Situations page. Inform the contestants of the time limit for their discussion with their partner. At the end of the time limit, ask the contestants to provide a possible action that could be taken in response to the situation. 

 

Using their star cards (or their own paper), the class will then rate the action given by each pair of contestants. Evaluate how many star cards are shown for the contestants' answer. Give each action a total star score (poor=1 star; good = 2 stars; or excellent = 3 stars). After each pair of contestants has been given a score, discuss why the class decided on a specific rating, and whether there are other possible solutions—especially if the action was rated as poor. If the action was rated as poor, the pair of contestants might need to think of a better response.

Teacher Tip: Create heterogeneous contestant pairs, being careful not to pair students who lack social skills.


Activity III (Optional): Confidence in Social Skills

Provide students with a copy of the worksheet I Am Really Good At…. and ask students to draw a picture and/or write about a social skill that they do well. Students may refer to the Solve Problems the Making Choices Way poster and choose one of the steps; this should be a skill that they feel confident in and one they do well. Let students volunteer to share their writing and/or illustration with the class.

Teacher Tip: Instead of having students write or illustrate the Making Choices skill, divide the class into small groups where students can share the skill they do well. Encourage students to generate ideas about the Making Choices skills that others in their group do well.

Conclusion:

Ask the students to share examples of how they have successfully applied the Making Choices Problem Solving Steps. Review ways to determine if an action might be successful, if it is not good enough to change a situation, or if it doesn't fit the situation.

Activity I: A Confident Action                Name __________________

 

Directions: Read the social situations below. Circle the action you think is the best. Then explain why you chose the action.

  1. You are getting on the bus to go to school. You see Lesley, a friend of yours, in the back and no one is sitting next to her. You walk toward Lesley but a girl named Jessica yells, “Don't sit next to her— she stinks! If you sit there, you will stink too!” Everyone on the bus starts laughing and holding their noses.

 

Action Options:

  1. Quietly sit next to Lesley because she is your friend.
  2. Don't sit next to Lesley because then people will make fun of you.
  3. Tell the students on the bus to shut up. Then sit down next to Lesley.
  4. Other_______________________________________________________

 

____________________________________________________________

 

Explain: ________________________________________________________

 

____________________________________________________________

2.  You are playing in a baseball game. You are pitching against the best hitter in the league.  You throw two strikes. Your next pitch is a ball, but to your surprise the umpire says, “Strike three.”  Everyone is cheering.  The hitter yells at the umpire, “That was a bad call.”  You know that you threw a ball.  He runs over to you, pushes you, and stares at you in the eyes.  All your teammates are shouting, “Get him!”

 

Action Options:

    1. You tell him you are sorry he struck out, and that you also thought it was a ball, but it's not your call.
    2. You push him back and yell, “Get out of my face.”
    3. You tell him he's a big jerk and walk away from him.
    4. Other:_________________________________________________

 

______________________________________________________

 

Explain: _______________________________________________________

Activity II: Star Cards

Activity II

 

Game Show Problem Situations

 

·         You are at school and you notice that your t-shirt is on backwards.  Some other kids in your class are pointing and laughing at you.

·         You are playing a game on the computer.  Ricky comes up and says, “Why don't you ever let anyone else play that game?”

·         You are on the basketball court and you see Alex run over and hit Lee in the stomach.

·         There was one cookie left in the cupboard.  You told your sister not to eat it.  When you go to get the cookie for your snack, it is gone.

·         Today you brought in your model volcano for the science fair.  Just as you are telling your best friend to come look at it, Jorge trips and knocks it off the counter.

·         Kayla walks up to you in the hall and calls you a dork.

·         Jake spills his milk all over himself at lunch.  The other kids stop eating to laugh at him.

Activity II

Here Comes the Judge Scoring Sheet  

 

Contestants

#1

Contestants

#2

Contestants

#3

An Excellent Response

 

 

 

It will help him or her

It will not hurt anyone

He/She can do it

It will work

A Good Response

 

 

 

It will help him/her

It will not hurt anyone

A Poor Response

 

 

 

It might hurt someone

It will not help him/her

 

Activity III                                        Name __________________