Description of the Lesson

The objective of this lesson is to teach students how to make decisions for themselves based on their own best interests rather than that of others. The lesson is taken from a book titled “Thinking, Feeling, Behaving: An Emotional Education Curriculum for Adolescents” (grades 7-12) written by Ann Vernon and published by Research Press out of Champaign, Illinois. This lesson is approximately 30-45 minutes in length depending on the level of discussion elicited by the students.

Begin the lesson by listing the following decisions on the chalkboard or overhead projector:

Decides to enlist in the army because he can’t think of anything else to do.

Decides to go to cosmetology school because all her friends are doing it.

Tries smoking dope because she’s afraid kids will make fun of her if she doesn’t.

Doesn’t stay overnight in a motel with his girlfriend and some other kids because he doesn’t feel comfortable doing it.

Has a chance to cheat on a major exam but doesn’t because he figures he’ll need to know the material later on anyway

Read all the decisions out loud to the class, or have them read them. Then, discuss which ones illustrate that the person involved was thinking ahead and acting in his or her best interests. Identify what it means to act in your best interests such as: anticipating consequences; doing what feels right for you, even though it may be different from what your peers want you to do; and looking at how you can be in charge of your life as an actor, not a reactor.

The book suggests content questions such as: Do you think kids your age usually make decisions that are in their own best interests? If they don’t, what do you think prevents them from doing so? What do you see as the payoffs for acting in one’s own best interests?

The book also suggests personalization questions such as: Is acting in your own best interests a problem for you? If so, what gets in your way, and what can you do about it? How can you apply what you have learned in this lesson to your own life?

If students learn they have choices, then they can begin to consider choices more carefully whether they relate to career decisions or decisions of a more personal/ social nature.

Connections to Related Standards, Competencies, and Domains

If used in a Career Guidance Curriculum, this lesson directly relates to Minnesota Graduation Standard Number 8, Physical Education and Lifetime Fitness, which is statute number 3501.0467 and 350110448. This lesson contributes to the category of Career Investigation by exploring how attitudes and behaviors affect the climate of a workplace. It also contributes to the Occupational Experience category by allowing the student to apply the decision-making process to real-work situations and career exploration.

This lesson is reflective of the Personal/ Social and Career domains of the MN School Counselors’ Model of Developmental Guidance and Counseling. It reflects the Personal/ Social domain by helping develop self-awareness and positive attitude toward self, develop coping skills to deal with conflict and stress of decision making, develop decision making skills so as to have the ability to generate alternatives/ assess alternatives and follow through with appropriate actions. The lesson is reflective of the Career domain by developing an awareness of the career planning process and develop an awareness of career related values and interests and how that impacts job satisfaction so as to make appropriate career choices for themselves.

In addition, the lesson relate to the National Occupational Information Coordinating Committee Standards in all three competencies. In the Self-Knowledge competency, it supports the area of “understanding the impact of growth and development”. It relates to the Educational and Occupational Exploration competency in the area of “skills to locate, evaluate, and interpret career information” as well as “skills to prepare to seek, obtain, maintain, and change jobs”. Lastly, in the Career Planning competency, it relates to the area of “skills to make decisions” and “skills in career planning”.

Reference

Vernon, A. (1989). Thinking, feeling, behaving: An emotional education curriculum for

adolescents. Champaign, Illinois: Research Press.