SpiritualityCuriositySelf-RegulationHonestyKindnessLove of LearningTeamworkAppreciation of Beauty and ExcellenceOverviewCharacter Strengths
  • Spirituality - Novice High

    • Spirituality - Novice High

    Positive Psychology Learning Outcomes: Students will make connections outside of themselves and think deeply about who they are and their purpose for life. Language Learning Outcomes: Students will create sentences using the future tense “will” and explain new vocabulary words associated to the topic.

    Lesson Information

    Positive Psychology Learning Outcomes

    Students will...

    1. make connections outside of themselves.
    2. think deeply about who they are and their purpose for life.

    Language Learning Outcomes

    Students will... 

    1. create sentences using the future tense “will.”
    2. explain new vocabulary words associated to the topic. 

    Materials Needed

    Overview

    Explain to students that today they are going to learn about spirituality. What is it? Look up definitions online and brainstorm together a class definition.

    Activate Background Knowledge

    Give students two or three minutes to think about the question: Who am I? They can write it down and then share it with a partner or small group.

    Activity 1: Vocabulary

    What is a connection? Review the vocabulary word first. The first step to spirituality is connecting to something more than just yourself. 

    • Show students any chosen picture of nature and art, and also play a classical song while they look at these pictures. Have them think about how these images and music make them feel. 
      • What does it connect them to? 
    • They can shout out rapid answers to help other classmates brainstorm and think of more ideas. 

    Activity 2: Speaking

    What does it mean to imagine something? Review the vocabulary word “imagine” first. Then introduce the future tense by using “will.” 

    • Will is an auxiliary verb, which means that it always comes before another verb to make the future tense.
      • Format: subject+”will”+base verb+(object)
        • Example: I will finish my homework next week.
      • Elicit some other simple examples using “will” before starting the activity
    • .Students are going to perform “The Deathbed Test.
      • ”Have them imagine their BEST selves in 10 years: What will they do? Who will they be? How will they feel? Where will they be? 
      • Share their answers with a partner.

    https://youtu.be/bNnFFKv_NyI 

    Activity 3: Reading/Writing

    What are values? Review the vocabulary word first. 

    • Discovering values: have students use this worksheet  Values: Self-Exploration to guide them on the most basic values. They can use these rating charts to help them decide what values are most important to them.
      • Note: the questions for each value may be too difficult or time consuming; these can be skipped.
    • After they have rated on scales 1-5, have students share with a small group what they think their top three values are and why.

    Activity 4: Speaking

    What is a role-model? Review the vocabulary word first.

    • Show some examples of a spiritual role-model such as Ghandi or Mother Theresa. This is someone who has good values and character strengths such as love, compassion, forgiveness, honesty, temperance, patience, etc.
    • Let students pick their own role-model. They will spend a few minutes finding a picture and preparing a short presentation to summarize the following:
      • Who is this person? 
      • What did this person do in his/her life that shows good values or character strengths?
      • What do you want to do to be like this person?
    • Depending on the class size, the students can all take turns presenting for the class as a whole, or for a smaller group.

    Homework

    Students will perform at least one act of service everyday this week; these can be big or small. They will write down what they did and how it made them feel. They should come prepared to share at the end of the week.

    Follow-Up

    Tuesday: 

    Positive Affirmations

    • What are positive affirmations? Brainstorm a few examples together. 
      • Note: The grammar here is incorrect but it essentially means “You are kind. You are smart. You are important.”
      • Here is a famous example from the book the Help, “You is kind. You is smart. You is important.”
    • Have students write one positive affirmation about themselves. Then, write one about a partner. Share their affirmation with their partner.

    Wednesday:

     Mindfulness Journal Freewrite

    • Give students five minutes to freewrite about how they are feeling in the moment, something good that happened to them recently, and/or what they are grateful for.

    Thursday:

     Acts of Service Recap

    • Give students a few minutes to share with the class what they did, felt, and learned from doing service this week.

    This content is provided to you freely by EdTech Books.

    Access it online or download it at https://edtechbooks.org/PositivePsychologyintheClassroom/spirituality_novice_high.