Content Focus: Executive functioning skills with a focus on flexible thinking

Language Focus: Social-Emotional & Writing

Vocabulary Focus: Flexible Thinking – the ability to consider things in new ways, adapt to change, and solve problems

Standards: Wisconsin Social & Emotional Learning Competencies

• 6-8 Emotional Development, Self-Management 2 – Learners will be able to express their emotions in an appropriate and respectful manner using a variety of modalities (e.g., verbal and nonverbal).
• 6-8 Emotional Development, Self-Management 3 – Learners will be able to identify what triggers a strong emotion and apply an appropriate calming or coping strategy to defuse the emotional trigger.
• 6-8 Self-Concept, Self-Awareness, Self-Management 11 – Learners will be able to identify successes and challenges, and how they can learn from them.
• 6-8 Social Competence, Social Awareness 12 – Learners will be able to show respect for other people’s perspectives.

Arts Integration: Students will illustrate a short story written by a peer without knowing who the author of the story is and without collaborating with the author. Students can illustrate using an style of illustration that is comfortable to them. This can include paper and pencil drawing with color using markers, crayons, or colored pencils, or students can use technology to create their illustrations with programs like Canva.

Lesson Objectives: Students will illustrate a peer’s story without collaborating with the author to demonstrate flexible thinking.

Activities: 

• Brainstorm ways that flexible thinking is used throughout the day? at school? at home? on the weekend?
• Writing Activity 1 – Students receive a story starter and will write for 1 minute. When the time is up, have students fold their paper over their writing so that only the last line of their writing is showing. Then have them pass to the person on their right. This person now has to write for a minute only reading the last line of what the last student wrote. When the time is up, they now have to fold the paper to the last line that they have written, then pass the paper to the person on their right. Continue this routine 2-3 more times. When the activity is done, pass back to original author to read story. Ask for volunteers to share their stories (they may be silly!) Discuss how they needed to have flexible thinking during this activity. How could this relate to everyday life and using flexible thinking?
• Writing Activity 2 – Students will write for a story for 10-20 minutes using a story starter. Encourage them to use describing words throughout their story so when their reader reads the story, it paints a picture in their mind. Collect the stories after the time is up.
• Illustrating Stories – Students will pick a story written by a peer and will illustrate the story how they choose based on how they read it. They may choose to illustrate the whole story, a character of the story, or a part of the story. Students can use paper and pencil, colored pencils, or markers, or they could use technology to illustrate their stories with programs like Canva or Google Slides. They will illustrate the story without collaborating with the author.

Engagement/Introduction: Students will share about an event that didn’t go the way that was planned and how they reacted to the change in plans (example: I was looking forward to going to Bay Beach one day this summer with my family and on the day we planned to go, it was raining and cold so my family decided to go another day.) Discuss student reactions to the changes in the plans that were made and how they needed to be flexible in their thinking.

Assessment Procedure:

• Formative – Student participation in class discussions about flexible thinking and how it can be used in different situations.
• Formative – Student engagement and participate in first writing activity, using flexible thinking to be able to continue writing a story not knowing what their peers have written before them.
• Summative – Assess the students’ ability to illustrate a peer’s story in a creative way using their own perspective after reading a story written by a peer, not collaborating with the author.
• Summative – Assess the students’ ability to receive the illustration back from their original story and respectfully accept the artwork from the illustrator’s perspective

Materials: paper, pencils, markers, colored pencils, crayons, access to Canva & Google Slides on computers (optional)

Supporting Documents: Presentation

Contact: Becky Gibson (gibsonrebecca@aasd.k12.wi.us)