Climbing a Mountain

At a Glance

Grades:	10, 11, 12, 9
Subject:	SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)
Topic:	Growth Mindset, Perseverance
Lesson Length:	1 - 2 hours

Standards / Framework:

Brief Description

Students will demonstrate how they overcame an obstacle.

Know Before You Start

Students should have a challenging situation in mind that they are willing to share with the class.

Hook

Ask students:
- “What strategies have you used to problem-solve when you are stuck?”
- “What is a growth mindset?”
- “What is resilience?”

Activity

Have students independently reflect on a challenge that they recently overcame and the steps they took to overcome it.
Have students create a comic that tells their personal success story.
Set up a gallery walk and have students examine the comics from each of their classmates.
- While looking at the comics, students should write down strategies that their peers carried out to move past the challenging situation.

Closure

Record the strategies shared by students on an anchor chart or sharable online document while students share their findings with the class.
Empathize that it is easy to give up when you’re faced with seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
- Discuss the benefits and the growth mindset that can occur when people overcome a tough task, e.g., self-discovery, improving problem-solving skills, etc.

Differentiation

Allow students to use the speech-to-text feature.
Allow students to work in pairs or groups as needed.
Allow students to use the voiceover to read their comics aloud.
Provide a list of common challenging situations for students in grades 9-12 that students can select from if they do not have one to use for the activity.

Comic to print or display: Comic.
Graphic Organizers:
- Draw Then Write
- Stop and Think!
Videos:
- Overcoming Obstacles by Steven Claunch
- Perseverance- A 2D Animated Short Film by Transformation Studios
Book: It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini