---
title: Climbing a Mountain
description: Students will create a comic to demonstrate how they overcame an obstacle.
image: https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/climbing_a_mountain-001-1.png
---

**Subject: SEL (Social-Emotional Learning)**

**Lesson Length: 1 - 2 hours**

**Topic: Growth Mindset, Perseverance**

**Grade Level: 10, 11, 12, 9**

**Standards / Framework: **

- [CASEL: SOCIAL-AWARENESS](https://casel.org/fundamentals-of-sel/what-is-the-casel-framework/#interactive-casel-wheel)

**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.

**Resources:**

- Comic to print or display: [Comic](https://share.pixton.com/q0xep1f).
- Graphic Organizers: 
    - [Draw Then Write](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/Printables/Graphic%20Organizers_10.pdf)
    - [Stop and Think!](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/Printables/Graphic%20Organizers_12.pdf)
- Videos: 
    - [Overcoming Obstacles](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MGMvEnoD6U) by Steven Claunch
    - [Perseverance](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NL4BGjzupCA)- A 2D Animated Short Film by Transformation Studios
- Book: It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini

**Suggested Content:**

- [![](https://img.pixton.com/content-pack/2078531138872651776/thumbnail.png) High School ](https://content.pixton.com/high-school)
- [![](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/thumbnail-iammalala.png) I Am Malala ](https://content.pixton.com/i-am-malala)
- [![](https://img.pixton.com/content-pack/1629219927607123968/thumbnail.png) Dystopia ](https://content.pixton.com/dystopia)
- [![](https://img.pixton.com/content-pack/1725508963123990528/thumbnail.png) Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea ](https://content.pixton.com/twenty-thousand-leagues-under-the-sea)
- [![](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/thumbnail-signofbeaver-2.png) The Sign Of The Beaver ](https://content.pixton.com/the-sign-of-the-beaver)
- [![](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/thumbnail-ghost.png) Ghost ](https://content.pixton.com/ghost)

**Suggested Story Starters:**

- [ Personal Narrative ](https://story-starters.pixton.com/parts-of-a-story-personal-narrative)
- [ Why I Missed School ](https://story-starters.pixton.com/missed-day-of-school)

Assign Activity

## Related Ideas

[![](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/shape_riddles-001.png)](https://ideas.pixton.com/shape-riddles)

### [Shape Riddles](https://ideas.pixton.com/shape-riddles)

In this lesson, students will craft riddles to describe 2D shapes based on their points, angles, and lines.

[![](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/new_student_read_write-001-1.png)](https://ideas.pixton.com/greeting-a-new-student)

### [Greeting a New Student](https://ideas.pixton.com/greeting-a-new-student)

After learning how to greet people in the target language, students will read a sample conversation comic and make a comic of their own.

[![](https://ideas.pixton.com/hubfs/state_your_case-001.png)](https://ideas.pixton.com/state-your-case)

### [State Your Case!](https://ideas.pixton.com/state-your-case)

Students will create a comic expressing an opinion with reasons to support the opinion.