One at a Time

By Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen

A friend of ours was walking down a deserted Mexican beach at sunset. As he walked along, he
began to see another man in the distance. As he grew nearer, he noticed that the local native
kept leaning down, picking something up and throwing it out into the water. Time and again he
kept hurling things out into the ocean. As our friend approached even closer, he noticed that the
man was picking up starfish that had been washed up on the beach and, one at a time, he was
throwing them back into the water.

Our friend was puzzled. He approached the man and said, "Good evening, friend. I was wondering
what you are doing."

"I'm throwing these starfish back into the ocean. You see, it's low tide right now and all of these
starfish have been washed up onto the shore. If I don't throw them back into the sea, they'll die
up here from lack of oxygen."

"I understand," my friend replied, "but there must be thousands of starfish on this beach. You can't
possibly get to all of them. There are simply too many. And don't you realize this is probably
happening on hundreds of beaches all up and down this coast. Can't you see that you can't
possibly make a difference?"

The local native smiled, bent down and picked up yet another starfish, and as he threw it back
into the sea, he replied, "Made a difference to that one!"
Jack Canfield and Mark V. Hansen

Canfield, J. & Hansen, M. V. (2001). Chicken soup for the soul. Florida: HCI Publisher. Retrieved from
http://http://www.fibrotalk.com/pdf/Chicken_Soup.pdf

Lesson Plan in English

 I. Objectives
At the end of the 45-minute lesson, the students shall be able to:
1. raise essential questions in identifying persons based on their characteristics
and notable experiences;
2. identify the features of an anecdote;
3. express the importance of one’s simple action in committing to an advocacy; and
4. write a 100-word personal anecdote based on any value or advocacy;

II. Subject Matter

Anecdote
Reference:
Canfield, J. & Hansen, M. V. (2001). Chicken soup for the soul. Florida: HCI Publisher.
Retrieved from http://http://www.fibrotalk.com/pdf/Chicken_Soup.pdf

III. Procedures

Teacher’s Activities Learners’ Activities

Good afternoon, class. Let us stand and pray. Good afternoon, Ma’am. (pray)

Motivation (5 minutes)
You may be seated. Today we are going to
discuss a type of short story. We shall have
an activity to begin today’s lesson. The title of
the activity is Name Game. Kindly read the
instructions.
Find a partner in class.
Seat with your partner but make sure your
backs will be facing each other.
One of you will be given a piece of paper with
a list of names.
The other person will have to figure out each
personality by interviewing the partner holding
the piece of paper as if he or she were the
person.
The person who will act as the personalities
will have to be seated at the right.
The pair who gets the name of the person will
have to stand together.
There are three personalities in total. The
class will guess the personalities one at a
time.

Choose a partner. Sit facing each other’s (moves)

back.

The people who will act as personalities, you (raise)

should be at the right side. Raise your hand.

Here are the personalities. Make sure your (glances)

partner will not see them.

We will act out the personalities one at a time. How many questions can we ask?
The first pair who unravels the personality
gains five points for today’s recitation. Any
question before we begin?

As many as you can until you guess the right Can we ask questions besides yes/no
person. Any more? questions?

Yes.

Wait for my cue. 1, 2, 3, go! (1. Angel Locsin)

Possible questions to be raised:
Are you male or female?
What work do you do?
Are you a local artist?
What broadcasting channel do you work for?
What is your most notable project?
(pair stands)

Who is the personality? Angel Locsin

Let’s have the next item. (2. Nelson Mandela)
Where are (were) you from?
What work do (did) you do?
What are (were) you famous for?
(pair stands)

Who is the personality? Nelson Mandela

Let’s have the last item. (3. Emma Watson)

Where are you from?
What work do you do?
What is your most famous project?
What are you known for?
(pair stands)

Who is the personality? Emma Watson

The following pairs will receive five points for They are famous people.
today’s recitation. The rest will get two points.
What is common among the three
personalities we have?

What are they famous for? They are famous for their works.
Do they belong in the same profession? No.
Therefore, what is the common denominator They are known for their advocacies.
in the things they do?

What is Angel Locsin known for? She is known for her involvement in outreach
programs promoting safety and health.

What about Nelson Mandela? He was known for upholding the rights of
 Africans during the apartheid.

And Emma Watson? She is known for her advocacies on gender

equality.
Processing (3 minutes)
Truly, these people have become influential. Asking about the person’s work helped me
In the activity, what questions about the identify who they are.
personality helped you identify who they are?

What else? Their characteristics

That’s correct. Any more? Their experiences
What kind of written work talks about a A biography
person’s life?

That’s correct. What is the story is about a (silent)

real person or real event that may be funny or
interesting.

Usually these stories are funny. They are Anecdote

often shared to another person orally.
Famous examples are stories of Rizal’s
travels.

Presentation (6 minutes)
Our lesson today is on anecdotes. Let us
read this story from Chicken Soup from the
Soul titled One at a Time. Read the guide
questions.
I shall read the narration while you follow with
your eyes. It will be your turn to read once
you see dialogues.
Analysis (5 minutes)
Let us answer the guide questions. Where is
the story set?
Where is the story set?
What caught the eye of the narrator’s friend?
What is the local native’s reason behind his
actions?
How did the narrator’s friend respond to his
action?
What did the local native do in the end?
Do you support the local native’s decision?
Why or why not?
(reads)
It happened along the beach.

What caught the eye of the narrator’s friend? A man who was throwing starfish back to the
ocean
What is the local native’s reason behind his To save the starfish from drying up on the
actions? shore and dying

How did the narrator’s friend respond to his He was surprised.

action?

Why? Because he thinks the native’s action was

pointless.

Why is it pointless? Because there are many starfish by the shore


What did the local native do in the end?
Room 101 activity
Who among you thinks he made a
difference?
What about those who disagree?
Why do you think his actions were pointless?
Is it okay to leave them there?
Anyone here who disagrees? Why do you
support the local native’s action?
Anything else?
How important is it to be like the native?
Is it okay to making small steps?
Can you think of any personality who has a
similar experience like those of Angel Locsin,
Nelson Mandela, and Emma Watson?
Why did you choose…?
Generalization (3 minutes)
Let us go back to the story. Who is or are the
narrator in the story?
Whose story are they narrating?
So is the story fictional?
What is the friend’s story based on?
Describe the length of the story.
Describe the story.
From these answers, what are the features of
an anecdote?
That’s correct.
Application (5 minutes)
Anecdotes may be interesting, but they surely
full of lessons we can learn from. Since we
so it’s impossible to save all of them.
He persisted in throwing away a starfish to
show he made a difference.
(raise hand)
(raise hand)
Yes, it is natural for starfish to be washed up
on shore.
Yes, starfish reproduce really fast.
I support his actions because it shows how
firm he is in his decision to save the starfish.
No matter how small the impact is, it is still
doing something rather than nothing.
It is important to be persistent in doing
something good for others because it will
surely be helpful.
Yes, big things come from small things.
(answer)
(explain)
Jack Canfield and Mark Hansen
A story of a friend
No.
It is based on his experience.
The story is short.
It is inspiring.
An anecdote is a short story that is amusing
or funny based on real people or events.
His advocacy is on animal preservation.
have been talking about advocacies, what do
you think is the local native’s advocacy?

Do you have an advocacy similar to the (answer)

people we have already identified?

What simple action have you done in your (answer)

commitment to your advocacy?

Why is it important to have the same attitude Your aspirations will not be achieved if we do
as the local native in committing to an not start by doing something small.
advocacy?

What attitude will you need to make your Perseverance

aspirations come true? Faith
Commitment
Patience

I hope you will put to heart these attitudes you

have enumerated.

Evaluation (5 minutes)
For our final activity which you can take
home, you will write a 100-word anecdote on
your journal. This journal should be about
your advocacy and any notable story that had
happened to you. If you do not have any
advocacy, it may be at least anything you
treasured, protected, or defended. Be
reminded that an anecdote must be based on
a real event and must be amusing,
interesting, or funny.

We shall have watch this video to inspire you (play Merkel’s video)
in writing your own story.

Any question about the activity? (raise question)

If you have no more question, we shall end

the class with this homework. Tomorrow we
will have some volunteers to read their story
to the class.