LESSON PLAN – Changes I Have Made

Theme – Managing Transitions

CAREER SKILLS – Career Management

KEY SKILLS – Communication, Working With Others, Improving Own Learning and Performance.

WORK RELATED LEARNING – Learning For Work

COMPETENCIES – *ai, *aii, *aiii, *bi, *ci, *di, **eii, **eiii, **eiv, **evi, ***fiv, ***Ii, ***kiv, ****mi

SUGGESTED SUBJECT AREA – Personal Development, English, Social Studies,

Learning Outcomes

By completing this task students will be able to:

 Gather and record information about Transition.

 Create a personal checklist for coping with future changes.

Preparation and Materials

 Copies of the Activity Sheet “Changes I Have Made” for each student.
 Blackboard/flipchart.
 Teachers’ Notes as a prompt for discussion.
 This activity could be sensitive for some students who have experienced difficult or personal changes
in their lives. Students should be grouped in secure pairs to ensure a beneficial outcome and care
should be taken when asking for voluntary feedback to the rest of the class.
 This could link to “timeline” lesson plan.

Method

1. Move students into working pairs.

2. Give out the Activity Sheet.
3. Explain the aims of the lesson using the learning outcomes on the Activity Sheet.
4. Explain the meaning of transition and milestones.
5. Ask the students to record individually some of the milestones/changes (question 1) they have
experienced which they are happy to talk about with their partner. Encourage partners to help each
other and discuss their milestone/changes.
6. Ask for some volunteers to tell the class one or two things from their lists and use the Teachers’ Notes
to promote the discussion.
7. Continue asking students to complete the rest of the sheet, one question at a time, discussing with their
partner and giving voluntary feedback to the rest of the class.
8. When students give feedback on question 5, list any strategies they could use to cope with these
changes on the blackboard/flipchart and discuss.
9. Ask the students what they have learned from the lesson.
10.Summarise the main learning outcomes.
TEACHERS’ NOTES – Changes I Have Made
Prompts and Sample Answers

1. List of milestones/changes in your life

Explain this is anything that created a difference in their lives temporarily or permanently. Things that they
have had to cope with or things that have made their lives better.

EXAMPLES
Moved house, changed school, got a baby brother/sister, broke leg/went to hospital.

Some students may have recorded the same experience but have different feelings about it.

2. Time for Junior High/Secondary School

a.) Any concerns you had

EXAMPLES
No friends, new teachers, big school, difficult subjects

b.) list any things you looked forward to

EXAMPLES
New friends, new subjects, sports, outings, clubs

Some students may have recorded similar things under the two headings

3. How have you coped?

Try asking the ones who coped well what they did that helped them (question 4)

4. What did you do that helped you cope?

EXAMPLES
Visited the school with elementary class/ asked friends about the new school/ asked teachers for
help.

5. changes you will have in the future?

EXAMPLES
New subjects, part time job, join club, go on works experience, leave school, go to college, leave
home.

6. Ways to cope with change

EXAMPLES
Think about the change before it happened, find out as much about it as possible, talk to people
who know, be prepared for the good and the bad, get help if you need it.
Learning Outcomes: by completing this task you will be able to:

 Gather and record information about transition.

 Create a personal checklist for coping with future changes.

ACTIVITY SHEET – Changes I Have Made

A transition is a passage from one state or condition to another.

1. List of milestones/changes in your 2. Time for Junior High/Secondary

life School
a.) Any concerns you had

b.) Any things you looked forward to

3. How well have you coped? 1. What did you do that helped you
cope?
Very well

OK

Just about

5. Changes you will make in the 6. Ways to cope with change

future