Resolution Slogan Lesson: Goal Writing with a Twist

"Why ask our students to have a New Year Resolution? Why ask them to write a slogan about it?" I asked myself on the last days of our winter break.

In education, our goal is to help students develop into emotionally, socially, and academically mature citizens. A New Year Resolution allows students to have a voice and choice in their development. This increases engagement and encourages relationships with others with similar goals. We often use motivational posters to remind us of our goals, and students can write their own slogans to remind them of their voice and the resolution. It is also an introduction to analyzing media around them.

I share my story of developing this lesson at the bottom.

Objectives:
Students will be able to:
-develop goals.
-produce clear and coherent slogans.
-create visual displays to represent their goals.

Materials Needed:
Examples of slogans
Scratch paper 
Pencils
Example motivational posters
Poster making materials

Steps to Complete:

1.  Ask students what they know about "resolutions" (you can specifically relate to New Year's resolutions, if appropriate) 
2. Discuss with students the importance of developing socially, emotionally, and academically.
3. Help students develop goals for the year. (If you are familiar, you can help them develop SMART goals) Use teacher-think-aloud in developing a goal of your own.
4. Striving for our goals requires hard working and motivation. One strategy for motivation is using slogans. Either share the example slogans you have or develop a list as a class.
5. Using scratch paper, have students write rough drafts of their own slogans. 
6. Have students share their favorite slogans.
7. Share with students motivational posters. 
8. Ask students: How do these posters grab our attention? What is memorable about these posters? How to visuals/colors relate to the phrases?
9. Tell students that they want to mimic these strategies with their own motivational posters.
10. Using craft supplies, have students create visuals of their posters to display in the classroom.

Here are some example posters in the works by my students.

Inspiration for the Lesson:
Winter break is often a time of reflection and recharging for school teachers. I am no different and found myself wanting to make changes to better the rest of the school year. Sometimes we get dragged down by politics, having too much to do, and other forms of stress. While thinking about the changes to come to education in the upcoming years and what we can do to improve our school systems, I found this article from The Atlantic: "When Finland's Teachers Work in America's Public Schools". 

I related to the feelings of the Finnish teachers. I shared it on my Facebook wall and asked my teacher friends to respond. One shared with me how she combats the "rushing" through the day: Mindfulness. I'm not an expert on the meditation of being in the moment, but I will be learning more (I even purchased Meena Srinivasan's Teach, Breath, Learn: Mindfulness In and Out of the Classroom).

This led to my New Year's Resolution: Enjoy the little moments. Don't let fear or frustration overcome joy. Hopefully 2017 will be a better year by developing my sense of mindfulness.

Recently I read Robin Arzon's Shut Up and Run. She uses her book to motivate others to do "epic $h!t". One of her strategies includes developing a slogan. Before reading this, I know this works because I had many running mantras for myself. Sometimes it was "The faster I run, the sooner I'm done." Sometimes I look at my Nike headband and tell myself to "Just do it." Slogans can be motivating.

I connected this to my goal of Mindfulness. I wanted to write a slogan that I can remind myself with.

Being healthy socially, emotionally, and physically requires setting goals and developing healthy habits. Our students learn through our example, so of course I needed to share this with my 6th graders and let them practice with me!