Year 3, Lesson 1.1: Welcome Back to The Good Project Lesson Plans

Unit Learning Goal

Students will explore what it means to be a good citizen in different contexts—including local, national, and global—and will examine how responsibilities to self, others, and society shape ethical decision-making and civic identity.

Lesson Goal

Students will be able to agree upon classroom norms, refresh their knowledge of the purposes of these lessons, and begin to work together using discussion routines.

Assessment

  • Monitor students’ questions for understanding of the purposes of The Good Project’s lesson plans. 

  • Observe students’ level of comfort with the classroom climate and discussion activities.

  • Analyze Exit Tickets to determine students’ reactions to the class.

Casel Alignment

Self-Awareness, Relationship Skills

Portfolio Documentation

Resources

Prerequisites

Years 1 and 2 of The Good Project Lesson Plans

Total Time

45 minutes

Instructions

  • New Students: It’s possible that you have some returning students and some new students joining the class. New students may benefit from reading through The Good Project Core Concepts or watching the brief Core Concept Videos.

    Fresh Starts: Do you have returning students, or a class of mostly the same students from Years 1 and 2?

    Use your best judgment on how much to review the material from Years 1 and 2 of the Lesson Plans, the amount of time to spend on establishing classroom norms, practicing thinking routines and/or effective dialogue. 

1. Opening: Why are we learning about “good work?” [5 minutes]

  • Share the handout (or present on the class projection screen) “An Introduction to The Good Project Lesson Plans” with students.

  • Emphasize the section on what to expect each year of the program and the learning objectives for this third year. 

    • The first year was more introspective (e.g., “what does good work mean to me?”), while this second year was about considering how to do good work as a professional (e.g., “How can I prepare to do good work in my future career?). This third year will focus on the impact that we have on the larger community and society as a whole (e.g., “How do the choices I make at work impact those outside of my inner circle?”)

  • Read through the handout together as a class, making sure to give students a chance to ask questions along the way.

OPTIONAL

Show the 3-minute video below (an overview of The Good Project).

2. Practice Discussion Skills. [10 minutes]

  • The following activities are suggestions for how to foster community and encourage open dialogue in the classroom. Please feel free to select other activities that best serve your specific classroom and students. 

  • Remind students that in this course, there are a lot of conversations with peers 1-1, in small groups, and as a class. In part, this is a way for them to work out their own ideas of what “good work” means to them but also learn how others may think differently. Learning how to have constructive conversations is a valuable skill for school, work, and life. 

  • Select one of the activities described below to give students a sense of the types of discussions they will have while learning about good work.

  • From the Project Zero Website

    Split the class into groups of 3.

    Explain to students that they will be working in small groups for the next 5 minutes.

    As a group, students will answer the following three questions:

    • What do you think you know about Good Citizenship?

    • What questions or puzzles do you have about Good Citizenship? 

    • How might you explore your puzzles about Good Citizenship?

    Next, take 5 minutes, as a class, to come together and share out.

    Follow-up question: Did anyone’s answers change or evolve after hearing from their peers?

  • From The Cult of Pedagogy

    Begin by putting students into pairs. Ask them to spend one minute each responding to the question :

    • “What does it mean to be a “good citizen”

    After each pair has had a chance to discuss their ideas, the pair joins another pair, creating a group of four. Pairs share their ideas, for one minute each, with the pair they just joined.

    Next, groups of four join together to form groups of eight, and so on, until the whole class is joined up in one large discussion.

    After 8 minutes (or sooner, if the class joins into one large group before 8 minutes), ask the class to come back together and share their thoughts on the activity. Ask the class:

    • What did you notice during this activity?

    • Did your original thoughts about what it means to be a “good citizen” change or evolve after talking with more pairs? 

    This is a great way to warm up before larger class discussions and something you can use throughout the year.

  • This game is from HealthyNativeYouth.org.

    Players pass sounds around the circle, each with a unique rule:

    • WHOOSH passes to the right or left, always continuing in the same direction.

    • BANG reverses the WHOOSH and sends it back in the opposite direction.

    • POW passes across the circle to whomever you’re pointing at.

    Pro Tips:

    • Go fast. Mistakes and confusion are part of the fun.

    • You can add physical gestures along with the sounds:

      • WHOOSH with both hands in the direction of the next player,

      • BANG with your arms held up in an X, and

      • POW while pointing and clapping across the circle.

    • Once you get good at the game, find ways to make it challenging again by adding restrictions or new rules.

    • Common restrictions are that you can’t BANG a BANG or BANG a POW.

3. Portfolio and Rubrics. [10 minutes]

  • Explain to students that while a lot of the activities in class will involve discussion and working with others, you will now go over how you will be collecting and assessing the individual work they do throughout the course.

  • Explain to students what The Good Work Portfolio will be used for:

  • The Good Work Portfolio is a place to collect your classwork, homework, and other items that demonstrate your thinking, and to hold it all in one place. You and your teacher will review your portfolio at the end of each unit, to assess how your work and thinking is evolving.

  • The Good Work portfolio can be hardcopy (e.g., a folder, binder or notebook) or electronic (e.g., a Google drive or SharePoint folder), or any form that is convenient for the educator and students.

  • Students from previous years should take 5 minutes to look through their portfolios from years past. New students should be able to look along with students from year 1 and/or year 2, to get a sense of what was covered and what types of materials are included in the portfolios.

  • Share with students the list below of what should be included in The Good Work Portfolio.

  1. All journal entries and other written reflections.

  2. All completed worksheets.

  3. All completed homework assignments.

  4. Notes from class activities.

  5. A metacognitive artifact in which students look at their portfolio at the conclusion of the program and reflect on their personal learning journey (e.g., written reflection, concept map, video, etc.).

  6. Any other material that a student may feel is tied to or is a representation of their understanding of “good work” (e.g., images, objects, etc.).

  • Next, share with students the Year 3 Good Work Portfolio Checklist. This checklist includes all activities expected to be collected in the portfolio. Each student should save their checklist in the same folder as their completed assignments so that they can reference the list and make note of any missing assignments.

  • Finally, share with students the rubrics for each of the 4 units for this year. Explain to students that they should keep these rubrics in their Good Work Portfolios, and that they will be referencing them during the end of unit self-reflections.

4. Set classroom expectations and norms. [10 minutes]

  • Explain to students how you will be fitting the lessons into your class (i.e., How often will you be including the lessons in your class–daily, weekly, biweekly? How are these lessons related to your class or subject matter? How will you be evaluating student work?). 

  • Share with students your expectations of them. This can be a list you’ve already created that is projected on a screen for the class or one you write out on the board in real time. Some ideas include:

    • Your expectations of their participation (e.g., engaging in class discussions).

    • Respectful talk (there will be opportunities for those with differing opinions to engage with one another, how will differences be handled?)

    • Any expectations logistics such as attendance, tardiness, staying on task, completing assignments, etc.

  • If you have a class of mostly returning students, share the list of norms from previous years. Ask students, both returning and new, if they would like to make any adjustments to the list.

  • As part of a class discussion, invite students to add to this list of norms.

  • Before the next class, summarize the list of norms and share it back with students so that they can ask any clarifying questions.

  • This guide by Cornell University’s Center for Teaching Innovation is a helpful resource. Also, there are a few examples from educators who have taught these lessons below.

  • "We used a PowerPoint presentation to engage students in the focused discussion. This is the very first conversation, so to get their attention we thought it would be good to have a visual learning tool."

  • “I am in a Heritage Speaker Spanish class in which the students are learning English and comfortable in Spanish… I am allowing my students to communicate (read, write, discuss, report) in both languages. “

  • “I made a visual for my class, each pupil has one, so the pupils can tell me how they are doing without having to put their hand up. Some of our pupils were reluctant to get help before I introduced this. It works for all years.”

5. Closing and Exit Ticket. [5 minutes]

  • Students will reflect on this introductory class. They will then make a claim about (or give an explanation for, or offer an interpretation of) the topic of Good Citizenship

  • They will then identify support (things you see, feel, know) for their claim. 

  • They will then ask a question related to their claim or the supports. What isn’t explained?

  • You may collect the handout to assess their understanding of the class

  • Return this handout to students at the start of the next class. 

  • Keep the written reflection for the Good Work Portfolio.

This lesson is based on the introductory lesson created by Katerine Hurtatiz Espinosa, an educator at Saint George’s School in Bogota, Colombia. The Good Project thanks Katerine for sharing her work with our project.