Overcoming Obstacles
Lesson:

Full Group (discussion by teacher with student participation)
1.   Explain to students that even the best-laid plans can meet with unexpected challenges and obstacles. Some of the most common obstacles are:

• Procrastination
• Distraction
• Boredom
• Fear of failure
2.   Explain that even Ann and Liv, experienced explorers who have a very good plan and a great support system, have run into obstacles. Ask students what obstacles Ann and Liv might have faced on the trek across Antarctica (and could they might do to overcome the obstacles):

• Trouble getting the money necessary to make the trip (ask big companies to sponsor them in exchange for advertising)

• Equipment breaking down (learn how to repair things, use something else as a replacement)

• Injuries (Ann and Liv know how to do CPR, how to stitch up a cut, etc.)

• Lack of wind (pull the sleds themselves, get up even in the middle of the night if the wind starts to blow)
3.   Explain to students that while obstacles are common, there are some things they can do to keep themselves motivated and making progress. Here are a few:

• Get started. Often, once you begin, you'll find the task is easier than you expect.
 
Grade Levels: K-6
Time: 1-2 class periods
Materials:

  • None
Objectives:

Students will:

* Understand that even the best-laid plans can meet with unexpected challenges/obstacles.
* Learn about common obstacles and how to overcome them.
* Learn about the obstacles Ann and Liv face and how they overcome them.

The “lead” between the ice presents a tough obstacle that Ann and her teammates had to overcome in order to be the first team to dogsled to the North Pole in 1986.

   

• Break your task into smaller tasks. Take one big task and break it into smaller tasks. For instance, do five math problems rather than your entire assignment.

• Work with the time you have. Don't wait until you have time to do the entire thing. Instead, even if you only have five minutes, get started.

• Set small deadlines. After meeting each deadline, give yourself a reward. For example, an ice cream cone when you finish an hour of studying.

• Set anti-deadlines. If you don't finish your homework by 8:00, you can't watch your favorite TV program.

• Eliminate distractions. Turn off the TV. Don't answer the phone.

• Ask for help. Sometimes, the reason you don't start is because you don't know what to do. If that's the case, ask for help.

• Begin now. What one thing can you do right now that will move you closer to your goal?


Group Exercise
    Inspirational quotes and stories of other who have overcome great odds can go a long way in motivating students to keep working toward their goals, despite the obstacles they may face. Have students find their own inspirational quotes and write them on a sheet of paper. Have them put the sheet of paper where they'll see it often.

Here are some quotes to help them get started:
   

"I have learned as a rule of thumb never to ask whether you can do something. Say instead, that you are doing it. Then fasten your seat belt. The most remarkable things follow." Julia Cameron, author, Choice

"If you risk nothing then you risk everything." Geena Davis, author, Choice

"If you're determined and you persevere, there really isn't anything you can't do." Tracy Mattes, world-class hurdler

"I don't want to waste my life on the frivolous." Jewel, singer

"You don't have to be great to get going, but you have to get going to be great." Les Brown, author, speaker

"I've always felt that within myself, I can find a way to win." Joe Montana, pro football player

"At any moment I could start being a better person but which moment should I choose?" Ashleigh Brilliant, author, artist

"All serious daring starts from within." Eudora Welty, author

"Shoot for the moon, even if you miss, you will land among the stars." Anonymous

"Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadows." Helen Keller, blind and deaf American essayist

"Whether at school with your studies or at the park on a swing, you can use your imagination to explore your dreams and name every day a new and wonderful adventure in life." John Glenn, former astronaut, former U.S. Senator

"Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." Thomas Edison, scientist

"Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration." Thomas Edison, scientist

"Before you begin a thing, remind yourself that difficulties and delays quite impossible to foresee are ahead. If you could see them clearly, naturally you could do a great deal to get rid of them, but you can't. You can only see one thing clearly and that is your goal. Form a mental vision of that and cling to it through thick and thin." Kathleen Norris, American writer If at first you don't succeed, try, try, again.

" American proverb "Life is accepting what is and working from that." Gloria Naylor, American writer Resources:

• Beat Procrastination and Make the Grade: The Six Styles of Procrastination and How Students Can Overcome Them by Linda Sapadin with Jack Maguire (New York: Penguin USA, 1999). This book identifies six styles of procrastination and offers a specific program for each style designed to help students unlearn self-destructive behaviors and realize their full academic potential.

• Making Every Day Count: Daily Readings for Young People on Solving Problems, Setting Goals, & Feeling Good About Yourself by Pamela Espeland and Elizabeth Verdick (Minneapolis: Free Spirit Publishing Inc., 1998). A year's worth of daily inspiration, affirmation, and advice helps students face challenges, plan for the future, and appreciate their wonderful and unique qualities.

• The Contender by Robert Lipsyte (Sparrow Bush, NY: Carousel, 1991). In this inspiring novel, a young man, Alfred Brooks, struggles against the pitfalls in his life in Harlem´drugs, crime, violence and poverty´and learns important life lessons while on the path to becoming a champion boxer.

• Danger Zone by David Klass (New York: Scholastic Paperbacks, 1998). This award-winning sports novel tells how young basketball star Jimmy Doyle prevails over a number of obstacles including racism and neo-Nazi threats as a member of American's teen "dream team" in European play-offs.

• Mama I Want to Sing by Vy Higginsen with Tonya Bolden (New York: Scholastic, 1992). The 1940s African-American heroine of this book becomes the star of the Mt. Calvary Full Gospel Church choir and decides to pursue her dream of singing professionally. Her determination in the face of adversity leads to her success as a pop star with a Broadway smash.


 

Teachers will assess:

  *  Student's understanding of obstacles and how to overcome them.



 

 
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