SCHOOL COUNSELING LESSON PLAN

University of Maryland Eastern Shore

Lesson Plan Information:
School Counselor Candidate: Aaron Chatmon
Title of Lesson: What is Important to Me?
Grade Level: 6th
Domain(s): ___ Academic ___ Career
_X_ Personal/Social
ASCA Student Standard(s): Mindsets and Behaviors for Student Success
Check all categories that apply and list standards under each category that
is addressed in the lesson.
___ Mindset (MS)
___ Behavior: Learning Strategies (LS)
_X_ Behavior: Self-Management Skills (SMS)
_X_ Behavior: Social Skills (SS)

Maryland College and Career Readiness Standards addressed:

Personal/Social Development: Students will acquire the knowledge, attitude, and
interpersonal skills to help them understand and respect self and others.
Academic Content Area: Social Studies
Specific Skill: Relationships of the individual and groups to institutions and cultural
traditions.
Life Skills: Respect, Goal Setting, Problem Solving, Tolerance
Materials (Full citation/source for all materials used and/or modified must be provided.
Attach copies of any materials that will be given to the students):
What is Important to Me? activity sheet

Lesson Activities:
Learning Objective(s): (include Audience, expected Behavior, Conditions, and Degree of
expected performance)
Students will understanding self as an individual and as a member of a diverse local and
global communities. Identify individual strengths and areas for personal growth and good
citizenship. Make decisions and act as responsible members of society while identifying and
applying practices that preserve and enhance the safety and health of self and others.
Anticipatory Set: Hook the class on your topic with a brief activity or demonstration that
illustrates the concept you are teaching, and activates prior knowledge by helping students
relate the topic to things they already know. Examples might include summarizing the main
points of the previous lesson in the unit, a picture, a cartoon, a story, an analogy, modeling,
visualization, a role-play, a fun quiz, a statement to focus on motivation and purpose for
learning and transfer of learning, etc. It should be very brief, just long enough to pique
students interest.

Counselor brings in items of value to him or her, such as pictures of children, wedding ring,
or a $100 bill. Then the counselor asks, Why do you suppose these items are important to
me?
Instructional Process: Include both counselor procedures and student involvement. This
should be the longest part of the plan and should be a step by step instruction manual for
how to teach the lesson. The instructional process should include modeling and methods to
engage students in higher order critical thinking skills. Be sure also to check for
understanding.
1. Counselor asks, If there were a fire in your house, what three things would you pick up in
15 seconds to take with you? How do did you decide what to take? Why was that valuable to
you?
Student Responds
2. Counselor continues with the following information: Everything has some sort of value. In
our country, we often think of money as a way of measuring worth. Something may be worth
fifty cents, one hundred dollars, or one hundred thousand dollars. Worth may be measured
differently in another culture.
We also place importance on things because they fill a need. For example, we place a
priority on food, clothing, and a roof over our heads. These things are essential. A friend who
comes to see us in the hospital is important to us because of the concern shown by that
friend. Many of the things of value cannot be seen or measured. Honesty is one of those. If
you are honest, if you want others around you to be honest, and you choose to be honest
over and over then honesty is something you value. Things of value may change as we grow
and learn more about ourselves. Most things of value are learned from family, friends, and
school. Things of value to us are often different from that of our friends. This difference may
cause conflict, and you may have to make choices about your friendship or what you value.
Student will actively listen and ask questions or add comments. They will check their
own measures of
value with those the counselor identifies.
4. Counselor provides students with What Is Important to Me? activity sheet. Review the
directions with students. (Before continuing, the counselor may wish to read each item to
the students, explaining the terminology.)
Students complete the What Is Important to Me? activity sheet, making sure to
following the directions carefully.
5. The counselor pairs the students, instructs them to discuss their responses, then invites
the student-pairs to share the results of the discussion with the class.
Students explain the results of their paired discussions.
6. As a follow-up activity with the parents/guardians, the counselor may wish to attach a
note explaining the activity and inviting parents/guardians to discuss the worksheet with
their child.
Students will take the activity home for discussion with family.
Guided Practice: How will students begin to demonstrate the knowledge and/or skills
taught in the lesson, with support from the counselor?
The student will compare with a partner five values that he/she considers important. The
student will share what he/she has learned about the partners values with the class.
Essential Questions: How do you identify what is most important to you? How do you
measure value or worth? Why is it important to understand that other people may have
values that differ from your own?

Independent Practice: This can be suggested methods for school staff, classroom
teacher, or parents to reinforce what was learned, visual charts or reminders, or suggested
application of skills outside the lesson through a formal or informal assignment. The goal is
to extend and reinforce the learning beyond the lesson and into real world settings.
Discuss the counselor activity with the social studies teacher, so that whenever discussion of
cultures occurs, the class can discuss the values that different cultures hold. It is important
to emphasize that there are cultural differences, but that no one culture should be held in
higher esteem than any another.
Closure: Summarize and pull the major concepts together into a coherent whole
In closure, students must be assessed on what they accomplished, and what they learned,
demonstrated in group discussion.
Assessment/Evaluation (of learning objectives; ask, How are students different as a
result of the lesson? and specify data to be collected and method of evaluation). Examples
may include student-created artifacts, performance activities, checklists or other
assessments.
Assessment should relate to the performance outcome for goals, objectives and GLE.
Assessment can be question answer, performance activity, etc. Instructor will review activity
sheet responses from What Is Important to Me? worksheet to identify and assess
indicators of personal awareness. Students participate in question/answer/discussion during
classroom activity.

Reflection on Lesson Planning Process:

Differentiation: What did you do to differentiate the lesson for students with different
learning needs and styles?
In order to insure the successfulness of the group as it relates to educating a diverse group
of students, the lesson should be conducted using both verbal and physical displays as well
as constantly checking to see that each student understands the concepts and instructions
by repeatedly asking the students if they understand.
Theoretical and Research Base: How did you apply knowledge of counseling and/or
educational theory (for example, Banduras social modeling, Hollands career theory,
Vygotskys guided participation, etc.), prevention research (for example, increasing
protective factors, changing social norms, practicing specific skills)?
Modeling, positive self-talk, scaffolding, and positive reinforcement will be applied and
integrated into the lesson as well as increasing protective factors, changing social norms,
and practicing specific skills.
Developmental Considerations: What developmental considerations did you take into
account for the age/grade level of students when designing this lesson?
Students at this grade level range in ages from 11 to 12 and display the following
developmental attributes:
Struggling with sense of identity
Less overt affection and attention shown to parents, with occasional rudeness; tests limits
Impulsive, and unaware
Lethargic at times
Moody

Friendship with both sexes are important

More likely to express feelings by actions than words
Focus on self, alternating between high expectations and poor self-concept
Have tendency to return to childish behavior, particularly when stressed
Experience extremes of emotions
Inclusive/exclusion; height of cliques, seek to belong, discovery of telephone
Experimenting with behavior, roles, appearance, self-image
Difficulty with decisions but need to be able to make some choices for themselves
Demand privileges, but may avoid responsibilities
Feel unique; believe that no one else has ever felt the way they do; suffered so much, or
been so misunderstood
Higher-Order and Critical Thinking Skills: Using Madeline Hunters levels of thinking,
identify the levels of thinking skills students will engage in as a result of this lesson (for
example, analysis, synthesis, evaluation).
The levels of thinking skills students will engage in as a result of this lesson include; analysis
of important qualities, and evaluation of both individual and group understanding of qualities
and need for qualities.
Technology Integration: What innovative technology tools, if any, will you use in the
preparation, delivery, and/or assessment/evaluation of this lesson?
No innovative technology tools will be required for this lesson.
Collaboration and Consultation: In what ways will you collaborate with teachers,
administrators, other school staff, parents, or community members to prepare this lesson?
Collaboration with teachers will be accomplished through education of social issues
associated with this age group and the beneficial factors of appraisal and positive
reinforcement on students. Meetings and workshops will be implemented to insure teachers
and administrators understanding of these issues and beneficial efforts.

What Is Important to Me?

Name: _________________________________________

Date: _________

What is most important to you? There is no right or wrong answer. Knowing more
about what is important to you will help you know yourself better.
Directions: With a partner, read the following list of words. Be sure that each of
you understands each word. Look up the words with which you are unfamiliar. It is
not necessary to write the definitions, just understand them.
Select the five important items that you think would make the world a better place
if everyone on earth had these five important items. Mark them with an M for
me, then tell your partner why you chose these. Listen very closely as your
partner tells you his/her choices. Mark his/her choices with a P for partner. When
you have both discussed your choices, introduce your partner to the class and
explain his/her choices and why they are important to him/her.
___ religion
education

___ safety

___ family stability

___ a home
admiration

___ physical appearance ___ respect for authority ___

___ honesty

___ health

___ tradition

___ justice

___ change

___ love

___ loyalty

___ fitting in

___ money

___ free time

___ good grades

___ maturity

___ nature

___ sticking up for others ___ equality

___ freedom

___ dignity/worth
friends

___ wisdom

___ true

___ children

___

___ the elderly

___ saving for future
___ marriage

___ rules/laws

___ initiative
skill/talent

___ clubs

___ clothing

___

___ career

___ good values

___ responsibility

___ power

___ knowledge
___ attitude

___ achievement

___ respecting others

Take this activity sheet home and ask have one of your parents or guardians mark
an X next to those he or she thinks are important. Discuss how your lists are alike
and how they are different. Discuss which factors account for these similarities and
differences.