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Leadership Tools Lesson Plan: Stop & Think Chart

Title: Leadership Tools—Stop and Think Chart

Learning Objective: Students will create a Stop and Think Chart as a class and as individuals.

FranklinCovey Habit: FranklinCovey Leadership Tools

Habit 1: Be Proactive®

21st Century Skill: Initiative and Self-Direction

Activity Type: _X_ Individual _X_ Group ___ Homework

Source: FranklinCovey

Activity Time: 30 minutes Grade Level: K–6

Setup Student Materials Teacher Materials Review

Whiteboard

Purpose/Background

The Stop and Think Chart reinforces the principle that between stimulus and response, we have a choice,

which is part of Habit 1: Be Proactive®. To use the chart, first list the stimulus (the situation, event, etc.

that happens to you) in the box on the left. Then stop and think about how you might respond. Choose

an appropriate response and write it in the box on the right. The emphasis is on students being aware of

their ability to choose rather than react to a given situation.

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Introduction

Ask the students the following questions. (Write them on the board so students can think about them.)

Have them think about the answers and wait to share.

1. What is your first reaction when someone teases you?

2. What do you do when one of your friends is rude to you?

3. How do you react when you lose a sports game?

4. What do you do when you forget your homework?

Tell the students that many of us react emotionally and immediately to those situations; however, when

we get in a tough situation, we should just “push pause.” Ask students the function of the pause button

on a TV or MP3 player. (It allows us to take a break and come back exactly where we stopped.) Tell

students that proactive people learn to pause, get control, and think about how they want to respond.

Activity

Fill in the first box with the first situation above. Draw a pause button and ask students for appropriate

responses.

After brainstorming different options, choose a proactive response and write it in the second box. It will

be necessary to do one or two more examples, depending on the grade level and student understanding.

In groups of three or four, students will choose examples from their own life of when they were reactive

or acted instantly out of habit. They can use the questions on the board as ideas to get them started. As a

group, students will come up with proactive responses and choose the one they’ll try to do the next time

they are faced with a similar situation. You should circulate and listen to students’ ideas.

Wrap-Up

Come back together as a class. On the board, write students’ ideas of proactive responses. Point out that

these responses can be used in many situations.

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Assessment

Students will be assessed based on their oral participation during whole-class and small-group discussions.

Extensions & Integrations

You may select alternate topics to teach this tool, depending on the grade level and group of students.

This tool can be used whenever you want to talk to students about being proactive. It can be used to talk

about behavioral issues that arise during the year. Students can search for instances of the concept in

literary characters or historical figures.