“Persisting” Mini Advisory Lesson

Objective:
Students will be able to define persistence in their own words. Students will also be
able to take their learnings and apply it to their own lives.
P.R.I.D.E.
(P) Personal Responsibility
(R) Respect
(I) Integrity
(D) Discipline
(E) Engagement
Lesson Notes/Elements
of PRIDE
Opening (2 mins.) Engagement
Integrity
Do Now Respect
 Students will be given a survey to complete upon entry into
the class that they will complete independently. Commented [WU1]: Allowing students to take this survey will
provide me with information on how they assess themselves on
their perseverance. This information can help to inform my
 Students will then answer the following two questions instruction and provide more opportunities to internalize these
traits.
(projected on the board) in their advisory journals
o How do you feel when you aren’t able to figure
something out right away?

o Name a time when you were completing a task (any

type of task) and may have gotten frustrated and
wanted to quit? What inspired you to keep going?

I will call on volunteers to share their responses to the do now

questions. Based on student’s responses, I will facilitate a Commented [WU2]: Allowing students to share their responses
to the do now questions is a wonderful way for them to share their
discussion on what these “feelings” could be called from their experiences with each other and can serve as a gateway into the
responses. lesson on character traits and values.
Introduction to New Material (20 mins.) Discipline
Engagement
I will allow students to use their smart phones or class dictionaries Respect
to look up the definition of Persist/Persisting.
 I will call on students to share their findings of the
definitions they’ve found. Later in the lesson they will
refer back to this definition in order to create their Commented [WU3]: In order to help students develop
understanding of persistence, I showed this very powerful and
own. inspirational clip from the movie Facing the Giants. This clip will
serve as a tool that I will use in my class as a reference when my
students are struggling with tasks in class or even in life. I’ve
Students will now watch the death crawl scene from the movie learned that my students are able to retain information when they
“Facing The Giants”. They will use this video to complete their have strong references they can use for guidance. This clip is
classwork activity later in the lesson. perfect because it is age appropriate and a lot of my students are
able to relate because they are athletes and it feeds into their
 This video will also serve as an example of what interests.
 persistence can look like and sound like. Students
have to understand early on that being persistent and
having a growth mindset isn’t always easy and it isn’t
always comfortable.

Before students watch the clip I will read an excerpt that will give
students the background information they need in order to fully
comprehend the video.
 A little background about the movie – Grant Taylor is the head
coach for the Shiloh Eagles high school football team. He has
been the head coach for six years. Out of all six of those years,
they have not had a single winning season. Prior to this season,
their only star player transferred to a rival school, so they are
understandably frustrated and discouraged about winning their
games. During practice, Brock is one of those discouraged
players and has basically already accepted the fact that they will
lose the next game. Here is the coaches’ response –

Clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v4dn0w6bZBM

Immediately after the video, students will discuss in their table

groups, their immediate reactions to the video. Students were
directed to discuss the following questions…
 What are your initial feelings/reactions to the video?
 Describe the insights and/or inspiration you gleaned
from these clip?
 How do you think Brock “felt” while doing this death
crawl? If you were him, how do you think you would
have felt during & after the death crawl? How did the
other players react?
 How did the video clip serve as a foundation or frame
of reference for persisting/persistence?

After students had an opportunity to discuss the video in their table

groups, I will ask each table group to share 1-2 key portions of their
discussions. Commented [WU4]: Students responded positively to the
video of Brock and his coach. Most students said that they were
inspired by the video because they could tell how much pain Brock
Guided Practice (10 mins.) Personal was in but he kept pushing. Another student added that she didn’t
Responsibility think that Brock could have made it without the motivation of his
coach. She shared how she related that to her life & the importance
While students are still in their table groups, I will give each table a Engagement of surrounding yourself with people that push you to do your best.
sheet of paper and a tablet (students can also use their phones) so Respect One of the JV football players in my class said that if all players
portrayed that “don’t quit” attitude Brock’s team would probably
students can create a list of words (synonyms) or phrases that can have a better season. After students shared their opinions and
also be used to describe persisting or persistence. thoughts about the video, I continued to drive their attention to
how persistence can “feel”. Some students begin to realize that
being persist or never giving up doesn’t always feel great while
Once students create their lists, one student from each table group you’re doing it but after all the hard work, you tend to feel
can come up to the board and write two words/phrases that their accomplished.

group recorded and put them on our class poster.

This poster will hang in our class near our “class goals board” as a
daily reminder to never give up. Commented [WU5]: This activity was done so that students
can take ownership of this value/character trait and make it
meaningful to them by using words or phrases that are relevant to
Independent Practice/Activity (15 mins.) Personal them. Also students were able to make purposeful connections to
Responsibility persisting by using words or phrases that make sense to them.

There are 5 key lessons that I want my students to take away from
the video clip. They are…
1. Don’t write a bad experience/situation off as a loss before
it’s over.
2. Don’t give up once you hit a goal.
3. Give it your very best.
4. A top performer will inspire others.
5. No matter what, always refuse to walk around defeated.

Each student will receive and complete a questionnaire that they

will do individually. Students will write about how each of the 5
lessons above related to the video clip they watched earlier and
how they can or have used this lesson in their real lives (academic,
personal, etc.,). Commented [WU6]: This activity provides students with some
personal time to reflect on the things they’ve learned about
persistence from the definition of persistence, the video, and other
Closing & Reflection (5 mins.) words and phrases they came up with. They are able to recap the
events from the movie clip and apply their new learning to their
own lives.
Students will answer the following questions on a piece of paper
(Exit ticket)…
1. What does “persisting” mean to you?
2. What can “persistence” feel like?
3. How can you apply today’s advisory lesson to your own
goals & aspirations?