Accomplishment

April

4th Grade

Accomplishment: To complete a task successfully; an achievement.

Purpose: To teach students to understand the importance of working hard to achieve an accomplishment

Quotes:

“It is not so important who starts the game but who finishes it.”

John Wooden

“It’s how you deal with failure that determines how you achieve success.”

David Feherty

Materials: each student should have a piece of notebook paper for the final activity

Activity 1

  1. Ask students if they know what the word accomplishment means?
  2. Next give the students the definition of accomplishment.

(Completing a task until you can do it successfully)

  1. Ask the students to share some of their accomplishments.

(sports, school, clubs, family)

  1. Share some stories of YOUR accomplishments. You can even share a story of when you were their age & what you remember accomplishing, such as learning to ride bike without training wheels or learning how to whistle.

Activity 2

Read the following clues to the class and see if they can guess who achieved accomplishment after many failures.

1. Politician: Ran for political office seven times and was defeated each time.

Answer: Would you have given up on politics if you had been defeated 7 times in your run for political office? Any guesses as to who it was? I’m glad that Abraham Lincoln didn’t give up. He was defeated for legislature, defeated for speaker, defeated for nomination to Congress, defeated for Senate, defeated for nomination to Vice Presidency, defeated again for Senate. Yet he hung in there and succeeded in becoming the 16th, and one of the most respected, presidents of the United States.

2. Cartoonist: All he wanted to do was to sketch cartoons. He applied with a Kansas City newspaper. The editor said, "It’s easy to see from these sketches that you have no talent." No studio would give him a job. He ended up doing publicity work for a church in an old, dilapidated garage.

Answer: And what about the cartoonist whom no one would hire? The one who was told that he had no talent? The old garage he worked in was in such bad shape that it had mice. One day, he sketched one of those mice. Any guesses as to the name of that mouse? The mouse one day became famous as "Mickey Mouse." The artist, of course, was Walt Disney.

3. Writer: His first children’s book was rejected by 23 publishers.

Answer: The writer whose children’s book was rejected by 23 publishers? Take a wild guess…. Dr. Seuss. By the way, the 24th publisher sold six million copies.

4. Inventor: In the first year of marketing his new soft drink, he sold only 400 bottles.

Answer: The soft drink that sold only 400 bottles its first year? Coca Cola.

5. Athlete: As a baseball player, he struck out more than any player in the history of baseball: 1,330 times.

Answer: The baseball player who held the strike-out record? He also held, for many years, the home run record. His name is Babe Ruth.

Follow up discussion to activity 2:

How did these people show accomplishment?

How do you think these people felt when they failed so many times?

What do you think they had to do in order to overcome their failures?

Explain this: You can become either "bitter" or "better" from tragedies. And the only difference between these two words is the letter "i". "I"have the choice as to whether to grow or wither from my tragedies.

Activity 3

1. What are examples of accomplishments that fourth graders might have?

2. Why is it important to accomplish the goals you set for yourself?

3. Come up with one goal that you want to accomplish before the end of this school year. Write it down and explain how you will achieve this accomplishment. Place this piece of paper in the front of your notebook so you can see it everyday and remind yourself everyday to keep working towards your goal.

4. Have the students share their goals

Closing: Tell students that this is the last character education lesson. Remind them to continue working towards their accomplishment. If they reach their goal by the end of the school year as you instructed them do, then tell them to set a goal for the summer. (read a certain number of books, do a special chore for your parents each day, etc…)

Lesson Plan Evaluation

Character Word______Grade Level______

Objective / Yes / Somewhat / No
Was the lesson easy to read and understand buy the teachers?
Was the sequence of the lesson correct?
Were the activities easy to understand?
Were the students engaged throughout the lesson?
Did the students enjoy the activities?
Were the materials easy to use?
Were the visuals appropriate for the learners?
Were there adequate activities planned?
Was the lesson relevant to the learners?

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