KEY LESSON

Unit Learning Goal

Students will develop habits of reflection through examination of others, external dilemmas, and personal reflection prompts. 

Lesson Goal

Students will examine the challenges or obstacles to doing good work by examining several dilemma narratives about others.

Assessment

Classroom conversations can be observed and used to provide feedback to students. The written reactions to the dilemmas during the Chalk Talk can be analyzed.

portfolio documentation

  • Chalk Talk notes (saved in paper or photograph form)

  • Exit Ticket

Resources

Total TIME

45 minutes

Instructions

1. Opener: Introduce and scaffold the relationship between “obstacles” and “good work” for students [3 minutes]. Possible language: 

  • We’ve been thinking about how people do ‘good work,’ but it’s not always easy. 

  • Oftentimes, people face difficulties and challenges, as we’ve seen in dilemma scenarios. 

  • We’re going to take a closer look at challenges. Our goal is to see how being attentive to challenges might help us overcome them.

2. Watch the “Famous Failures” video and discuss how these figures encountered issues related to the 3 Es [7 minutes].

  • Discussion Question: What does this video tell you about the types of challenges or obstacles that people can encounter when trying to do “good work”?

3. Have students engage in a “Chalk Talk” discussion around the classroom to discuss and reflect on the obstacles presented to doing “good work” in different dilemmas [20 minutes].

  • Put the 4 dilemmas onto large sheets of paper and have them placed about the room on the walls. (If you feel that there are too many dilemmas for the length of discussion time or the size of your class, consider using 2 or 3 instead.)

  • Break students into groups. Instruct each group to choose one of the dilemmas around the room.

  • Give students 5 minutes to read the dilemma and write their reactions to the dilemma regarding the following prompts.

    • Discussion questions: What obstacles do you see the main character encountering? How do these obstacles affect their ability to do “good work”? What questions do you have?

    • A few example answers are below. Direct students to contribute ideas such as:

      • “Gwen is facing a financial obstacle, which might prevent her from being able to fully engage in the kind of work that she loves, affecting her sense of engagement.”

      • “Emma’s handling of her personal relationships is conflicting in some ways with her sense of ethics. She might apply a different standard to her friends than she does for herself or other scientists.”

      • “Does Allison have a responsibility to disclose her experiment details to the judges? She didn’t lie completely; she just withheld information.”

  • After 5 minutes are up, have the groups move clockwise around the room to the next dilemma and repeat the procedure. 

  • Remind students that they can connect their own ideas to previous group’s ideas.

  • “I did not use the dilemmas in the lesson. I wanted to use the videos instead but in the process of getting comfortable with the lesson, I realized that a different video would make it easier for the kids to talk about obstacles and opportunities. So I used this spoken word poem instead: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_PsLRgEYf9E

    It led to one of the most productive class discussions we have ever had.”

  • “I divided students into groups, each group worked on one problem analyzing it more carefully, (who, when, what, why, etc.). Then, I asked them to spend some time with the rest of the problem just writing down some questions that came to their minds (still in the same groups).

    Once each group covered all the problems, they presented their primary problem and tried to answer the questions provided by the other groups.

    I decided to work this way because of time - my students like challenging the provided problems as they say "the problems are too obvious". I wanted to show them that actually they are wrong and nothing is obvious.”

  • Check out this video on “Constraint Brainstorming” as a creative way to get students to think through problems and dilemmas—with a twist!

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyfzOxl72fY

4. At the end of 20 minutes, have students return to their original dilemma. Ask one or two groups to share their reactions to the activity and what is written below each dilemma, commenting on how ideas evolved and connections between stories [10 minutes]. 

  • Discussion questions: Were you surprised by what other groups wrote, or did others match your own reactions? How can diagnosing challenges like we did when analyzing these stories help us overcome them?

  • Have each student take a picture of their initial dilemma and the chalk talk reactions to their dilemma (or take notes, if taking a picture is not possible).

Chalk Talk Poster

This example comes from the students in Peggy Dunstan’s class at Mountain View High School.

5. Exit Ticket [5 minutes].

  • What is one obstacle you have faced when trying to do “good work” yourself?

Possible Enrichments

  • Using the Chalk Talk Synthesis, students will synthesize the reactions to their initial dilemma and discuss their take-aways from the activity. 

    • Using the notes/picture taken during the chalk talk, complete the worksheet.

    • Add to the Good Work Portfolio.

  • Assign students a project based on the idea of “Famous Failures.” Research or complete a biographical sketch of a person who encountered challenges in their work.