Aiming High Step 4

Aiming High: The ability to set clear, tangible goals and devise a robust route to achieving them.

Step 4: I work with a positive approach to new challenges

Outcomes

To achieve Step 4, learners should show that they are able to take a positive attitude to new challenges.

In earlier steps, learners have built some of the foundations of this step. They have shown they can recognise and take pride in success, as well as knowing when something is too difficult or dangerous for them to attempt.

Learners need to be able to:

Approach new challenges positively
Look for opportunities to stretch themselves

Introduction

Over time, it is important that we don’t just stick to safe challenges where we know we are very likely to achieve the success criteria. Over time we will take less satisfaction from doing the same things over and over again.
In finding or setting ourselves challenges we need to get the balance right: not too easy and not too difficult. We need to find our stretch zone: where the level of challenge is just right – where we have enough support to help us be successful, but not too much to make it easy.
In our stretch zone, we should feel like what we are doing is difficult and needs us to think and work hard – but it should not feel impossible.

Skill Starter

Goldilocks Challenge

Set learners a challenge – this could be a recently learned technique or something new. Organise at least 3 zones with their own level of difficulty for completing the challenge, either the quantity, time to complete or an increasing complexity.

Encourage learners to work their way through the zones to identify their stretch zone so that the task is not too easy but not impossible. This task can also be done in pairs or groups, depending on the sport or activity.

10 mins

Individual Activity

Active

Teach & Apply

The bigger problem is that if we only do the same challenges or activities over and over again we will stop learning.
Anything that we have learnt to do in our lives started off being difficult – whether learning to read and write, ride a bicycle, cook... By working hard at them, and adding those skills to our toolkit, we are more able to be successful in lots of different situations in the future.
The reward of working in our stretch zone is lots of learning – and therefore being able to get better.

Optional Activity

Challenge Cards

Prepare a set of challenge cards. Give learners a time frame to approach these, for example 1 per session or 3 over the total course. Record and praise learners for each new challenge they undertake. Example activities could include:

Leading a warm up activity or cool down for the group
Trying a new position
Improving their personal best

Optional extra: challenges could be differentiated and colour-coded or numbered with a scale of difficulty to encourage learners to progress through the different levels over time.

10 mins

Individual activity

Active

Reflection & Assessment

Embed these strategies across your teaching and coaching to help learners apply what they’ve learnt.

Introduce opportunities for learners to take on more stretching challenges if they feel that they can easily achieve the success criteria for tasks that they have been given.

Use these ideas for ways of assessing this skill step to help you check learners’ understanding and confidence.

This step is best assessed through sustained observation and reflection with learners about whether they seek out new challenges or whether they stay in their comfort zone of only doing things that they know they will be successful at.
Ask these reflective questions:
- Why is it important to be willing to take on new challenges?
- What would happen if we avoided new challenges?
- What does it mean to work in your stretch zone?