Proactivity

Learning Objective

Students will understand the meaning of this character strength to then apply it in their lives.

Mục tiêu học tập

Học sinh sẽ hiểu được ý nghĩa của điểm mạnh tính cách này để áp dụng vào cuộc sống.

What Does This Character Strength Look Like When Applied?

Definition: Taking initiative. I get started ahead of time.

Motto: I think and then I act. I am the designer of my life.

Agency - This term is used a lot these days in describing the empowerment and self-confidence we want our students to experience as they make decisions in their lives. It connects to growing their sense of self-efficacy and understanding concerning their locus of control. These two concepts connect to the self-talk in whether we see ourselves as internals or externals regarding our belief regarding whether we are in charge of how we affect our lives or if we see life affecting us.

What it Looks Like and How to Encourage:

• Teaching how to plan

• Reflecting and setting goals

• Championing ideation and seeing possibilities

• Thinking before acting as in “ideas to action” and “think it, do it” (CL)

• Promote a language around preparation and ownership of actions for personal responsibility. Be less reactive to circumstances by using language of what you choose to do... not to what is happening to you. Also, speak in terms of knowing and owning what the outcomes (consequences) might be in response to one's choices.

Unpack the Strength²:

• What does the strength look like in action?

• What does this strength feel like in action?

• When and where can you use it?

• What is the "shadow-side" of this strength?

Điểm mạnh tính cách này trông như thế nào khi được áp dụng?

Learning Activities (Choose from the Following)

1. Personal Strength Spotting - Work with a partner to share one or two examples from your life when you engaged the character strength of proactivity. Describe what steps you took to be proactive. What was the result of your being proactive? Goal> To deepen your understanding of this character strength through personal reflection.

2. Strength Spotting - Think about a person you know who is proactive. It can be a person you know or possibly a historical figure. Draw a picture of the person and write text descriptor bubbles around them to explain how they are proactive. Share with your partner. Goal> To further deepen understanding of proactivity by making connections in one's life.

3. Sharing Time - Each partner decides which example of "strength spotting" they would like to share with the class. Then share it with the class. We will do lots of strength spotting in ourselves and others! Goal> To deepen your understanding of this character strength by learning from your classmates and their experiences.

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1. Being Proactive - What do we mean by "being proactive"? Think about times when you were proactive. What mental (thinking) and physical (actions) steps did you take to be proactive? Write down everything that comes into your mind to answer the question. Then work with your partner to share your responses. Goal> To deepen your understanding of proactivity.

2. Personal Responsibility - What do we mean by "personal responsibility"? Think about times when you were personally responsible. What mental (thinking) and physical (actions) steps did you take to be responsible? Write down everything that comes into your mind to answer the question. Then work with your partner to share your responses. Goal> To build your understanding of personal responsibility.

3. Recipe for Personal Responsibility - Think of people you know, those in the media, and possibly historical figures who are/were responsible. Work on your own to list which character strengths, skills, and values helped those people to act responsibly. Now work with your partner to share your findings. Work together to develop a list of 4-5 character strengths, skills, or values that responsible people often exhibit. Here is a list of values to help you complete this task. Goal> To help understand that being proactive grows one's agency and tendency to take personal responsibility.

4. Focus on Proactivity - Did being proactive make it into your list of how to be responsible? Let's approach this in positive and negative ways. First, work with your partner to devise three times that each of you planned to complete a task, thus demonstrating your responsibility. Then list three times when you didn't complete a task and didn't take responsibility for your actions. In other words, you made excuses for not following through. This might be tough to "own" your behavior but try. The tasks can be ones you came up with for yourself or were given to you by someone else. Compare the two lists. What "recipe" did you follow when you took responsibility and completed the tasks? Goal> To help understand that being proactive grows one's agency and tendency to take personal responsibility.

5. My Recipe for Personal Responsibility - Work with your partner to develop a bullet list of character strengths, skills, and values that you will exercise to take responsibility for your actions. Hopefully, being proactive is one of the character strengths you choose! Goal> To help understand that being proactive grows one's agency and tendency to take personal responsibility.

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Let's create a Character Card!

1. Decide whether you want to use paper and drawing pencils or if you want to use technology.

2. The ultimate goal is to create cards for all 27 character strengths, so decide on the card size for this and your future creations.

3. You decide on the layout of your card. Think about having sections that contain a picture of the strength, a definition, and ways to exercise the strength in real life.

4. Create your card and save it to your growing collection.

5. Share your card with a partner or the whole class.
   

Goal> To deepen your understanding of this character strength by engaging your spatial and artistic skills. To also exercise your character strength of CREATIVITY!

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Extension - Each of you will write a "wellness plan" once you complete our studies of the character strengths and PERMAH. A big part of the plan will involve being proactive in writing your plan to apply it to your life. How about getting some practice in planning for your wellness by focusing on your digital wellness? Digital wellness is healthily using technology to support your well-being. Task> Work with your partner to list positive ways each of you uses technology to support your well-being. Examples can be using a digital calendar to plan your days. Another example is watching a video to help you work on your fitness. Negative examples could be spending way too much time watching videos that minimally entertain you but possibly negatively affect your emotional well-being. :( Review your lists of positive and negative uses. Then use WOOP to set a goal on either using a technology that enhances your well-being or choosing to decrease your use of a technology that hurts your well-being. In either case, build in your proactive exercise to reach your goal.

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Taking Action: Use the WOOP goal-setting system to plan to engage this character strength more often in your life. Note: If you did the extension activity to improve your digital wellness, choose another part of your life to be proactive. It can be helpful to work with a partner to complete the WOOP worksheet to coach and support each other to reach your goal. Goal> To exercise this character strength more often with intention in your life! To also exercise the character strength of PROACTIVITY!

Hoạt động học tập (Chọn từ những hoạt động sau)

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Hãy tạo một Thẻ nhân vật! Mục tiêu> Để hiểu sâu hơn về sức mạnh của nhân vật này bằng cách tham gia vào các kỹ năng nghệ thuật và không gian của bạn. Để cũng thực hiện sức mạnh SÁNG TẠO của nhân vật của bạn!

1. Quyết định xem bạn muốn sử dụng giấy và bút chì vẽ hay bạn muốn sử dụng công nghệ.

2. Mục tiêu cuối cùng là tạo ra các thẻ cho tất cả 26 điểm mạnh của nhân vật, vì vậy hãy quyết định kích thước của thẻ cho việc này và các sáng tạo trong tương lai của bạn.

3. Bạn quyết định bố cục của thẻ của bạn. Hãy suy nghĩ về việc có các phần chứa hình ảnh về sức mạnh, định nghĩa và các cách để rèn luyện sức mạnh trong cuộc sống thực.

4. Tạo thẻ của bạn và lưu nó vào bộ sưu tập ngày càng tăng của bạn.

5. Chia sẻ thẻ của bạn với một bạn kh.. và / hoặc cả lớp.

I Want To Learn More

• The Power of Proactivity

• The Importance of Being Proactive

Tôi muốn học nhiều hơn

¹ Niemiec, R. M., & McGrath, R. E. (2019). The power of character strengths: appreciate and ignite your positive personality. Cincinnati, OH: VIA Institute on Character.

² Embedding Character Strengths. Institute of Positive Education. With permission.

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