Students will reflect on the main messages of the talk and how they can apply these messages to their lives and create their own message about their philosophy for a happy life.
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Reflect on the main messages of the talk and how they can apply these messages to their lives
- Create their own message about their philosophy for a happy life
Materials
Sam Berns’s TED Talk, paper/journals, writing utensils, art supplies like larger paper or poster board and utensils like markers or colored pencils
Exercises
| Time |
Activity |
Notes |
| 2 min |
Introduction
- Explain to students that they will be watching a video today about someone’s philosophy of a happy life based on his unique experiences.
- They will be asked to reflect on some of the points he makes in his talk
- Following the video, each student will create their own statement about a happy life.
|
|
| 13 min |
Show TED Talk
|
| 5 min |
Reflection
- Ask students to spend five minutes journaling about what resonated with them from the video.
|
|
| 10 min |
Group Discussion
- Ask students to form groups based on the themes they identified from Sam’s talk. For example, students who responded to Sam’s advice about what you CAN do might form a group.
- Invite each group to share why and how they chose their message from the talk, and where they think they can connect it to their own lives.
- Ensure that each group member has time to share.
|
|
| 20 min |
What’s Your Message?
- Have students thank their groups and return to their original places.
- Give students a few minutes to respond to the following prompt in writing or by sharing with a nearby partner: Sam says that regardless of what they are, we all have obstacles. What’s your message to yourself, and others like you, for living a happy life?
- Give students time to turn their messages into a visual (or other medium) representation of their message that they can keep for themselves (posted in a locker, as a phone background, etc.) or share widely (as a poster, as a social media message, etc.).
|
|
| 10 min |
Share
- End the session by asking students to share their message and how they plan to use it.
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