Personal Success Four Corners Activity and Reflection

# of Days

Prior Knowledge

The students have spent class time contemplating what success means to
them and a career might inform their ideas of success. Over the past
couple class sessions, the students have been researching careers that
they are interested in pursuing as well as the education, skills, and
requirements they need to obtain to get into the career.

Lesson Objective(s)

SWBAT verbalize their thoughts and opinions on questions that pertain

to their visions of personal success and education during the Four
Corners Activity.
SWBAT justify their responses with evidence that they acquired from the
research they conducted earlier in the unit and the learning in their other
classes.
SWBAT evaluate their peers responses to the questions during the Four
Corners Activity.

Lesson Assessment

The students learning will be assessed based on their participation in the

Four Corners activity during this lesson. The students will be required to
share their thoughts and rationales for their answers, so the teacher can
assess the students via their verbal answers.

Standards

CCSS.ELA.Literacy.SL.9-10.1 - Initiate and participate effectively in a

range of collaborative discussions with diverse partners on grades 9-10
topics, texts, and issues, building on others ideas and expressing their
own clearly and persuasively.
CCSS.ELA.Literacy.SL.9-10.3 - Evaluate a speakers point of view,
reasoning, and use of evidence and rhetoric, identifying any fallacious
reasoning or exaggerated or distorted evidence.

IB Characteristic(s)

Reflective
Thinkers

Materials Needed

Four Corners Question Sheet and Four Posters throughout room

Time

Learning Task

Methods or Procedures

5 min

Bellwork: What skills am I learning at

school that can help me on my path to
success?

Bellwork is a daily warm-up standard in our

classroom that encourages students to read,
write, and discuss the topic with their peers.

0 min

Before the class begins, the teachers

should hang the four posters - strongly
agree, agree, disagree, and strongly

By setting up the room beforehand, the teachers

can help facilitate the operation of the Four
Corners activity so the student can focus solely

5 min

disagree - in the corners of the

classroom.

on the task.

The teachers will explain the logistics

and expectations of the Four Corners
activity to the students, encouraging
students to utilize the research that
they have conducted over the past few
class sessions to justify their
responses.

It is highly recommended that the teachers

provide explicit directions for the students about
this activity. By allowing for time for the
students to ask clarification questions, the
teachers can hopefully execute the activity
without major logistical issues.

The students may ask clarification

questions about the activity at this
time.
25 min

The teachers will lead the Four

Corners activity by reading the
questions found on the Four Corners
Question Sheet.
The teachers will ask students to
justify their responses with a logical
claim and evidence.
Ideally, the teacher may deviate away
from the questions on the Four
Corners Question Sheet by using
questions that occur organically
through the dialogue.

15 min

The teachers will conduct a brief

reflective discussion focusing on the
students as educational agents and
self-advocates for their ideas of
success. The discussion should be
more organic, building off student
ideas and answers.

The activity is intended to encourage students to

reflect on the research they conducted and apply
that knowledge to their understanding of their
school experience and success.
Reflective
The justification is needed, and will be required
by the teacher, for a proper answer. The
intention behind this requirement is to give
students the opportunity to practice being
critical thinkers and utilize the research they
spent several class period doing.
Thinkers
This final activity is intended to give students
additional reflection time. This moment will be
a springboard into the follow lesson where the
students are going to make success plans for
themselves and the following presentation that
is going to occur.
Reflective