Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes

Explore: Bucket list

40 minutes

Discover: Choose your own adventure

10 minutes

Thrive: Sharing is caring

Explore: Bucket list

Step 1

Pose the question “What is a bucket list?” and have students share in pairs before discussing as a group. Explain that a bucket list can help provide direction in life and guide us towards new experiences.

Provide an example of a bucket list item you have ticked off and what this meant to you, and how it made you feel when you completed it.

Examples:

Visit Egypt to see the pyramids.
Abseil down a waterfall.
Find a fulfilling career.
Do a TED talk.
Swim with sharks.

Step 2

Provide each student with the Bucket List worksheet. Encourage them to identify 3 bucket list items and their justification for each (focusing on why this is important to them). Invite students to share their bucket list items in small groups, then facilitate a group discussion.

Use the following questions to prompt discussion:

What did you learn about yourself based on ‘why’ you wanted to do each item on the list?
Can you see any themes emerging?

Provide the following explanation to assist their thinking:

We all have different things we want to achieve in life and motivations for wanting to achieve them. Exploring these can help us understand who we are and what we are passionate about. Creating a bucket list can help give your life direction and purpose and help with decision-making in a similar way that goal setting can.

Discover: Choose your own adventure

Step 1

Stick the Call to Adventure prompts (10 total) around the room and provide each student with the corresponding Call to Adventure worksheet.

Step 2

Inform students they will use the prompts to reflect on their passions and recognise any themes and patterns. They must do so independently, starting at any prompt and moving around the room until they have recorded an answer for each. Provide several examples before encouraging students to begin.

Example:

I am the go-to person when my friends or family need help with … technical computer problems.
Most people don't know this about me, but I really enjoy doing … baking cakes and decorating cookies.
I can’t pass up a book or movie about … an underdog sports team.

Step 3

Invite students to share their responses in small groups, then facilitate a class debrief.

Use the following questions to prompt discussion:

What were some of the themes that came up across your Bucket List and Call to Adventure?
Did anything surprise you throughout this activity?
What does this say about the things you might be interested in for the future?

Provide the following explanation to assist their thinking:

When we begin to understand what our passions are, we can start to influence our lives by finding ways to do more of the things we love and, in turn, help us to decide on the path we may want to take.

Step 4

Next, explain that students will be playing a board game called Choose Your Own Adventure. This game is designed to help them understand how their choices can lead them down different life paths, some positive and some negative.

Ask students to form groups of 5-6 and provide them with a copy of the Choose Your Own Adventure board game. To play, students will need to create their own token and place it in the centre of the sheet.

Give the following instructions:

The board game has 12 spaces to move onto.
You will be asked a series of questions with multiple-choice answers.
You must announce your answer to the group aloud.
The outcome of each answer will appear on the slides, with the answer dictating whether you will move forward, backward or stay where you are.
If you land on a ‘yellow space,’ you can empower one of the people in your group to move forward one place.
If you make it all the way around the circle, you continue moving forward but are now on ‘Level 2.’

Project the Choose Your Own Adventure slides and begin the game, moving through the questions one at a time. When completed, ask each group to discuss what they learned from the game, then debrief as a class.

Use the following questions to prompt discussion:

Which level did you finish on?
How does this game relate to our lives?
What did you learn about your own life pathway and that of others?

Provide the following explanation to assist their thinking:

There was no right or wrong response in this game, as you are all on your own unique journey. Rather than solely focusing on the destination or path taken by others, it is important to carve out your own route and celebrate the learnings along the way. Remember to be true to yourself, trust the process, try new things and give to others when you can.

Step 5

Ask students to reflect on how their understanding of ‘Purpose’ has grown or changed as a result of this lesson, then discuss answers as a class.

Provide the following explanation to assist their thinking:

Purpose is about being yourself, using your strengths, doing what you love, following your path and giving back to others.

Thrive: Sharing is caring

Step 1

In small groups, ask students to brainstorm activities and actions that would encourage peers to share their passions and interests with others. They should write each new idea on a sticky note.

Examples:

Tell 3 people about a book they’ve been reading.

Gather a list of everyone’s favourite songs to create a class playlist.
Make a video tutorial.
Teach someone a skill and ask them to pass it on (see how many people can learn it over an agreed period).

Step 2

Once each group has spent a few minutes brainstorming ideas, get them to stick their notes on the whiteboard to create a gallery of ideas.

Step 3

Provide each student with a copy of the Bingo template. Encourage them to walk along the gallery of ideas for inspiration and fill in their sheet (one idea per square).

Step 4

Advise students that during allocated breaks or dedicated class time, they will have the opportunity to complete one of the sharing tasks on their bingo sheet. Explain that these small tasks will help them to nurture and grow their passions and will also expose them to new ideas.

Teacher note: These bingo sheets could be displayed in the classroom as a reminder to complete them, with students crossing off activities as they are done. These could also work for short 5-10 minute brain breaks in longer classes.

Purpose: Growing Towards Life Goals

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UN Sustainable Development Goals

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