Get Creative: Video, Reading, Questions | Social Emotional Learning SEOT 008

If your students did this one trick, they might improve.

• SEOT Step to Success 008 is to GET CREATIVE.

• NO PREP reading passage with discussion questions and answer key.

• Print the PDF, show the optional video, and discuss.

• Give students opportunities to develop Self Awareness and Self Control by setting goals.

UPDATED Feb 04, 2024: This new version is now much easier to use.

• There is a single PDF to print. Links to the Microsoft Word and Google Docs are included in the PDF.

• The student handout now includes a QR code to the YouTube video. If students are allowed to use phones, they can scan the code at the bottom of their handout to go to the video.

NOTE:

• Here's the FREE YouTube video lesson - show it IN-PERSON in class or use it for ONLINE learning

• The handout article is a tidied up transcription of the video with questions

• Please look at the preview file (besides the product cover images.) It shows you exactly what you get.

• You can edit the Microsoft Word and Google Docs files

• Includes Digital Version (Easel by TpT)

SEOT is a way to think about how to achieve your goals. It’s an acronym. It stands for Strategies, Effort, Optimize, and Tinker. 

GET CREATIVE

SEOT Steps to Success #008

There is this idea that many of us have about creativity: Either you’re born creative, or you’re not, and that’s just the way it is.

It turns out creativity is something we can improve. Being creative is about connecting ideas in different ways to make something new. The word comes from the Latin word creō, which means to create or make. 

Here’s the thing. Creativity isn’t just for the arts, although that’s what we often think about when we think about creative people. In business, we call creativity by another name: innovation. In life, another word for creativity is problem-solving.

Innovation is about coming up with new methods, ideas, or products different from what we currently have. Solving problems means creating a solution to overcome some obstacle. When the pandemic changed the world, businesses, communities, and families created new ways to get things done. 

SEOT is an acronym to help us get the most out of life. The T stands for Tinker.

SEOT Step to Success #8 is to BE CREATIVE.

How can we be more creative? It’s not like you can say, “I’m going to be creative now,” and be inspired!

Creativity is about forming new links between ideas. We might be connecting ideas in a way that we have never considered before. Or we might be joining ideas in a combination that the world has never seen before. If knowledge, memories, and experiences are the building blocks in our minds, the more pieces we have, the more combinations we can make! Some of those combinations might be new!

One way to gain more life experience is by doing something new every day. In other words, we’re building a collection of lived experiences as raw material to help us be more creative later on. Try walking a different way to school or work. What happens if you order something new off the menu? Do something that scares you, like public speaking or making friends with a new classmate or work colleague. If it scares you, chances are you don’t choose to have that experience very often.

Work with people who are different from you. There’s a saying: birds of a feather flock together. It means we like to work with people who look like us, think like us, belong to the same culture, or have similar experiences. Why not connect with someone who is the opposite and see what happens. The more varied and different your experiences are, the easier it will be to think outside the box later on. 

Think about your goal. Now think about things entirely unrelated to your goal. Let your mind wander through different subjects and topics. Reflect on things you’ve seen, read, or heard about. What are the similarities or differences between your goal and these other topics?

When we wonder about solutions to problems like achieving a goal, let’s see if we can draw on prior knowledge in different areas of life. Maybe there’s something in a completely different context that might work in this case too.

Discussion Questions

1. According to this article, what obstacles stop people from achieving their goals?
2. Why do you think those obstacles stop people from achieving their goals?
3. How might this strategy help people to achieve their goals?
4. Why might this strategy not help people to achieve their goals?

TAKE ACTION: Try something new. (It doesn’t have to be related to your goal.) 

Step 1. Brainstorm a list of things you could do that you don’t normally do.
Step 2. Try doing something new. Describe what the experience was like.
Step 3. How could you connect your experience from step 2 with your goal?

THIS LESSON GOES WELL WITH...

• FREE slideshow: teach students HOW to achieve goals and work SMARTER

• The Do Something Different Challenge in Chapter 5. Creativity

• How to Make Strong Inferences

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CHANGELOG

QR Code Update - v2024-01-12qr

• Content change: The student handout now includes a low-ink version of the icon. It also includes a QR code at the bottom which links to the video. Removed digital versions (PowerPoint / Easel handout)

• Simple Organization: Updated to the Educircles Single PDF format with one-click links to keep it simple.

For all changes, please see the START HERE PDF.

If you have any questions, just ask below or send me an email at Mike@educircles.org