What’s Important to Me?

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Whats Important to Me?

• A Unit on Values
• Ginny Dodo, Kim Neuharth, and John Krueger

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Rationale

• Deaf and hard of hearing students may not have
  good academic achievement. Many people (parents,
  teachers, hearing friends) TELL them things they
  need to know, but
• D/HH students dont have many opportunities to
  voice their opinions or discuss what they think
  is important.
• This unit helps students understand what things
  they feel are important!
• This will help them make more realistic career
  and adult choices.
• This will help them prepare for the many
  decisions they must make as their school life
  comes to an end soon, and that their adult life
  begins.

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For Students Why My Values Are Important

• They help me choose a career
• not just get a job.
• They help me find good friends
• not just hang out
• They help me choose a lifestyle that will make me
  happy
• not just make do with my life

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What Values Are Important to Me and My Future
Life?

• What is important to me as a person?
• What things do I like, hate, or dont care about?
• What is important in my relationships with other
  people?
• What kind of people do I like and get along with?
• What kind of people bother me, make me mad, make
  me crazy, or make me upset?
• What is important as I chose a career path?
• What things do I like to do every day, even when
  I feel bored or lazy?

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For Teachers Unit Planning Stages
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Stage 1 Unit Goal Development

• 1. Match unit goal ideas with external and state
  standards
• We used the Ohio Dept of Education Standards,
  found at http//www.ode.state.oh.us/academic_conte
  nt_standards/
• 2. Prioritize goals and standards that
• Are enduring (life-time) understandings
• We focused on self-knowledge and
  self-understanding
• Target student misunderstandings
• The unit supports realistic choices based on
  self-understanding
• Are authentic activities
• Knowing your values helps with career choices, or
  apartment choices based upon current salary
• Will hook and motivate the students
• Unit included real-life choices about important
  topics, including choices about drugs, sexual
  activity, friendships

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Stage 2 Identify Outcomes and Evidencethe Six
Facets of Understanding
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The Six Facets of Understanding, cont.
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Stage 3 Planning Learning Activities and Lessons

• Hot topic to hook students
• Our classroom studied careers in the
  entertainment and sports industry.
• The students identified
• Characteristics of various careers in those
  fields
• physical trainers, actors, technicians, etc.
• Specific and key job characteristics
• desire to travel
• working outdoors vs. working indoors
• working days vs. working at night
• The students compared
• Characteristics of each job to their values
• And tried to decide if they would happy with a
  job in that field.

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Stage 3 Planning Learning Activities and Lessons
cont.

• Use the six facets to plan lessons and activities
• Prepare the students to be successful with each
  of the facets
• The facets often overlap so accomplish two
  things at once
• Students can explain their personal values and
  then also interpret how theyve used them in past
  decisions and actions.
• Students can apply and monitor their use of
  values, and then self-evaluate (self-knowledge)
  how consistent they were.
• The six facets support the unit outcomes and the
  external standards, and prove that D/HH
  students can be successful

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Sample Lesson Plan

• Objective Given a list of 20 personal values,
  students will categorize these into yes, no,
  and maybe piles. Each student will give at
  least one reason for categorizing each value in
  this way.
• Prerequisite Skills The students will need to
  understand the concept of values. They will have
  completed exercises in making choices based on
  preferences. Students will use this to help them
  decide their values and what is important to
  them.
• Materials Cards that list various personal
  values cards, and category markers of yes,
  no, or maybe printed on them.
• Procedure
• Introduction Teacher will ask each student to
  review
• and identify one important value they each
  believe in.
• Teacher will ask each student to describe a
  situation
• in which that value was important
• to them.

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Sample Lesson Plan, cont.

• Procedure
• Lesson Each student will receive a set of value
  cards and categories. Teacher will ask students
  to take turns explaining and giving examples of
  each value (to ensure comprehension). Teacher
  will review student examples of when a value was
  important and instruct students to put those
  values in the yes pile. Teacher then will
  describe how to categorize for no and maybe
  (not sure) values. Teacher will ask students to
  think of examples while they are categorizing so
  that they can give a good reason for their
  choices after they are finished sorting.
• Culmination Teacher will ask each student to
• describe how and why they categorized their
• values as they did, giving a reason for each
• decision. Class and teacher are free to ask
• questions about these decisions. Teacher
• will ask the class how one students values
• will change decisions that s/he might make
• about his/her life.

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Sample Lesson Plan, cont.

• Future lessons Students will repeat this sorting
  procedure using work values to identify the
  importance of
• Benefits, vacations, salary, working alone or
  with others, working inside or outside, etc.
• Students will match personal values with work
  values to identify potential careers.
• Students will use the 20 personal values and the
  20 career values to examine their own personal
  consistency they will use these to identify
  three overall life goals
• Facets Addressed
• Facet 1 description and explanation of personal
  and work values
• Facet 2 description of situations in which
  values have been important, how they have used
  them to make decision, where they should h
• Facet 3 matching personal and work values to
  those of existing careers
• Facet 4 explain how another persons values are
  different, how their values impact their
  decisions
• Facet 5 explain how another persons life
  experiences and feelings about values have led to
  different decisions and choices
• Facet 6 identify areas where they are confused
  or ambiguous about their values, describe
  strengths and weaknesses they have in following
  their values and where they should have made
  decisions based on their values (but didnt).

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Outcomes

• All students (both senior and freshman English
  classes) divided personal and career values into
  three piles (yes, no, maybe) and described their
  values based on these piles.
• All students described the type of work they
  would like to have based upon their personal and
  career values.
• (other unit activities were planned for
  completion in the future)