Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

15 minutes	Tune In: Watch the episode
20 minutes	Find Out: Perseverance play
20 minutes	Take Action: Recognising the importance of perseverance
5 minutes	Reflection

Teacher preparation

Learning intentions:

Students will...

understand what it means to keep sticking at something
know that failing once at something doesn't mean you give it up.

Success criteria:

Students can...

move their bodies in different ways
copy the movements of others
manipulate objects towards a goal using fine motor skills
keep trying even when success doesn't happen straight away.

Tune In: Watch the episode

Step 1.

Share the Bluey episode Squash with your students.

Bluey 'Squash' - ClickView (https://clickv.ie/w/dClx)

Squash synopsis: When Dad and Uncle Stripe play a game of squash, Bluey and Bingo are in control of their every move, and Bingo proves that big siblings don’t always beat little siblings.

Step 2.

Facilitate a class discussion about the episode.

I wonder if Bluey learned anything? Why do you think that?
I wonder if Bingo learned anything? Why do you think that?
I wonder how Uncle Stripe felt when Dad said big brothers always win everything? Why do you think that?
I wonder how Uncle Stripe and Bingo felt when they finally won? Why do you think that?
I wonder how Dad and Bluey felt right at the end? Why do you think that?

Using questions that begin with “I wonder…” is a great way to get kids to share their own ideas; ‘I wonder…” questions don’t necessarily have a correct answer, leaving kids open to explore and share their own ideas without fear of being wrong.

Step 3.

You might like to prompt your students to finish the sentence stem:

In this episode, I saw someone trying again and again, I saw this when...

Find Out: Perseverance play

Students not only need to develop the tenacity to persevere when they don’t initially succeed, they also need to develop a sense of hope that challenges can be overcome. If students are always successful in the first instance, or if everything is given to them by an adult, they will view the first major hurdle in their lives as insurmountable rather than as a problem to be solved.

Find out more about the benefits of perseverance here.

Preparation.

Set up some or all of the following stations for your students

Egg and Spoon Race: Spoons, marbles, streamer for start and finish line. Students attempt to move carefully between the two streamers without dropping the 'egg'.
Bottle Flip: Plastic water bottles 1/3 full of water, table. Students attempt to throw the bottle in the air so that it flips and trying to land it on the table without it falling over.
Card Flip: Playing cards, hat, chairs. Place the hat two metres away from the chairs. Students attempt to flick the cards so that they land within the hat.
Chopstick Marbles: Chopsticks, marbles, chairs, table, container. Students attempt to use the chopsticks to pick up the marbles and place them into the container without dropping them in between or using their hands.

Step 1.

As a class, take a tour of each of the stations and explain the activity to your students, demonstrating how they are to be attempted.

Remind students that this will not be easy and they're not expected to get it the first time, but that they should keep trying and not get frustrated.

Studies have shown that even very young children try harder at difficult tasks and learn the importance of effort when seeing adults struggle to achieve goals before succeeding. Whilst it can be difficult to watch students getting frustrated with tasks, it is actually counterproductive to show students that tasks are easy as a way to boost their confidence. This way, they will never learn the value of struggle nor enjoy the sense of achievement having overcome a difficult challenge.

Find out more about the benefits of perseverance here.

Step 2.

Divide students into four even groups and send one group to each of the stations.

Roam between the stations, encouraging students to keep trying, praising them for improving and getting closer, and celebrating successes. Resist stepping in to show students how it's done. Instead, show students that you, too, struggle with these challenges and that you're determined to keep trying, and value discussions about their personal observations on what they think is working or proving most challenging.

Part of growing up is learning how to manage a full range of strong, sometimes overwhelming emotion, from joy to bitter disappointment, as it will not always be smooth sailing. Nobody can get everything right, or get everything they want, all the time. So it’s ideal that students learn self-regulation of emotion early on, so that they can actually get through discomforts that learning and being exposed to new things often presents, and keep trying to eventually attain a skill or achieve a goal.

Step 3.

After five minutes, ring a bell or call the class to a halt. Ask students to return the station to the way they found it.

Rotate students between the stations until every group has had a go at every activity.

Take Action: Recognising the importance of perseverance

Step 1.

Once complete, facilitate a discussion with the class about the activities they took part in. Consider posing the following questions:

What advice do you have for people trying the stations?
What do you think we were practising?
How did you feel during the activity? You might display the Zones of Emotional Regulation chart to help students with the vocabulary around feelings.
How did you feel if you completed the activity successfully?
What does it mean to persevere?

The Zones of Emotional Regulation Chart is a simple tool to help kids recognise and identify emotions, within themselves and in the people around them. Emotions are grouped into different coloured zones - green, yellow, blue and red - based on the way the different emotions make our bodies feel.
Find out more about teaching emotional intelligence here.

Step 2.

Provide students with drawing materials and ask them to create a visual representation of perseverance.

This could be a comic strip, a series of illustrations, or a single drawing depicting someone facing a challenge and continuing to try even when it's hard. For example:

Encourage students to share their reflections or drawings with the class if they feel comfortable, fostering a supportive environment where everyone's efforts are acknowledged and celebrated.

If a student never fails, they may never learn to apply strategies of thinking to overcome challenges, or to appropriately manage their emotional responses to trying times in their lives.

Reflection

Reflect on the lesson with your students by posing the following question:

"What did you learn about yourself and perseverance during today's activities, and how can you apply these lessons to other challenges you may face in the future?"

Teaching Perseverance - Resilience Games

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