Session 5: Stress / Executive Functioning / Goals

 Session 5: Stress / Executive Functioning / Goals

Basically, this lesson is about making a time table to figure out how much "free time" we actually have. Think of it like those Suze Orman financial planning shows when she really gets into the nitty-gritty of how much $ is available in one's budget.

Except, time is more than money. It's often said that it is way more valuable than money. But we tend to guard money very vigilantly, pinching pennies yet at same time letting seconds, minutes, and hours slip through our fingers.
The key to today is to ask your students what they wish to get better at. Ask them how much they are actually devoting each day to practicing or getting better. Many will say they don't have time for it or haven't really devoted any time.
Malcolm Gladwell says that you need 10,000 hours to be really good at something like being Tom Brady at winning super bowls. But, why do we not guard our time more vigilantly? Why do we let TikTok hop over boundaries we set for our time and steal our time? Why don't we create better boundaries around time that we block out for self-care? Are we actually even blocking out time for self-care? How does lack of secure time boundaries impact our mental health?

Objective

1.  Retention of information from previous weeks. Review previous week's discussion on coping with stress. 

2.  Engage students in discussing their experience with schoolwork this year and their hopes, dreams, goals for this year regarding schoolwork and/or school-related activities such as sports.

3.  Introduce students to the concept of executive functioning. At school, each assignment is an opportunity for them to practice the lifelong skill of executive functioning. One's ability to stay organized, manage time, and set goals is a significant factor in successful outcomes in school, sports and in whatever career they choose. To be successful in meeting your goals, it is more about having the courage to buckle down, stretch yourself and work smart rather than just being 'naturally smart' and doing what comes easily to you. To grow in our ability to work smart, we need practice. The more we sit down and try, we will find it easier to stay engaged with challenging tasks and be able to think through complex concepts and processes.  

4.  Engage students in sharing as a group the ways they stay on top of their schoolwork.

5.  Engage students in time table activity (see Activities section below) of discovering how much free time they really have each day. Introduce them to the concept of quicksand. Help them discover how much free time is actually utilized versus being lost to the quicksand of diversions and distractions such as YouTube videos or social media. 

6.   Encourage students to not give up just because they feel stressed or because they think they have fallen too far behind. 

7.  Discuss how our capacity to meet goals we set for ourselves is connected to self-concept. Having a solid understanding of self-concept/humility/potential/purpose/dignity helps us see challenges as opportunities for realizing potential and enables us to sit down and be resilient rather than give up and make excuses. We also come to have a greater appreciation of our potential when we really apply ourselves and see what can be done and experience getting better at it. Enjoyment in work comes from experiencing improvement. An analogy can be made with weightlifting or long-distance running. Ultimately, our openness to self-discovery will propel us forward and help us get through the challenging stuff. We come to know our ability through trial and error, falling and getting back up. It is the scientific process of learning through experience.

Approach

1.  Engaging students in discussion and developing greater emotional awareness. Using their responses to move the discussion forward. Focus on what they say about their feelings and encouraging them to reflect on their feelings.

2.  Before ending session, engage students in describing what they found helpful about discussing stress and self-care.

3.  check-in/check-out

Possible Discussion Questions

How long are you truly able to stay focused? How much is humanly possible? Some say that 15 minutes is the maximum amount of time we can expect our brains to be able to stay totally focused at maximum attention. (this happens to be just about the amount of time it takes to pray five decades of the Rosary).

Do we underestimate or overestimate the time we need to get chores or homework done (things we would rather prefer not to do)? Why is that? 

How much time do you feel you need for homework each night?

In actuality, how much free time do you actually have?

Do you use all your free time?

Have you ever had the experience of seeking to watch a video on YouTube for entertainment even though you barely have enough time to do your homework that you have barely even started? Why do you think that is?

Do you wait till the last minute to complete your assignments? Why is it that you are only motivated to work when you barely have enough time to complete it? Has this become a habit?

What are things that help you stay focused? Does it help to study with someone? Do you like listening to music when you study?

What was it like talking about your study habits and how you manage time?

Activities

1.  Based on example that you provide, students will write out a time table of what a regular school day looks like for morning to night. They will map out how time is spent each day and determine how much free time they really have to do get ahead with schoolwork or the activities they seek to excel in.

Supplies Needed

1.  Paper

2.  Pencils

3.  Rulers or straight edge for making gridlines on time table 

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