Adventures in Attitudes in the

Adventures in Attitudes in the Classroom Introduction & Target Audience For most individuals, high school has had at least some impact on their lives. Although the memories of high school are positive for some and negative for others, most clearly remember the years of high school more than any other time period during their primary educational career. Although most individuals change significantly after they leave the halls of high school and enter the "real world," high school ultimately leaves an impression on their lives.

And that impression is largely due to attitude. A student's attitude, along with the attitudes of his or her peers, can have a lasting impact on how a student interprets and experiences high school. A positive attitude on the part of a student helps that student better enjoy his or her studies and extracurricular activities, deal with negatives that come his or her way, and make new friends. The program "Adventures in Attitudes" (1995) teaches that "your life is an extension of your thoughts; you can never escape from yourself" (pg. 1).

Further, this program supposes "that individuals function at only a fraction of their potential, not because of a lack of skills or knowledge, but because of their attitudes" (pg. 1). Thus, changing one's attitude can change one's lot in life; a positive attitude, one that assumes the best in others and one that looks at potential negatives as challenges rather than road blocks can be the key to success, for this reason, it is of the utmost importance for students in the 7th-12th grades.

As these children are just beginning to discover themselves, develop a self-concept and self-esteem, and synthesize their academic, personal, and extra-curricular lives, junior high and high school are the perfect places to practice the tenets of "Adventures in Attitude" (1995). As these children begin to grow to see themselves, "Adventures in Attitude" can help them realize that they can smooth over the negative parts of adolescents while attaining what they want from their junior high and high school experiences with just one thing -- attitude.

Thus, the target audience for this plan is students in the seventh through the 12th grades. II. Rationale Although this paper is necessary to accomplish a professional goal, maintaining the teacher certification, I have a deeper rationale behind crafting this plan. In today's tumultuous world facing economic stressors on the family, the temptations of drugs, gangs, and alcohol, the realities of war in the Middle East and the escalation of urban crime, teenagers are forced to make difficult decisions at an alarming rate.

In order to make these decisions, students must have positive attitudes toward themselves and others. The must know how to practice effective listening and to validate others' opinions, as they may be asked to discuss important life-changing decisions with parents, teachers, counselors and others. Furthermore, these students will need to understand how important it is to help each other get through the more difficult times, and to have a knowledge of how their attitude affects communication, self-concept, and success.

"Adventures in Attitudes" (1995) provides a discussion on each of these methods, and encourages those who complete the program to understand how each and every thought can improve and change their lives. Thus, the most important rationales behind this action plan are the students' needs, and students developing their adolescence and getting ready to enter the real world need to know that the plan for success comes from within.

They need to understand that even in the dangerous and frightening world in which they live, they still have a great deal of control. Thus, the rationale behind writing this paper is helping students in difficult times to have the best thought patterns possible for success. III. Objectives By implementing a portion of the "Adventures in Attitudes" curriculum, the students' will gain much-needed experience in forming attitudes that can help them get ahead rather than pushing them behind.

Thus, the objectives that teachers should hope to achieve by implementing "Adventures in Attitudes" (1995) in their classroom include producing students who think positively and have a greater chance for achieving success, students who have an understanding of how their behavior affects their peers and seek to listen to their peers better, as well as treating them better, in order to achieve a classroom where students are able to work well with each other, simulating many real-world professional and personal situations.

Finally, through implementing the "Adventures in Attitudes" curriculum, a teacher can hope to enter a community with his or her students in such a way that teachers and students feel comfortable discussing problems in and out of the classroom, as both teachers and students have an attitude focused on success and helping one another succeed. IV. Timeline The "Adventures in Attitudes" (1995) curriculum has ten units that cover concepts ranging from listening effectively to understanding others, empowering one's self, motivating others, and reaching one's potential.

By spending a week on each of these topics, it would be easy to argue that a timeline for implementing these ideals would take 10 weeks. However, the objectives set forth cannot be attained in 10 weeks and may not even be attained within one school year. According to the "Adventures in Attitudes" (1995) curriculum, "Not until you have achieved the ability to choose your attitudes will you achieve the freedom to be your own person, reaching out for any goal or dream of your choice" (pg. 43).

Achieving the ability to choose one's attitudes, however, does not occur over night. Since childhood, many have been taught to believe that they cannot choose their attitudes, that their attitudes must reflect the pain that they are feeling or the injustice that they suppose is occurring to them. Learning to unlearn this negative behavior takes a great deal of time and effort, as does actually putting it into practice.

Realistically achieving the goal of being always conscious, of always choosing one's thoughts and being positive, and of always acting in a responsible way with others takes a lifetime. However, to implement the accomplishments specified in the objectives session, a minimum of one school year is required. Although the students may not have completely changed their thinking at that time, it is likely that they will have begun a significant journey toward doing this, and will be in the midst of practicing important "adventures in attitude." V.

Activities Encouraging a student to think differently, to be positive, consciously choose his or her thoughts, and to think of others as people that should be respected in the classroom environment must be done through practice. The first step of the action plan consists of informing students as to how changing their attitudes can make a difference and to why a student would want to undertake such an adventure. Students need to know the motivation behind what they are taught.

Otherwise, they will be unlikely to seriously undertake their learning, and will instead go through the motions in order to receive a satisfactory grade. Thus, the first activity will be an explanation of why changing one's attitude is important. Students will be encouraged to ask questions, which the teacher will answer. The second part of this activity plan includes introspection, as a change of attitude can only occur when one wants that change and plans to.