Planning life directions: A curriculum for grades 9-12

The "Contemporary Health Series" covers critical health and family life topics in a sequence of modules with two curricular divisions: "Into Adolescence" for middle school teachers and "Entering Adulthood" for high school teachers. This module provides high school students with specific tools to plan for their futures beyond high school. The module begins with the creation of a life- planning notebook that is used as an organizing theme throughout the lessons and that, when completed, becomes a valuable resource for students. Lesson 1, Becoming Independent, helps students to understand why life-planning skills are valuable. Lesson 2, Looking Ahead, asks students to consider the challenges of moving beyond high school and into adulthood. The activities in lesson 3, Discovering Me, encourage students to increase their self-knowledge as the first step in planning for the future. In lesson 4, Creating a Vision, students explore options for the future as the second step in the life-planning process. In lesson 5, Achieving Dreams, students move on to the critical third step in the process--learning and practicing goal-setting skills. In the sixth and final lesson, Thinking for Success, students consider the relationship of positive attitudes to personal success and examine the characteristics of successful people. (NB)… (more)