Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 2, Session 3: Making Decisions | Page 38 of 127Instructional Sequence
I. Motivation (10 minutes)
Materials:
Items for chairs: Handful of stones or pebbles, “Reserved” sign
Flip chart 1: Decisions
A. Decisions, Decisions
Participants identify the frequency of their decision making in everyday situations.- Before participants arrive, set up the learning space with some special chairs and the objects
below. (If you do not have chairs, place the objects on the cushions or in those places people would
typically sit.)- A chair with stones on the seat
- A chair positioned at the front or focus point of the learning space
- A chair with a sign that says “Reserved,” “Do Not Sit Here,” or “Save this Chair”
- A chair facing a corner or at the edge and facing outside the learning space
Note: If for some reason participants do not have a choice of which chairs they sit in, you can simulate this activity in
the following way: Hold up a handful of stones and ask, “Would you choose to sit in a chair if you found these on the
seat?” Talk about why that would be a poor choice and that making that choice would be based on logical factors. Point
to another chair and say, “If the chair were right here at the focus point of the learning space, would you choose to sit
in it?” Talk about how one’s decision would be based on emotional factors. Hold up a “Reserved” sign and say, “If you
could choose to sit anywhere, would you sit in a chair that had this sign on it?” Talk about how this decision would be
based on social factors. Point to another chair and say, “If I turned this chair to face the corner and you could choose to
sit in it, would you?” Talk about how this decision would be based on a person’s hopes and their expectations for being
in the training session. You can’t fulfill your reason for coming to the training if you are facing away from the action.- Allow participants to enter and sit down as they usually do.
- Point out how regularly we make decisions, sometimes without giving it much thought. Say:
“We make countless decisions every day, from what to eat to what to wear, and which friends to
spend time with. Making decisions is so much a part of our daily lives that, most of the time, we
don’t even realize we have decided on something. In fact, I can imagine that most of you made
some decisions as soon as you walked into the room and you weren’t even aware that you did. For
example, here’s a chair with some rocks on it. Why didn’t anyone sit here? (Possible response: It
looks uncomfortable or dirty.)“There are logical reasons that no one would want to sit in a chair with rocks on it.”
“Why didn’t anyone sit in this chair that’s right up front?” (Possible response: I don’t want to have
everyone looking at me.)