Life Skills and Leadership Manual - Peace Corps

Life Skills & Leadership: Unit 1, Session 1: Me and My Assets | Page 6 of 93

B. Summary
Summarize by saying:

“We have a lot of assets and strengths among us. We have some assets in common and we also have

strengths in different areas. As you plan to develop your own assets, recognize that your friends here

might be ‘helping factors’ as you seek to improve yourself and build your resilience, your ability to go

through difficult situations.”

IV. Application (15 minutes)
Materials:
Handout 1: Becoming Resilient

A. Yes, You Have Assets Too!
Participants receive ideas from peers, one-on-one, about additional assets they might have.

1. Have participants choose a new partner or turn to a new neighbor. Say:

“We can learn a lot about ourselves by seeing how we look from another person’s viewpoint. For the

next few minutes, I’d like you to share the experience you identified as a success or accomplishment

and the assets you used that helped you to be successful. When you are finished, your partner should

comment on what you did well and suggest other assets you used. After a few minutes of sharing, I’ll

ask you to switch so you can give ideas to your partner.”

2. Give the partners about 5 minutes to share experiences and provide insights about the assets that
   were used. Then give a signal and ask partners to switch from being a speaker to being a listener and
   vice versa.

B. Summary
Conclude the exercise by asking participants to update their list of assets. Say:

“We can learn about ourselves through our interactions with others. Take out your handout ‘Becoming

Resilient’ and put in more Xs (or XXs) where you now realize you do have these assets. You might even

recognize more assets that you want to develop. Put a ‘smiley face’  next to those assets. ”

Note: Updating participants’ list of assets serves as an assessment of Objective 2.

V. Assessment (15 minutes)
Materials:
None

A. Speaking Up about My Assets

With the whole group, participants are able to share something about the assets they have and/or about

assets they would like to develop. They also identify the roles of two or more adults who can serve as

“helping factors.”