Give students an example or two of fictional characters who exemplify perseverance. Choose characters from books, movies, or television who would currently be well known by your students. Call on students to tell what they know about the characters before making your point. Elicit responses that indicate the obstacles that the characters overcame.

Explain that in today’s class, students will learn that they don’t have to give up on something that is important to them just because they have run into an obstacle. They can find ways around it in order to keep striving for their goal.

Purpose: Students recognize that they do not need to abandon a goal when they meet obstacles or difficulties.

1. Set up the activity.

Before class today, recreate “The Maze” activity sheet on the floor of your classroom with masking tape. The maze should be large enough for students to walk through. On a sheet of paper, write the word “Start” and draw an arrow in colored marker. Then, tape the paper to the floor at the entrance to the maze. On another sheet of paper, write the word “End,” and tape this to the floor at the exit from the maze.

2. Students work their way through the maze.

Call on volunteers to find their way through the maze. Allow students to work at it, one at a time. Make comments only to keep order or to move the process along. Encourage as many students as possible to participate, although most will figure out the correct path after a few volunteers have worked through it.

As students work, observe how they react when they meet a dead end in the maze. (Do they quit or do they back up and keep trying?) Also observe how other students react when this happens. (Do they offer encouragement or help?)

3. Students make observations about the activity.

Prompt students to make observations about this activity by asking questions and making comments based on your own observations. You might ask:

• Why was this activity hard to do at first?
• Why did it become easier for you later?
• Was it possible for all of the students to successfully reach the end?
• How did you react when you met a dead end? What choices did you have?
• How did the rest of the class react?
• Did having some encouragement motivate you to keep going?

Be sure that students have verbalized that it was possible for everyone to work through the maze and that the students who didn’t give up were successful.

Purpose: Students define “perseverance” and discuss its importance.

1. Students define “perseverance.”

Write the verb “persevere” on the board. Prompt students to discuss and formulate a definition of “persevere.” Have volunteers write ideas and definitions on the board.

At the same time, ask a student to look up the word in the dictionary and read the definitions aloud to the class. (Merriam-Webster defines “persevere” as “to persist in a state, enterprise, or undertaking in spite of counterinfluences, opposition, or discouragement.”) Challenge students to consider the dictionary definition in light of their own definition and to make adjustments as they see fit.

Ask students if they think that perseverance would help them achieve their goals. Call on individuals to explain their answers.

2. Students reflect on the obstacles they may face as they strive to achieve a goal.

Point out that no one can accurately predict the future, so it’s hard to know exactly what might happen when we make an action plan to achieve a long-term goal. Explain that when students meet an obstacle, their first reaction should not be to give up; it should be to persevere—to keep trying.

Invite students to brainstorm factors that could become difficulties or obstacles to achieving a long-term goal. Prompt students by mentioning obstacles such as the following:

• Time: One stepping-stone goal may take more time than you thought, or there may be other steps you need to take that you didn’t know about at first.
• Expenses: Something may cost more than you anticipated, or you may need things that you didn’t even know about at first.
• Interest: You may lose interest for a while, or you may choose to do something else temporarily.
• Illness: You may get sick, or you may have to postpone everything for a while because of a health problem.
• Distractions: You may have friends who distract you from your goals.
• Other changes: Your family may move, you may change schools, or individuals who are important to your plan may end their involvement for some reason.

Through discussion, elicit from students the idea that they can overcome these obstacles by revising their stepping-stone goals or by making a new action plan. Remind students that if they persevere, they will overcome obstacles and they will succeed.

Purpose: Students revise stepping-stone goals in order to overcome an obstacle and achieve a goal.

1. Students set stepping-stone goals.

Divide the class into groups of four or five students. Assign a long-term goal to each group, and have them make a plan for achieving it. Choose goals such as the following:

• Make a varsity sports team in your sophomore year of high school.
• Get the lead part in the school play this spring.
• Sing and play in a rock band someday.
• Go to college.

Give students about five minutes to work out an action plan for achieving their goal.

2. Students revise their plans.

After students have completed their plans, explain that they have run into an obstacle. Suggest the following obstacles to overcome:

• You make the varsity team, but break your ankle the summer before your sophomore year in high school.
• You win the lead part in the play, but you get laryngitis.
• You are in a band whose members can’t play their instruments very well.
• You go to college, but must earn more money for tuition.

Encourage students to make new action plans based on the difficulties they have encountered. Give them another five minutes to work out their new plans.

When students have finished, invite volunteers from each group to share their new action plans with the class. Encourage other students to offer additional suggestions for overcoming the obstacles presented to each group.

Ask students to explain how they can ensure that their goals are realistic. Ask students to define “persevere.” Elicit from students the following key points that were taught in this lesson:

• To overcome obstacles on the road to achieving a long-term goal, revise your action plan.
• Successful people don’t give up—they persevere.