How do you want to meet what comes next?
Learning intention By the end of this lesson, students can distinguish a goal from an intention and choose a guiding quality for an upcoming activity.
- Time
- 40 minutes
- How the room works
- Individual, with optional pairs
- You need
- Exercise books or paper slips and a word bank
- Opens with
- Crossing the threshold
Before you start
Students choose the situation silently and share only a word if they wish. Do not ask for an intention about trauma, conflict or a disclosure.
Read the full safeguarding note Adapting it for your class A note home for this lesson
Open this drawing in the library
Why this matters
Many outcomes depend on circumstances and other people as well as our own effort. An intention turns our attention towards how we would like to take part: with patience, honesty, courage, care or another quality that matters. It can guide an action without making us responsible for controlling the result.
Skill in context Clarifying desired outcomes and guiding intentions before taking part in something meaningful.
On the skill of intention settingTry the interactive practiceTry it yourself first
“One Word Goes First” takes a few quiet minutes, just for you, before you teach it. Nothing you write in it is saved or sent.
Open with “Crossing the threshold”
5 minUse Crossing the threshold to mark the movement between what came before and what begins now. Students may choose a word, keep a blank or simply take the pause.
Take a moment to notice the threshold between what came before this lesson and what is beginning now.
Breathe comfortably as you acknowledge what you are leaving for a while, whether it felt good, difficult or mixed.
If a word for how you would like to meet this next part arrives, let it stay with you. No word is also a complete response.
Keep the word private or share it with a neighbour if you choose.
Listen for Do not treat students who choose no word as disengaged. Keep the breath optional and avoid suggesting that an intention will determine the outcome.
Teacher explanation
10 minA goal describes something we hope to reach, such as completing an assignment or performing well in a match. An intention describes the quality we want to bring while moving towards it.
Intentions can be useful because the process remains partly available even when the outcome changes. They are not a way to blame ourselves if we react differently under pressure. We can return to an intention, adjust it or decide that another quality is needed.
Questions for the room
- How is wanting a result different from choosing how to take part?
- Can an intention matter even when the goal is not reached?
- What helps a guiding word remain supportive rather than becoming another demand?
Choose a compass word
17 min- Display words such as steady, brave, curious, kind, patient, focused, honest and open, while welcoming words students choose themselves.
- Ask students to hold one upcoming situation in mind, such as a test, match, performance, piece of work or conversation. No details are written or shared.
- Choose one word for how they would like to meet that situation and complete privately: "Whatever happens, I would like to bring..."
- Take one comfortable breath or a quiet pause and repeat the sentence internally, as though arriving at the chosen situation.
- In pairs, students may share the word only. Passing is always available, and no one asks what the situation is.
- Students choose a private place where they could meet the word again, or decide that they do not need to keep it.
Private reflection
6 minComplete privately: "One quality I would like to carry this week is..." Add why it matters only if that feels useful.
How they reflect Private journal
Closing
2 minOutcomes will not always move in the direction we want. An intention can help us remember how we would like to meet the next step, while leaving room to change when the moment asks for something else.
Safeguarding
Students choose the situation silently and share only a word if they wish. Do not ask for an intention about trauma, conflict or a disclosure. Follow usual safeguarding procedures if the private reflection leads a student to request support.
If something a young person says gives you concern, follow your setting’s usual safeguarding route. This is not yours to carry alone.
Adapting it
In other settings
Take this lesson with you
The plan is editable, so you can change the names, the examples and the timings to fit the young people in front of you.
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