Self Discovery Life Skills for Teenagers Series Ideal for use during several 1-hour Tutor Time sessions (approx 6-8). This PDF resource is designed for teenagers in the age range of 14-17. The overall purpose of the booklets in this series is to help teenagers understand and develop their own character, inspiring young people to reach their dreams and be the best they can be. It’s intended to get them thinking about what they’d like to do and start to plan how to get there. There are also lots of resources to inspire and encourage. The activities in this booklet are designed to be worked on independently with consideration on how to use the skills in everyday life. How to use: Teachers can ask the children to read the introduction paragraphs at the start of the session, then ask some questions to check all have read and understood it. Teachers should read it through first themselves and think about possible questions the students may ask them. Teachers should think of some questions related to the topic to ask the class. For example, asking about the benefits of learning this life skill. Or do you have a story of your own related to the topic which students would find interesting and would bring the subject to life? This booklet includes worksheets on : Self-awareness and finding and using your strengths Making good decisions and getting over mistakes Emotional maturity Health and wellbeing and changing habits Finding supporters and asking for help Fulfilling your dreams Life skill development and helpful resources … Life skill development: By the end of this series, students will have developed skills in the following areas: Adaptability and willingness to change: By engaging with all the activities and being open minded to change. Problem solving: Through learning about decision making and thinking an issue through in a logical way. Willpower: By starting to change any unhealthy / unwanted habits or introduced something new in their life. Communications: By being more self-aware, confidence will grow and communications with others will get easier. Resilience: Through recovering from mistakes, forgiveness and moving on. Perseverance: By reflecting on things that has needed perseverance in the past. Writing skills: Lots of writing during the activities and summarising and choosing words carefully to fit all the key points. Emotion regulation: Mindful consideration of behaviour and recognising triggers all help to regulate control over emotions. Understanding that you can control your reaction to an event even if you can’t control what’s happening. Growth mindset and open mindedness: Someone has a growth mindset if they have a positive attitude towards learning and their ability to progress and achieve. And last but not least employability! All these skills help to make student more employable. The activities could even provide examples to talk about in interviews.

Ideal for use during 1 hour Tutor Time. This series of individual worksheets has been designed to help teenagers learn about themselves and gain life skills to channel their motivations to get what they want. It’s intended to get them thinking about what they’d like to do and start to plan how to get there. There are also lots of resources to inspire and encourage. The activities in this booklet are designed to be worked on independently with consideration on how to use the skills in everyday life. Overall, it is intended to inspire young people to reach their dreams and become the best they can be. This worksheet is : Making good decisions and getting over mistakes By the end of this worksheet students will : Understand the importance of making good decisions Understand why teenagers sometimes find it difficult to make decisions and behave impulsively, irrationally or in a reckless way which can have big consequences in their lives Brain development stages and impact on behaviour The decision making process broken down Activity to work through own decision making example Getting over mistakes and how to show compassion to themselves and others Self Discovery Life Skills for Teenagers Series Other resources in this series include: Self-awareness and finding and using your strengths Making good decisions and getting over mistakes Emotional maturity Health and wellbeing and changing habits Finding supporters and asking for help Fulfilling your dreams Life skill development and helpful resources

There are 10 questions in the quiz. Topics covered are Self-Awareness, Making Decisions, Growth Mindset, Mental Resilience, Assertiveness, Overcoming Mistakes, Dealing with Conflict, Kindness, Empathy and Taking Responsibility. This quiz is a starting point to support the future success of all pupils, with a focus on supporting those from disadvantaged backgrounds. It helps to prepare young people for the next step in their education and subsequent employment. It covers everyday topics that help to build the confidence and character of the child and set them up for success to become independent and emotionally mature. It could used as a fun end of term quiz, something a bit different. It’s designed to get teenagers to think about the type of person they want to become, rather than just developing on autopilot. It can be hugely empowering to young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to learn that many of these things are within their control. Disadvantaged students are less likely to have good role roles around to learn from . This quiz will plant some seeds to encourage them to be mindful of who they really want to be.

Covers Self-Awareness, Making Decisions, Growth Mindset, Mental Resilience, Assertiveness, Overcoming Mistakes, Dealing with Conflict, Kindness, Empathy and Taking Responsibility. This quiz is a starting point to support the future success of all pupils, with a focus on supporting those from disadvantaged backgrounds. It helps to prepare young people for the next step in their education and subsequent employment. It covers everyday topics that help to build the confidence and character of the child and set them up for success to become independent and emotionally mature. It could used as a fun end of term quiz, something a bit different. It’s designed to get teenagers to think about the type of person they want to become, rather than just developing on autopilot. It can be hugely empowering to young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, to learn that many of these things are within their control. Disadvantaged students are less likely to have good role roles around to learn from . This quiz will plant some seeds to encourage them to be mindful of who they really want to be. One thing that has worked well, is bringing a box of sweets for the winning team but then distributing them to the whole class as they are equally brilliant! Notes: There are 10 questions in the quiz. Topics covered are Self-Awareness, Making Decisions, Growth Mindset, Mental Resilience, Assertiveness, Overcoming Mistakes, Dealing with Conflict, Kindness, Empathy and Taking Responsibility. The questions are all multiple choice, with 3 possible answers. There is a section called ‘Explanation to the Class’ on each answer sheet. This is designed to support the teacher in explaining the answer during any discussion that may follow the quiz. This quiz works best in small teams and the questions are designed to make great discussion topics. It is often the discussion, debate and thinking in the groups where the key learning comes from. Groups of 3-4 is ideal, but pairs would work too. Those from disadvantaged backgrounds will benefit from being introduced to these topics that they might not otherwise learn about. Finally, answers to some of the answers aren’t black and white – there could be alternative answers, from different perspectives. And too much of anything, even good things, can have a dark side. For example, having empathy is generally thought of as being good. But having too much empathy can mean someone over-absorbs emotions and therefore is made sad by someone else’s emotions and stress. Balance is likely to come into the discussions and this is at the heart of character development, positive behaviour and attitude – setting pupils up for success in their ongoing education or career, and for life in modern Britain.

Creating a life plan is a starting point for teenagers to think about what they would like to do with lives. It can be hugely empowering to young people to link their strengths with their dreams and start to think through the steps needed to achieve them. The thinking needed to write the life plan will help teenagers to plant some seeds to encourage them to be mindful of who they really want to be. It especially helpful to disadvantaged students, who are less likely to have good role models around them to learn from and be less aware that what they want to do with our lives is within their control. It is designed to be confidence building and support character development, to set them up for success to achieve their dreams. Overall, it is designed to support the future success of all pupils, with a focus on supporting those from disadvantaged backgrounds. It helps to prepare young people for the next steps in life and subsequent employment. This is a PowerPoint file that can be downloaded and edited by the students.

‘Life skills for teenagers’ worksheets are specifically designed to help teenagers learn about themselves and develop their character so they can achieve their dreams and channel their motivations to get what they want. The activities within the worksheets help teenagers to discover their strengths, make their own decisions, take responsibility, consider others and more. Learning these essential life skills will enable them to become more confident in who they are, increase their self-esteem and give them useful skills to use in everyday life. This one pager will explain: Where it began Why the topics were chosen How each topic builds character

A one page briefing document on the ‘Emotional Maturity and Managing Emotions’ worksheet - also available from lifeskillsforteenagers. Covers: Why it’s important to teenagers: Becoming emotionally mature is a long process, evolving over the course of our lives but it starts in earnest during our teenage years. It is important because without it we would be unable to regulate, control and express our feelings in a desirable way. But first we need to understand our emotions and become mindful of our subtle feelings, so we don’t become overwhelmed and irritated in trying times. Emotionally mature people can analyse situations rationally, not making decisions in haste and are better able to tolerate stress and withstand anxiety which occurs in our daily lives. Help to explain the activity to the class to support them to become more emotionally mature and the impact it has. The seed you’re planting in this lesson is that emotional maturity takes a long time to fully form and managing emotions is within our control. Growing up with feelings in our stride enables us to become adults who are calm and composed and know how to regulate emotion, so it doesn’t overpower us in any way.

Ideal for use during 1 hour Tutor Time. This series of individual worksheets has been designed to help teenagers learn about themselves and gain life skills to channel their motivations to get what they want. It’s intended to get them thinking about what they’d like to do and start to plan how to get there. There are also lots of resources to inspire and encourage. The activities in this booklet are designed to be worked on independently with consideration on how to use the skills in everyday life. Overall, it is intended to inspire young people to reach their dreams and become the best they can be. This worksheet is : Health and wellbeing and changing habits By the end of this worksheet students will : Understand the reasons why it’s a good idea to make healthy choices Understand the essentials of health and wellbeing - getting active, eating well, getting enough sleep, getting a job, feeling connected and avoiding alcohol and drugs Be equipped with ideas and further resources on how to manage difficult feelings Looked at tips on how to change habits with an activity to inspire personal change Self Discovery Life Skills for Teenagers Series Other resources in this series include: Self-awareness and finding and using your strengths Making good decisions and getting over mistakes Emotional maturity Health and wellbeing and changing habits Finding supporters and asking for help Fulfilling your dreams Life skill development and helpful resources

Ideal for use during 1 hour Tutor Time. This series of individual worksheets has been designed to help teenagers learn about themselves and gain life skills to channel their motivations to get what they want. It’s intended to get them thinking about what they’d like to do and start to plan how to get there. There are also lots of resources to inspire and encourage. The activities in this booklet are designed to be worked on independently with consideration on how to use the skills in everyday life. Overall, it is intended to inspire young people to reach their dreams and become the best they can be. This worksheet is : Emotional maturity By the end of this worksheet students will : Understand the essential 10 key areas of becoming emotionally mature Recognise emotionally mature role-models and how to learn from them Decide which maturity areas to focus on and how to recognise achievements Recognise which maturity areas are more difficult to apply and consider how to focus on these Self Discovery Life Skills for Teenagers Series Other resources in this series include: Self-awareness and finding and using your strengths Making good decisions and getting over mistakes Health and wellbeing and changing habits Finding supporters and asking for help Fulfilling your dreams Life skill development and helpful resources

Ideal for use during 1-hour Tutor Time. Includes 1 page guide for teachers on how to run the session This series of individual worksheets has been designed to help teenagers learn about themselves and gain life skills to channel their motivations to get what they want. It’s intended to get them thinking about what they’d like to do and start to plan how to get there. There are also lots of resources to inspire and encourage. The activities in this booklet are designed to be worked on independently with consideration on how to use the skills in everyday life. Overall, it is intended to inspire young people to reach their dreams and become the best they can be. This worksheet is : Self-awareness and finding and using your strengths By the end of this worksheet students will : Understand the basics of self-awareness and why it’s important Identified their strengths from a wide-ranging list of ideas Considered what they have noticed about their particular strengths and how they could further develop them Looked at possible new strengths to develop in future Discovered which areas of work may suit them according to their strengths and interests (through an external link) Self Discovery Life Skills for Teenagers Series Other resources in this series include: Making good decisions and getting over mistakes Emotional maturity Health and wellbeing and changing habits Finding supporters and asking for help Fulfilling your dreams Life skill development and helpful resources

Ideal for use during 1 hour Tutor Time. This series of individual worksheets has been designed to help teenagers learn about themselves and gain life skills to channel their motivations to get what they want. It’s intended to get them thinking about what they’d like to do and start to plan how to get there. There are also lots of resources to inspire and encourage. The activities in this booklet are designed to be worked on independently with consideration on how to use the skills in everyday life. Overall, it is intended to inspire young people to reach their dreams and become the best they can be. This worksheet is : Finding supporters and asking for help By the end of this worksheet students will : Understand the benefits of seeking support Know when to ask for help and gain confidence to admit that you may need support Ideas of potential people who could offer support and how to start a conversation Activity to work through personal support challenge Self Discovery Life Skills for Teenagers Series Other resources in this series include: Self-awareness and finding and using your strengths Making good decisions and getting over mistakes Emotional maturity Health and wellbeing and changing habits Fulfilling your dreams Life skill development and helpful resources

A one page briefing document on the ‘Making Good Decisions’ worksheet - also available from lifeskillsforteenagers. Covers: Why it’s important to teenagers - Being able to make good decisions is super important! They affect what we study and the career path we take, the friendships we keep and the hobbies we pursue. Making some decisions are easier than others and being conscious of the process as well as having a couple of tools up our sleeve can really help. Help to explain the activity to the class to help them become better decision makers and take responsibility for their choices. The seed you’re planting in this lesson is that decisions we make in life, are really ours to own. Taking time to think about options, break down the details and consider what’s really important is the starting point to putting us in control. And we all make mistakes but learning from them is important so we can put them in the past and move on.

A one page briefing document on the ‘self-awareness and finding your strengths’ worksheet - also available. Covers: Why it’s important to teenagers Help to explain the activity to the class You are just planting a seed in this session, to help students think about a whole range of things they may be good at or even like to be good at in the future. Creating a tone of positivity, openness and acceptance is fundamental to building trust with students to talk openly about themselves.

A one page briefing document on the ‘Health and Wellbeing’ worksheet - also available from lifeskillsforteenagers. Covers: Why it’s important to teenagers: For our bodies and brains to function properly, we need to eat a balanced diet, exercise regularly and have enough sleep. In addition, we need to feel connected to others, be able to manage difficult feelings and avoid unhealthy habits. Helping students to understand what each of these mean, is the first step in making healthy decisions. The second step, also covered in the activity sheet, is supporting them to change, if that’s what they want to do. Includes help to explain the activity to the class to help them become better decisions on their health and wellbeing choices. The seed you’re planting in this lesson is that decisions we make about our health and wellbeing are ours to own and will have life-long implications. Forming good habits early in life gives us the best chance to lead a healthy and successful life. Wellbeing is not just the absence of disease or illness. It’s a complex combination of a person’s physical, mental, emotional and social health factors. Wellbeing is strongly linked to happiness and life satisfaction. It matters greatly because having good health and wellbeing will likely add years to your life.