My Strengths Across Settings
Students learn to name two strengths with evidence from different subjects or contexts, identify where a strength works best and where it's less useful, connect an interest to a current learning goal, plan ahead to use a strength on purpose, and revise their approach based on feedback.
Lesson Overview
What students will be able to do after this lesson: Students will be able to name two personal strengths and back them up with evidence from different settings, identify where a strength helps most and where it is less useful, connect an interest to a current learning goal, make a strength-based plan for an upcoming task and follow through on it, and revise that plan when they get feedback.
Skill segments at a glance:
| Segment | Segment name | Primary standards |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Naming My Strengths with Evidence | SA-STR-3-1 · SA-STR-3-2 |
| 2 | Connecting Strengths to What I’m Learning | SA-STR-3-3 · SA-STR-3-4 |
| 3 | Using Feedback to Improve My Plan | SA-STR-3-5 |
Supporting standards reinforced:
| Code | Why it connects |
|---|---|
| SA-VAL-3-1 | Connecting a strength to something you care about is one natural pathway into understanding personal values — what matters to you often shows up in what you’re naturally good at. |
| RS-TMW-3-2 | Segment 3 uses peer feedback as the revision prompt — giving specific, useful feedback on a classmate’s strength-based plan is the same skill as contributing to a team’s work. |
Key Vocabulary
- strength — something you do consistently well — not just once, and not just because someone told you so, but because you can see it working across more than one situation
- evidence — a specific example that shows your strength in action — something you can point to or describe, not just a feeling that you’re good at it
- setting — the place or situation where a strength is being used — a subject, an activity, a type of task, or a social context (e.g., whole-class discussion vs. small group)
- interest — something you genuinely enjoy, are curious about, or want to spend more time on — interests and strengths overlap, but they are not the same thing
- strength-based plan — a plan you make on purpose that puts a specific strength to work on a specific upcoming task, with an idea of exactly how and when to use it
- feedback — information from someone else — a teacher or classmate — about what is working in your plan and what could be adjusted
Materials
- Whiteboard or chart paper and markers
- Optional: index cards or sticky notes for students to write their evidence examples during We Do segments
- Before the week begins: Post your unit anchor chart and I Can Statement where students can see them — you’ll reference both throughout the week.
How this lesson is structured: Each skill segment below has an I Do (teacher models the skill with a realistic scenario) and a We Do (class practices together with your guidance). Independent practice — the You Do — lives in the practice resources that go alongside this lesson.
What Students Need Before This Lesson
- What’s inside
- What students should already be able to do
- Helpful to have in place
- 4 quick set-ups before the I DoA strength vs. “I’m the best at this” · Evidence vs. opinion · Where a strength helps — and where it doesn’t · What makes an interest connect to a learning goal — it’s skill, not enthusiasm
- Rescue planIf students are significantly behind
This section opens when Grade 3 launches.
Introducing the Skill
- What’s inside
- Opening hook
- What we’re learning
- Why it matters
- Core sentence frameThe frame students use all week
This section opens when Grade 3 launches.
Naming My Strengths with Evidence
- What’s inside
- I do: 4 teacher modelsTextbook example: naming a strength with evidence from two settings · Wrong version → fix: opinion replaced with evidence · Where a strength helps most — and where it’s less useful · Non-conflict positive scenario: strength in action right now
- We do: 5 guided scenariosWith sentence frames, pacing notes and what to watch for
- Coaching in the momentWhat to say when students get stuck
This section opens when Grade 3 launches.
Connecting Strengths to What I’m Learning
- What’s inside
- I do: 4 teacher modelsConnecting an interest to a current learning goal · Making a strength-based plan (with all three pieces) · Wrong version → fix: a vague intention replaced with a real plan · Ordinary, non-challenging moment: plan made in advance
- We do: 5 guided scenariosWith sentence frames, pacing notes and what to watch for
- Coaching in the momentWhat to say when students get stuck
This section opens when Grade 3 launches.
Using Feedback to Improve My Plan
- What’s inside
- I do: 3 teacher modelsReceiving feedback and making a specific change · Wrong version → fix: ignoring feedback vs. using it · Feedback that confirms the plan is working
- We do: 5 guided scenariosWith sentence frames, pacing notes and what to watch for
- Coaching in the momentWhat to say when students get stuck
This section opens when Grade 3 launches.
Closing the Week
- What’s inside
- 3 partner-share roundsOne for each segment, with the frame students say together
- Closing prompt
- Round 1 — Segment 1
- Round 2 — Segment 2
- Round 3 — Segment 3
This section opens when Grade 3 launches.
Practice for every skill segment
Each lesson comes with independent practice — the “you do” — for each of its 3 skill segments, in print and digital.
Printable practice
Ready-to-copy practice pages for each segment.
- View and print in your browser
- Answer keys for quick checking
Digital activities
Share one link — students open it on any device, and you see their answers.
- Works on Chromebooks, tablets and phones
- Students just type their name to start
While you wait: from the SEL Resource Library
Self-Awareness resources for Grade 3, ready to use today.
