With / Without A Thought

A compare/contrast structure to analyze the impact of thoughts

Screen Shot 2024-05-20 at 4.29.50 PM.png

PRINTOUTS (PDF)

EDITABLE TEMPLATES

I was super surprised at how deep the conversation went because they are first graders. I thought it would be more of just basic talking about thoughts and feelings and stuff. But they actually really understood and went with it. I was really cool.

Andrea, 1st grade teacher, Ohio

High School Language Arts Teacher

OVERVIEW: A structure to help you analyze the influence of a thought.

WHEN TO USE: To analyze the impact and influence of a historical person’s thinking, a historical event, character analysis, or to reflect on a personal situation.

WHAT STUDENTS DO

Identify a central thought that is believed by either a character, historical figure, group, or personally. Examples: “I’m not good enough.” “They’re a threat.” “There’s no point in trying.”
Compare and contrast what happened WITH THE THOUGHT with what happened WITHOUT THE THOUGHT. Explore the impact of the thought on emotions, words, communication, and actions.

EXAMPLE

Compare/contrast based on listening to a personal narrative.

SKILLS

Civic Literacy
Media Literacy
Critical Thinking
Perspective Taking (intellectual empathy)
Decision analysis
Reading Comprehension
Writing

GRADE

4-12 (and younger with modifications)

PREP TIME REQUIRED

As little as 5 minutes

EST. TIME

10 minutes (as exit ticket)
or build a lesson around it

SUBJECTS

Social Studies, History
Language Arts
Engineering and Design
Science
Advisory
and more!

AT A GLANCE:

Screen Shot 2024-03-27 at 6.00.40 PM.png

Screen Shot 2024-03-27 at 6.10.58 PM.png

Screen Shot 2024-03-27 at 6.11.47 PM.png

VIEW MORE EXAMPLES

SKILLS

Self-awareness (Metacognition, Emotional awareness, Examining prejudices and biases)
Decision making (Anticipating and evaluating the consequences of one’s actions)
Perspective Taking (Intellectual empathy)
Relationship skills (sharing one’s thoughts and feelings)
Writing

GRADE

4-12 (and younger with modifications)

PREP TIME REQUIRED

As little as 10 minutes

EST. TIME

20 min+ the first time
10 min once familiar

AT A GLANCE:

OVERVIEW: A structure to help you analyze the influence of a thought.

WHEN TO USE: To analyze the impact and influence of a historical person’s thinking, a historical event, character analysis, or to reflect on a personal situation.

FACILITATOR PREPARATION

Choose worksheet variation to print. (Options include: Unstructured, communication focused, self-talk focused, etc.)
Prepare a prompt.
Select (or prepare) an example to introduce the class to the compare/contrast structure.

WHAT STUDENTS DO

Identify a thought they are believing. Examples: “I’m not good enough.” “They’re a threat.” “There’s no point in trying.”
Compare what happened WITH THE THOUGHT with what happens WITHOUT THE THOUGHT. Explore the impact of the thought on emotions, words, communication, and actions.

Option 1: Develop a prompt around a relevant topic. E.g. "Something stressful about this project is..." "The most stressful thing about getting feedback is..." Use a slide of common stressful thoughts about the topics to help people identify a thought they are believing.