Leader in Me: Lesson Plan Template
Title:
Think Win-Win
Students will be able to:

Define win-win thinking.

Understand that everyone's feelings are kept intact during win-win
thinking.

Apply win-win thinking to all situations encountered by students.

•Commit to practicing Habit 4.
Learning Objective:
FranklinCovey Habit:
Think Win-Win
21st Century Skill:
Communication and Collaboration Skills; Leadership and Responsibility; Social
and Cross-Cultural Skills
Subject Area:
Language Arts
Activity Type:
Source:
Activity Time:
___ Individual
_X__ Group
___ Homework
Adapted from a lesson plan from the staff at Crestwood Elementary
School
30 min.
Grade Level:
4-6
Set Up
Student
Materials
Teacher Materials
Review
• Incentive prizes ex. fish candy
Review what a
win-win
situation is.
• The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister
• The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey
• “Think Differently” by Amy Martin
http://www.teachablemoment.org/elementary/thinkdifferently.html
Introduction
1.
Have two or three students enact a situation in front of the class. For example, one scenario
could involve games at recess: The boys want to play basketball and do not want the girls to play.
Encourage the students in the role-play to show with their bodies and voices what would happen.
You may want to prompt them with setting up the scene, such as, "the boys have been playing
basketball every day, but the girls are feeling left out. One day the girls decide to try to play."
After the students role-play the situation, solicit from the students what would happen if the
boys won and the girls lost? And what would happen if the boys lost and the girls won? How
might both sides lose? How might both sides win?
2.
Try to encourage multiple solutions, such as: The boys and girls could take turns each day. Or
they could split the court. Or both girls and boys could play on equally divided teams. Explain that
these solutions allow both parties to get what they want without feeling sad and disappointed.
Have the students role-play the various outcomes. Ask, did the characters get what they wanted?
How are they feeling?
3.
Create a chart to visually represent how conflicts can turn out.
Group A gets what they want
Group A does NOT get what
they want
Group B gets what they want
Win - Win
Win - Lose
Group B does NOT get what
they want
Lose - Win
Lose - Lose
Activity
1.
Win-win thinking is not self driven. It is based on the idea that everyone’s opinions and feelings
need to be considered. Then a plan needs to be formulated so everyone feels good about the
outcome. This could be as simple as choosing what game to play with a friend or as difficult as
deciding to give a treasured pet away. You are finding a way to choose outcomes that work for
both parties involved. Everyone comes away feeling good about what has happened in a
situation.
2.
Read: The Rainbow Fish by Marcus Pfister. Discuss how the fish felt in the beginning of the story.
Then how he felt after he shared his scales.
3.
In groups of 2-4 have students create a PMI chart to decide the pluses, minuses and interesting
facts that the fish could have gone through to make the decision of sharing his scale. Share the
results with the class.
PMI CHART
PLUS
MINUS
INTERESTING FACTS
Wrap Up
Review what a win-win situation in the classroom might look like.
Assessment
Students will have one week after lesson is presented to write an example of how they engaged in a winwin situation with someone during the week in their agendas. Five people will be chosen to tell about
their experience orally.
Look for people using win-win strategies for a chance to win a “Covey Habit Prize” of whatever the
teacher uses as an incentive for following through with the Covey Habit lessons.
Extensions & Integrations

As a writing journal activity have students write about a time when they had a win-win
experience. In pairs have students share their entry.

Discuss how thinking win-win would make a difference to your relationship with classmates,
family and friends.

Brainstorm ideas for preventing predictable problems. Role play different scenarios. (Note:
When using real problems, it is important to not use the actual children involved in the problem
to role-play. Having neutral children involved in the role-play will help to prevent the situation
from becoming too heated. You can also give the children character name and/or use puppets to
help students distance themselves from the actual problem.)

Have a box in the classroom designated as the “win/win" box. Explain to the children that this is
where they can put their concerns and together the classroom will try to find the win/win
solutions. Pull applicable role-play ideas from the box and use the format above to try to solve
them.

With book buddies share an art activity where everybody wins. Each student draws or paints the
front and back of a fish. Cut out tin foil scales for each pair to use for decorations. Put the two
sides together, stuff with paper and staple for a 3-D effect.