Summary Grade 11 - Life Orientation (Full Year)

LO summaries – Grade 11 (Full Year)
Section 1 (Term 1)
Unit 1: Development of the self in society
PLAN AND ACHIEVE LIFE GOALS

Self-assessment and goal-setting

 Grade 11 is important (it prepares you for your final school year)
 We must maintain a positive attitude towards our future
 Keep a journal to record feelings & map your journey to maturity

Notes from Activity 1.1
 Factors affecting...
o Physical well-being:
 Physical health (how often you get sick)
 Type of body shape (weight)
 Eating habits (healthy/unhealthy)
 Amount of exercise (regular or never?)
 Stress (do you find ways to deal with it?)
 Awareness of physical dangers of unprotected sex
 Attitude to alcohol & drugs
o School success
 Motivation to succeed (do you have goals?)
 Effective study methods
 Satisfaction with academic progress
 Regular work routine (do you plan ahead?)
o Work and career choices
 Work experience
 Knowledge of different kinds of work/careers
 Knowledge of entrance requirements at universities/colleges
o Relationships and community involvement
 How you see your relationships
 Awareness of different types of power in relationships
 How you see roles of men & women in society/relationships
 Responsibility for the environment
 How involved you are in your community
 How much you like helping others

GOAL-SETTING
Types of goals

 3 main types of goals:
o Long-term goal  in the future (e.g. become a doctor)
o Medium-term goal  this year (e.g. good school marks to access University)

, o Short-term goal  next few weeks (e.g. study/time-management skills)
 We use short-term and medium-term goals to achieve long-term goals

HOW TO SET GOALS
1. Write out your goal clearly, and display it where you can see it often
2. Set out actions to achieve your goal
3. Consider obstacles & how to deal with them
4. Set deadlines for short-, medium- and long-term goals
5. Include ways to reward yourself for achievements along the way

Characteristics of goals
 Ensure your goals are SMART:
o Specific (decide exactly what your aim is)
o Measurable (‘how much of what by when?’)
o Achievable (must be something within your reach)
o Realistic (analyse strengths & weaknesses)
o Time-specific (set realistic deadlines)

Strategies for achieving goals
Strategies: steps to take to carry out a plan
 Plan a strategy with small steps to achieve long-term goals
 Set yourself small rewards for achieving milestones towards your goal
 Consider whether your long-term goal is worth changing habits/making sacrifices
 Find someone you can trust to help & encourage you to reach your goal

PROBLEM SOLVE, PERSEVERE AND PERSIST
Persevere: keep trying
Persist: endure, keep at it even if it is difficult
Feasibility: reasonableness, possibility, practicality
 If your plans go wrong or goal-setting didn’t work out:
o Try again (work harder)
o Change your plan (another way to achieve same goal)
o Change your goal

Steps for problem-solving
1. Clarify what decision you have to make
2. Brainstorm different alternatives
3. Think about the consequences of each alternative (research)
4. Decide on an action to take
5. Evaluate your decision

Evidence of ability (how do you know you can do it?)
 The only way to test whether you can achieve your goals is to try
 You should map out your progress (e.g. in a journal):
o Keep a log book of physical attainment (e.g. running times/distances)
o Keep record of weights/measurements (e.g. trying to change weight/shape)
o Make graphs/tables to record things (e.g. marks improving)
o Keep records of friendships/plans with friends in your journal

, o Keep a log of community service

PRIORITISING LIFE GOALS
Priorities: the things that are most important to you

 At different stages in life you will have different priorities
 In Grade 11 you should make your career choice a priority  spend time making a
well-researched and well-thought out career choice for long-term benefits

Values, priorities and choices
 When making choices & setting goals, consider your values and what you see is
important in life
 Listen to others’ opinions but make your own decision

First things first
1. Don’t let the merely urgent in your life crowd out the truly important (make a list
of priorities and keep it somewhere visible)
2. Self-discipline consists mainly in remembering what you really want (look at the big
picture & set aside distractions)

Teenage parents
Conception: the moment when a baby starts growing in the womb
Myth: untrue story based on rumour
 Teenagers seldom plan to become parents. Reasons include:
o Not assertive enough to say ‘no’ to sex
o Partner says ‘everyone does it’/‘you’d have sex with me if you loved me’
o You’re under the influence of drugs/alcohol & can’t control actions
o You don’t use contraceptives/use them incorrectly/avoided getting them
o You believe using contraceptive is sign of not trusting your partner
o You were tricked into unprotected sex
o You have sex for money
o You are bored and decide to experiment
 Unavoidable reasons:
o Violently forced to have sexual intercourse
o Ignorant about how you can become pregnant
o You’ve been encouraged by community that teen parenting is acceptable
o You may be part of large family with poor parental guidance & doing ‘what
everybody else does’
 If you actually plan to have a baby to give your life direction/meaning, think:
o Are you emotionally strong enough to raise a baby alone?
o Will you have the support of the father?
o Have you considered the cost of having a baby?
 Initial costs: maternity clothes, pram, cot, bedding, sanitary towels,
feeding bra, doctor’s check-ups & scans
 Ongoing costs: bottles, teats, formula, nappies
(towelling/disposable), baby’s clothes, child care
o Have you thought of the risks of becoming a parent at a young age?
 Low birth weight of baby

,  Maternal or infant death
o How will you manage to continue with your education?
 A baby takes a lot of time
 Babies have to go to the clinic for vaccinations and medicine
 Your peers might tease you

THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN PERSONAL VALUES, CHOICES AND GOLA-SETTING
 It can sometimes be difficult to take responsibility for things that happen beyond
our control, but you should always take responsibility for how you act after these
things have happened
 We should use our personal values to guide our choices and reach our goals
 Remember it is cool to:
o Try get the things you want
o Have a diversity of friends
o Try get better marks
o Try get along with parents & teachers
o Say you don’t agree with something
o Say you don’t want to get involved in drugs, alcohol, crime or sex
o Get excited about something in your life
o Live with purpose & direction
o Find a study method that works for you
o Be honest and true to yourself
 Good school results give you a greater choice & access to more opportunities,
courses & jobs

THE INFLUENCE OF RELATIONSHIPS ON WELL-BEING
 Relationships affect your success and happiness in your personal life & career
 Understand yourself & be aware of your needs & others’ needs
 Learn the skill of relating to others
 We learn about relationships from our parents/caregivers & community
Categorise: group things that have similar characteristics
Significant: important, meaningful

POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE INFLUENCES
 You can change how you act towards people, and change or end the relationship
 3 ways to respond to teasing:
o Tell the person how you feel and ask that you’re both kind to each other
o Ignore the person & don’t respond to their teasing
o Ask the person’s parents/teachers/coach to speak to him

The changing nature of relationships
 When people change, their relationships also change – this can be good or bad
 Sometimes you can talk about it and work it out, other times it must end