The E-Connect Curriculum is written for use in transition programs to provide:
- An easy way for students and mentors to connect,
- Extended opportunities for learning through a weekly classroom focus and classroom activities,
- Resource information and electronic links to support and extend learning,
- Discussion topics that are relevant and thought provoking,
- E-Connect activities that can accommodate various learning styles and ability levels.
Several segments of the curricula utilize helpful online resources and classroom activities to help students plan for future careers and post-secondary education.
If you have questions regarding this curriculum, please visit our website for contact information at ici.umn.edu/mnhighschoolhightech/.
Project 4: Lessons from “7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”This ten week curriculum is based on the book by Sean Covey, and is an opportunity for a mentor and a student to explore the development of positive habits that help secure and maintain employment.
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project 4: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 1 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 1 – Introduction: The e-mentoring relationship is meant to be rewarding to both the student and the mentor. This extended ten- week curriculum is an opportunity for a mentor and a student to explore the concepts in the Sean Covey book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”. Students and mentors can share thoughts about how the development of these positive habits helps secure and maintain employment.
Students and the mentors begin the relationship by writing to each other an introductory e-mail. / Students, your first e-mail should be a brief autobiography including some information about hobbies, interests, likes and dislikes, and the school you attend.
Classroom Activities
Have the students create a portfolio for this project. Each week the student writing and responses from mentors can be added to the portfolio.Additionally many of the weeks will have classroom activities for the portfolio.
This is a good opportunity to discuss the role of the e-mentor and the perspective the e-mentor might have in helping youth with career development. Use the links below for more background.
Useful Links / Mentor Tips
To learn more about the 7 Habits, visit / Mentors, reply to this message with a personal introduction. Tell about your family, your living situation, your educational background, your current employment (and your company), and then tell about your first job when you were young.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project 4: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 2 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 2– Speaking of Habits: This week the students and mentors will explore the concept of Habits.
Questions for Mentors: What good habits help a person be successful in employment? What are some that may become barriers to successful employment? / “Habits are things we do repeatedly. But most of the time we are hardly aware that we have them. They’re on autopilot.
Some habits are good, such as:
- exercising regularly
- planning ahead
- showing respect for others
- staying out too late
- smoking
- blaming others
- taking showers at night
- eating yogurt with a fork
- reading magazines from back to front”
- (Covey, 1998, p. 8).
Classroom Activities
Discuss with students: What are some habits that help you do well in school? Are there new habits that would help you do a better job at school? What are they?
Useful Link / Mentor Tips
/ This is an opportunity to discuss habits which are helpful to successful employment.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project 4: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 3 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 3– Focus on Habit #1– Be Proactive: This week the students and the mentors discuss what it means to be proactive. (pp. 48-72)
Questions for mentors: What are some ways that proactive behavior can help situations at school and in a job? / “Reactive people make choices based on impulse. They are like a can of soda pop. If life shakes them up a bit, the pressure builds and they suddenly explode” (Covey, 1998, p. 49).
“Proactive people make choices based on values. They think before they act. They recognize they can’t control everything that happens to them, but they can control what they do about it. Unlike reactive people who are full of carbonation, proactive people are like water. Shake them up all you want, take off the lid, and nothing? No fizzing, no bubbling, no pressure. They are calm, cool, and in control” (Covey, 1998, p. 49).
Classroom Activities
Have students draw two cartoons to depict proactive and reactive behavior. Have them share their drawings with the class and describe one experience where they used proactive (think before doing) behavior.
Useful Links / Mentor Tips
/ Mentors can share examples of how being proactive has been helpful in their personal and professional lives.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project 4: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 4 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 4– Focus on Habit #2– Begin with the End in Mind:Have students and mentors explore the concept of planning for the future with a goal in mind. (pp. 74-104)
Question for Mentors: What is your vision of your future? Think about people who are important to you, what you see yourself doing in five or ten years, who will help you plan for your future goals, and what steps one can take now to start planning for the future.
“A personal mission statement is like a personal credo or motto that states what your life is about. It is like the blueprint to your life.” (Covey, 1998, p. 81)
Activity: Have students develop a personal mission statement and share with mentors. / “...think about your own life….Do you have an end in mind? Do you have a clear picture of who you want to be one year from now? Five years from now?” (Covey, 1998, p.74).
Classroom Activities
A mission statement might have a personal timeline that depicts steps necessary for obtaining the goals in their mission statement. The timeline may include words and pictures.
Useful Links / Mentor Tips
/ Goal setting can be difficult for teens. Help them see that there are many levels of goals: short, medium, and long range.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project 4: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 5 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 5– Focus on Habit #2 Continues– Roadblocks: Have students and mentors discuss the concept of roadblocks (pp. 92-93).
Activity: The students will list potential roadblocks which may stop progress toward their goals. The mentors will provide guidance and suggestions on how to address roadblocks and ways to move forward with goals. / Roadblocks are things in life that slow you down or make you stop. They are frustrating until you figure out how to get around them. Roadblocks for some young adults maybe things like: negative labels people have labeled you with, frustration when you can’t seem to get something right and you want to give up, going in the wrong direction like choosing the wrong friends. Everyone hits bumps in the road of life but there is away around those bumps; sometimes all you need to do is ask for help.
Classroom Activities
Have students “incorporate” roadblocks in to their personal timeline and through writing or drawing show how they would get around those roadblocks. When sharing with the class, students will focus on people and things which can help in removing roadblocks.
Useful Links / Mentor Tips
/ Sharing a personal experience about a roadblock and how you addressed it can be a powerful way of connecting students with the reality that most people encounter roadblocks throughout their lives.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 6 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 6– Focus on Habit # 3– Put First Things First: Have students and mentors discuss managing time and setting priorities (pp.105-128).
Activity: Sean Covey talks about four different types of people: procrastinator (the person who puts things off until they absolutely have to be done), prioritizer (the person who sets goals and plans ahead), the yes-man (the person who gives into peer pressure), and the slacker (the person who wastes time).
Questions for Mentors: How do you set priorities in your life? How do you manage your time? / “It’s all about learning to prioritize and manage your time so that your first things come first, not last. But there’s more to this habit than just time management. Putting first things first also deals with learning to overcome your fears and being strong during hard moments” (Covey, 1998, p.106).
Classroom Activities
On large newsprint have students generate two lists: one of personal goals and one of potential tools which they can use both now and in the future to reach personal goals.
Useful Links / Mentor Tips
/ This is an opportunity for mentors to discuss prioritizing work in a career, how to manage your time in your work and personal life.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 7 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 7– Focus on Habit # 4– Think Win-Win: Have students and mentors discuss adopting a Win-Win attitude (pp. 146-162).
Have students write to their mentor and describe people in their lives who are models of “win-win” thinking. / “Win-Win is a belief that everyone can win. It’s both nice and tough all at once. I won’t step on you, but I won’t be your doormat either. You care about other people and you want them to succeed. But you also care about yourself, and you want to succeed as well. Win-Win is abundant. It is the belief that there’s plenty of success to go around. It’s not either you or me. It’s both of us” (Covey, 1998, p.152).
Classroom Activities
Have students write a short “thank you for being you” note to a person in their lives who is a model of the “win-win” thinking.
Useful Links / Mentor Tips
/ This is an opportunity to share stories about “win-win” thinking. Tell about some of the competitive problems you observe in the workplace and how they are dealt with using “win-win” thinking.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 8 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 8– Focus on Habit # 5– Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood:Have students and mentors discuss strengthening communication skills (pp. 163-180).
Have studentsuncover ways in which they can show someone they are listening and understanding what is being said. / The key to communication and having power and influence with people can be summed up in one sentence: Seek first to understand, then to be understood. In other words, listen first, talk second. This is Habit 5, and it works. If you can learn this simple habit – to see things from another’s point of view before sharing your own – a whole new world of understanding will be opened to you (Covey, 1998, p. 165).
Classroom Activities
Have students discuss good listening skills and poor listening skills and make a list of each. Use role play to demonstrate.
Have students, with the assistance of a teacher, write one goal for the student’s IEP addressing the improvement of the student’s communication skills, list the steps the student will take to achieve the skills, and the supports the school will provide in helping the student reach this new goal.
Useful Links / Mentor Tips
/ Share ways by which you have improved communication in the workplace and what communication tools you have found to be most helpful.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 9 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 9– Focus on Habit # 6– “Synergize”:Havestudents and mentors discuss working with a team (pp.181-201).
Question for Mentors: What is teamwork? Give an example of one time you have used teamwork in your life.
Students, write a paragraph/poem/song lyrics to describe why two are better than one for problem solving. You can share this with your mentor at a face-to-face meeting. / “What does “synergize” mean? In a nutshell, synergy is achieved when two or more people work together to create a better solution than either could alone. It’s not your way or my way but a better way, a higher way” (Covey, 1998, p. 182).
Classroom Activities
Have students create a collage depicting the concept of synergy. The students may use markers, paint, pictures, etc. Have students describe their collage to the class.
Useful Links / Mentor Tips
/ This is an opportunity for you to share information about teamwork in the workplace. Describe to your mentee the ways that teamwork is used where you work.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
Minnesota High School/High Tech E-Connect
Project: Lessons from “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens”
Week: 10 Date:
This Week’s Focus / Student Tips
Week 10– Focus on Habit # 7– Sharpen the Saw:Havestudents and mentors discuss the concept of taking a break from activity and how to recharge in their life (pp. 205-242).
Have students identify how they currently keep their saws sharpened and the areas where they need to make changes for renewal. Have them examine physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual perspectives.
Have students tell their mentor three goals for the future in each of the following areas: education, career, and personal growth (this may include friendship goals, learning a new activity, developing new skills related to independence). / “Habit 7 is all about keeping your personal self sharp so that you can better deal with life. It means regularly renewing and strengthening the four key dimensions of your life – your body, your brain, your heart, and your soul” (Covey, 1998, p. 206).
Classroom Activities
To conclude these projects, have students write and give a short presentation (with a PowerPoint) describing what they have learned from the 7 Habits book, three goals for the future (in the areas of education, employment, and community living), and two or three new skills they have learned. Have the students write a thank you note to their mentors.
Useful Links / Mentor Tips
/ This is an opportunity for you to share with your mentee ways in which you keep your “saws” sharpened.
Student Message
Mentor Reply
References
Colorado Nonprofit Development Center. (2007). 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teen,s Spring 2006. Retrieved August 17, 2009, from
Colorado Nonprofit Development Center. (2007). 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens, Spring 2007. Retrieved August 17, 2009, from
Covey, S. (1998). The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens. New York: Simon & Schuster.
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