English Career Resources

Key Stage 3: Consequences

Teacher Instructions

• Give out Worksheet 1 (PDF) and Student Instruction Sheet (PDF) (if preferred you can do the whole of this with pure aural teacher instruction).
  
  
• Give students 5-10 minutes (depending on your lesson timings) to rank order on a piece of paper which situation they think is the worst they could get themselves into, right down to which they think is the least serious.
  
  
• Give out Student Answer Sheet 1 (PDF) and get students to write their rank order number next to the corresponding letter from the original worksheet (this is also explained on the Student Instruction Sheet (PDF)). This sheet can either be filled in by each individual student or as a group.
  
  
• Students should then fill in column 3 on their Student Answer Sheet 1 (WHY?). This is a big box so students can explain their thoughts in detail rather than writing next to each letter. The aim of this is to get students to consider why they believe certain things are worse than others so I advise letting students write in notes or bullet points, but you could get them to write in formal paragraphs if you wish.
  
  
• The teacher should then lead a short discussion with the whole class, inviting students to give their views on their rank order and providing details of how and why they made those decisions. The teacher can then draw together similarities and differences in the ways groups chose to address the task.
  
  
• Now give out Worksheet 2 (PDF). On it there is extra information about each situation they addressed earlier. They must now decide if they want to change their mind and this will help them to address how they make decisions – whether they are quick to make assumptions or if receiving the full facts about a situation has no bearing on their initial ideas.
  
  
• Students then fill in column 5 of their Student Answer Sheet 1 (NEW RANK ORDER) to show their revised order after considering the news facts.
  
  
• The 'NOW WHY?' column can then be filled in with detailed reasons as to why groups have changed their minds. What new factors were particularly important?
  
  
• The teacher should now lead a whole class discussion on why groups changed their minds and why.
  
  
• Give out Student Answer Sheet 2 (PDF) and get groups to decide the CONSEQUENCES of this situation. There is one idea in each box to get them started, but most will be able to add 2 or 3 ideas of their own. These ideas can be general or related to their future careers, but students should try to think as widely as possible. You might want to lead this section from the front if you have a particularly low ability group, but most groups should be able to cope without problems.
  
  
• The final part of this task will be a formal presentation to the class by each group. They must choose 3 situations where they feel a better decision could have been made earlier and how that would have helped the final outcome (i.e. not truanting and accepting the punishment for not doing homework so they could pass that particular examination). This will be graded for En1 and there are no 'right' answers as students are expressing a clear opinion based on several ideas (of course one must here reinforce how important it is to behave sensibly and give reasoned opinions, etc). You will notice I have not put a column for this on the answer sheets, as we do not want students merely to read their answers from the front. Instead have cue cards or post it notes available so they can make notes from which to speak. I have included an En1 grid (PDF) to help you formulate your final level for this task. This can be shared with students and you could even get them to peer-assess each other's work if you wish.