Psychological Vocabulary

A person can often compensate for factors not under his or her control by working harder.

Lesson Objectives

Students will be able to suggest specific efforts people can make to compensate for factors not under their control. For example, a carpenter who has trouble with math can double-check his or her figures and then ask other people to check them again.

Social Behaviors

This lesson shows students that successful people:

Other Vocabulary

• carpenter permanent
• measure experience

Suggested Lesson Plans

Introduction

• Define compensate and have students provide examples of how people compensate for factors not under their control (e.g., a person who can't hear can learn to read sign lan-guage; a person who is distracted by noise can ask to work in a quiet area).
• Introduce vocabulary.

Group Use of Student Workbook

• Ask students to read the story and summarize what happened to Jeff.
• Ask students to list factors that were not under Jeff's control in the story (e.g., poor math skills, lack of experience, and the difficulty of the tasks assigned).
• Ask students to describe what Jeff did to compensate for each of these factors
• Ask students to suggest additional efforts Jeff could make to compensate for these factors (e.g., Jeff could ask lots of questions, read "how to" books, look at work done on other construction sites, and carry a calculator).
• Have students read and evaluate each of the statements Mr. Sheehan might make in his report.
• Ask students why Mr. Sheehan did not hire Mike for the permanent job. Set up a chart on the board like the one below:

Mike	Jeff
Good points:   Bad points:	Good points:   Bad points:

• Ask students to suggest efforts that Mike could have made to keep his job.

Behavior Development Activity

To encourage students to be on time:

• Remind students that one difference between the young men in the story was that Jeff arrived at work either early or on time, while Mike arrived late. Discuss the fact that not being on time has consequences for the person who is late as well as for others who may be expecting a person to arrive on time at work, at school, etc
• Assign different situations from the list below to each of several small groups. Have students decide what the consequences of being late are in these situations involving other people. Remind students to determine the consequences of being late for the person who is late as well as for others. Have each group report to the class on the consequences of each situation.
• Bill arrives in class ten minutes late, after the teacher has taken attendance and begun the lecture.
• Lucien has promised to drive his grandmother to the doctor for her scheduled check-up. He arrives late at his grandmother's house. By the time they arrive at the doctor's office, they have missed the appointment.
• Anisa is going out of town for the weekend to visit her brother. She tells him she will be on the 7 o'clock plane so he can meet her. She gets to the airport late and misses her plane.
• Lou is the center for the community basketball team. Practice starts promptly at 6 o'clock, but Lou shows up at 7:00.
• Tonight there is a birthday party for Adriano's girlfriend. He still needs to find her the right gift. He arrives at the store just as it is closing and doesn't have time to buy the present.
• Ellen's family has dinner together each night at 6:30. Ellen, like the other members of her family, has a specific job to do in preparing dinner. She arrives home at 7:00.
• Have students discuss what they do now to make sure they are on time (e.g., get a watch, set their watches fast, keep a calendar of appointments, plan ahead, and allow themselves extra time when going somewhere).

Review

• Ask students to identify two ways Jeff compensated for factors he could not control. For example:
• He compensated for his math problems by being especially careful and by having others double-check his work.
• He compensated for his inexperience by being careful and by arriving on the job early.

Homework (Optional)

Give students charts like the one below. Have them use the charts to create a baseline to identify activities for which they are both early and late. After a few days, ask students to list specific ways and times they can become more punctual.