A. Developing the Skills, Strategies, and Habits Needed to Succeed · Skills, Strategies and Habits for Success

Skills, Strategies and Habits for Success: Unit Review

A1 A1.1 A1.2 A2 A2.1 A2.2About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can explain how skills, strategies and habits, including resilience and perseverance, contribute to success.
I can recognize stress and choose strategies to manage it and keep a healthy school/life/work balance.
I can use decision-making strategies to set, monitor and revise goals.
I can reflect on and document my goal-setting process.

Words to know

resilience
The ability to adapt and recover after stress, change or difficulty.

circle of control
Sorting a situation into what I control, what I can influence and what I can't control.

stress signature
Your own pattern of early warning signs of stress.

problem-focused / emotion-focused coping
Dealing with the cause of stress / dealing with the feelings it causes.

weighted criteria list
A table that multiplies each option's scores by how important each criterion is, then adds.

SMART goal
Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.

if-then plan
A plan that names an obstacle and what you will do when it happens.

Individual Pathways Plan (IPP)
The plan Ontario students keep from Grade 7 to 12 to record who they are, their opportunities, their goals and their plans.

Let's review!

In this unit you learned what success takes: skills, strategies and habits; resilience, perseverance and adaptability; learning from setbacks through feedback, self-advocacy and initiative; recognizing and managing stress; and protecting a healthy school/life/work balance. Then you put it into action with decision-making strategies, goal setting in four areas and three time frames, monitoring and revising goals, and reflecting on and documenting the process.

This review has a few questions from every lesson. Try each one, then press Show answer to check.

How to use this review

Do two or three sections at a time rather than all at once. Write your answer before you check. For each question you miss, note why (forgot a term? mixed up two ideas? arithmetic slip in a decision matrix?) and reread that lesson's worked example. Many answers here are personal; compare yours with the sample and ask, "Is mine as specific?" Finish with the 10-question quiz.

The ten lessons of the unit. A1 builds the skills, strategies and habits; A2 uses them to decide, set goals, monitor, revise and reflect.

What Success Takes: Skills, Strategies and Habits

Classify: (a) checking your planner every night (b) using flash cards for a test (c) being able to stay calm under pressure.

Name the three parts of the habit loop.

Name two of the six social-emotional learning skills and explain how one helps at a part-time job.

Resilience and Perseverance: Adapting to Change

How do perseverance and adaptability work together in resilience?

Sort: (a) the date of your exam (b) how you prepare (c) your study group's schedule.

List the five steps for adapting to a big change.

Learning from Setbacks: Feedback, Self-Advocacy and Initiative

Put the learning loop in order: adjust, result, try, get feedback, reflect.

Rewrite as learning self-talk: "I'll never be good at interviews."

Write a one-sentence self-advocacy request for a student who needs a quieter place to write tests.

Give one example of taking initiative at work.

Recognizing Stress in Mind, Body and Spirit

What is the difference between a stressor and stress?

Give one sign of stress in the body, one in the mind and one in the spirit.

Name the thinking trap and reframe: "If I fail this test, my life is over."

My Stress-Management Toolkit: Past, Present and Future

Is "breaking a project into steps" problem-focused or emotion-focused coping?

How much sleep do the Canadian guidelines recommend for 14- to 17-year-olds?

Your grandparent is ill and you can't change that. Suggest two strategies.

Why is gaming until 2 a.m. to forget about an assignment an example of avoidance?

School/Life/Work Balance and Time Management

A student sleeps 8 h a night, has 32.5 h of school, 21 h of meals and personal care, 15 h of work, 10 h of homework and 5 h of travel each week. How much time is left?

Which box of the urgent/important grid does "exercise" usually belong in?

Backward-plan: an essay is due Friday, December 11, 2026. Give three mini-deadlines.

Give one respectful way to learn about a First Nation's teachings on balance.

Decision-Making Strategies

List the six steps of the decision-making process.

Option A scores 5, 2, 3 on criteria weighted 1, 3, 2. Find the weighted total.

Give one benefit and one risk of postponing a decision.

Setting Short-, Medium- and Long-Term Goals

Rewrite as a SMART goal: "I want to volunteer."

Classify: (a) graduate from an apprenticeship (b) finish a project due Friday (c) save for a phone by next summer.

Name the five parts of a strong goal.

Monitoring Progress and Revising Goals

Goal: 12 job applications in 6 weeks. After 3 weeks you've sent 3. How many per week do you need now?

Write an if-then plan for an external obstacle.

The goal is still right, but the strategy isn't working. What should you change?

Reflecting on and Documenting the Goal-Setting Process

What are the three reflection questions?

Make this evidence-based: "Practising helped."

What are the four IPP questions?

Strand A2 in one picture: decide, set, monitor, revise and reflect, then use what you learned to decide again.

Just for fun

Squirrels bury huge numbers of nuts each fall. They find most of them again, but not all, and some of the forgotten ones grow into new trees. Great for forests, not so great for squirrels. Your goals deserve better: write down where you put them.

Check your understanding

Quiz

Which is a habit?

In the circle of control, which belongs in I control?

What comes right after reflect in the learning loop?

Which is a sign of stress in the body?

Which is problem-focused coping?

How many hours are in a week?

Option A scores 4 and 3 on two criteria weighted 2 and 3. What is its weighted total?

Which goal is SMART?

A student learns from co-op that they dislike their planned field. What should they do?

10.

Which reflection question asks what you will do next?

For parents and teachers

How to use the review: Let your teen try each section, then talk through any answers that differ from the sample. Many answers are personal, so look for specific answers with examples, numbers and dates.

Which lesson to revisit for which mistake:

Mixing up skills, strategies and habits, or the habit loop: What Success Takes: Skills, Strategies and Habits.
Putting other people's choices in "I control", or confusing perseverance with adaptability: Resilience and Perseverance: Adapting to Change.
Vague reflections on a poor mark, or trouble writing a self-advocacy request: Learning from Setbacks.
Not recognizing stress signs or thinking traps: Recognizing Stress in Mind, Body and Spirit.
Mixing up problem-focused and emotion-focused coping, or toolkits that rely on one kind of strategy: My Stress-Management Toolkit.
168-hour arithmetic, the urgent/important grid or backward planning: School/Life/Work Balance and Time Management.
Weighted-total arithmetic or forgetting to consider other options: Decision-Making Strategies.
Goals that aren't SMART or aren't linked across time frames: Setting Short-, Medium- and Long-Term Goals.
Catch-up arithmetic or not knowing what to adjust: Monitoring Progress and Revising Goals.
Reflections without evidence: Reflecting on and Documenting the Goal-Setting Process.

If stress topics in this unit raised real concerns, the school's guidance or social work staff can help, and Kids Help Phone (1-800-668-6868, text CONNECT to 686868) is available 24/7.