Resilience
How do people respond when the expected path disappears? What separates a setback from a decision to give up?
For teachers, mentors & youth leaders
Turn a life story into a classroom conversation.
The book is free. So are the conversations it can start.
Why use it with students?
Roadblocks & Relationships gives students real situations to think about rather than abstract advice. Chapters can be read independently or used as discussion starters in English, social studies, careers, leadership, life skills, guidance or mentorship programs.
Learning differently
What can a limitation teach us about determination, resourcefulness and finding strategies that work?
Risk & opportunity
When is taking a risk worthwhile? How can a person distinguish a calculated risk from a reckless one?
Relationships
Which people helped the author move forward? How can mentors, colleagues, friends and family change a person's direction?
Leadership
Is leadership about position or about helping other people find solutions? What does good leadership look like?
Career choices
How do unexpected opportunities shape a career? Does a successful career have to follow a straight line?
Discussion starters
Questions with no single right answer.
- Describe a roadblock you have faced. What did you do next?
- Have you ever discovered that you learn better in a different way? What changed?
- Which is more important when facing a setback: persistence, flexibility or asking for help? Why?
- What makes a risk a “good” risk?
- Who has influenced the direction of your life, and how?
- Can a limitation become an opportunity? Give an example.
- What does leadership mean if you do not have authority or a title?
- Why can relationships be as important to success as talent?
- Which lesson from the book would you want your future self to remember?
- If the obvious road is blocked, what “another way” might you try?
A simple classroom approach
1Choose a chapter. Assign it as reading, listening or both.
2Connect it to life. Ask students to identify a similar challenge, choice or relationship.
3Discuss. Use one or two open-ended questions rather than testing for a “correct” answer.
4Apply the lesson. Ask students what they might do differently the next time they encounter a roadblock.
Free teacher resource
Download the Teacher's Discussion Guide
A ready-to-use PDF with discussion starters, classroom activities, writing assignments, scenarios and a suggested lesson structure.
Give your students the book—at no cost.
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