The Power of Social Skills in Character Development: Helping Diverse Learners SucceedStudents must demonstrate not only academic ability but also social competence as they develop to become involved members of society. This guide for teachers, parents, and other professionals addresses the necessity for teaching students social competence as they also learn their core academic material. The program starts with solid lessons in self-esteem and character development. Students learn to respect themselves by developing habits of honesty, responsibility, and self-control. With improved self-esteem comes a willingness to accept constructive criticism, the courage to set personal goals, and the desire to treat others as they would like to be treated, thus creating a solid foundation for social development. Eighty lessons and reproducible activity handouts, all within 7 units, make up this resource. These units are: (1) "Self-Awareness"; (2) "Communication Skills"; (3) "Relationships," subdivided into "Family and Friends," and "Dating and Romantic Relationships"; (4) "Criticism and Attitudes"; (5) "Stress Management"; (6) "Conflict Resolution and Problem Solving"; and (7) "Decision Making and Goal Setting." An appendix contains alternative classroom activities: Social Skill of the Month, Attribute of the Month and Character Calendar, Acknowledgment Notes, and My Personal Time Capsule. The book concludes with a list of additional resources and organizations. (Contains 107 references.) (RT). |
Contents
SELFAWARENESS | 1 |
COMMUNICATION SKILLS | 11 |
Lesson | 17 |
Misunderstandings | 25 |
Interruption Eruption | 31 |
RELATIONSHIPS | 37 |
Dating and Romantic Relationships | 73 |
Communication Quotations of the Week | 76 |
SelfCriticism | 112 |
Signs of Emotional Stress | 128 |
Lesson 59 | 135 |
CONFLICT RESOLUTION AND PROBLEM SOLVING | 141 |
Bias and Stereotype Identification | 147 |
Recognizing Problems | 157 |
ALTERNATE CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES | 183 |
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES | 189 |
Common terms and phrases
active listener anger angry Answer the following ask students basic psychological needs best friend body language boyfriend/girlfriend Brainstorm things Character Education CHARACTER LESSON choose class into groups Classroom COMMUNICATION SKILLS OBJECTIVE Complete CONFLICT RESOLUTION conversation CRITICISM AND ATTITUDES decision defense mechanisms Define Discuss results Discuss the results Divide the class emotions explain family conflict feel following questions following situations Free Spirit Publishing Group Activity happen he/she help students recognize help students understand him/her HOMEWORK honest important interrupt messages Minneapolis movie Name someone National Professional Resources parents partner passive peer pressure person Port Chester PROBLEM SOLVING questionnaire QUOTATIONS realistic RELATIONSHIPS OBJECTIVE RESOLUTION AND PROBLEM respect results when finished Robert Fulghum romantic relationships self-esteem social skills STRESS MANAGEMENT OBJECTIVE students to reflect sure talk Teacher tip tell traditions and rituals TRIANGLE FRIENDSHIP trust value journals Video West Nyack write www.NPRinc.com www.NPRinc.com