How do you teach soft skills such as empathy, confidence, self-control, and self-awareness?
We believe that these skills begin at home and we rely on our parents and guardians to work in partnership with us to enhance social emotional learning. On the school side, students are a part of a learning community, one that gives the opportunity for young adults to better themselves, have achievements, have failures, learn lessons, etc. One of the unique things about our program is that we implement an SEL (social emotional learning) curriculum starting in kindergarten that is regularly taught as part of the school day.
At our school, there is School Character Traits - we are the TUSKERS, which is an acronym that stands for Thinkers, Unique, Supportive, Kind, Exceptional, Respectful, and Sincere. These core values are embraced throughout all Members of our community, including Students, Teachers, Non-Teaching Staff, Parents, and various partners. These values are interwoven throughout our culture and appear throughout our school in the form of reward systems, songs, and lesson planning.
Whether it be their behavior in the hallways, participating in class discussions, or connecting with friends during lunchtime or after school, they are learning these lessons through their relationships with their teachers and fellow students. Its’ a daily journey and one that reminds students of the community they are a part of, and the respect we require them to show other people and themselves.