Merrell's Strong Teens—Grades 9–12

Dianna Carrizales-Engelmann, Laura L. Feuerborn, Barbara A. Gueldner, Oanh K. Tran

• Publisher: Brookes Publishing
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781681251660
• Edition: 2
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Behavioural Management

Teach social-emotional competence—the foundation of school and social success—with the NEW editions of the Strong Teens™—Grades 9–12 curriculum! Strong Teens is the fun and easy way to help your students develop the social-emotional skills they need to manage their challenges and succeed in school and life. Developed by a team of educational and mental health experts, this evidence-based, age-appropriate curriculum is

• Low cost and low tech
• Proven to help increase students' knowledge of social and emotional concepts and decrease their emotional and behavioral problems
• Easy to implement with no mental health training required
• Brief enough to use with any program

Through engaging, thought-provoking classroom activities, students learn about emotions and the social-emotional skills they'll use for the rest of their lives: managing anger, reducing stress, solving interpersonal problems, and much more. This scientifically-based curriculum runs for 12 weeks, and lessons are easy to fit into your existing schedule (especially with the new options for breaking them into smaller chunks). Partially scripted lessons, handouts, and worksheets are included—all photocopiable and available as downloads—so teachers have everything they need to implement the program with little added cost or preparation.

Learn more about the Strong Kids series.

SECTION II

The Strong Teens—Grades 9–12 Curriculum

About Strong Teens: Emotional Strength Training

SEL Competencies Addressed in This Lesson

Teacher Notes

Purpose and Objectives

This lesson orients students to the curriculum and introduces emotional vocabulary. In this lesson, students will

• Be introduced to the curriculum and the plan for regular instruction

• Learn the expected behaviors for participation in the curriculum

• Begin to identify emotions

Materials Needed

Supplements 1.1–1.2 (online download)

Supplement 1.3 (online download and preprint)

Supplements 1.4–1.6 (online download)

Supplement 1.7 (homework handout)

Comment Box

Running Short on Time?

Suggested stopping points: end of Optional Pretest Assessments or end of the Awareness Statement to Instructor and Students section and the Closure activity. See Chapter 1 for more information on segmenting lessons.

Instructor Reflection

You and your students are embarking upon a 12-lesson journey that explores our social and emotional lives. Research demonstrates that learning about our social and emotional world helps build resilience and can offset the negative effects of the fast-paced and stressful society in which we live. Before you lead your students through each lesson, you may feel more comfortable with the materials if you take some time to reflect on each lesson’s content as it relates to you, your understanding of the information, and your own experiences. An Instructor Reflection exercise is provided at the beginning of each lesson to allow you time to reflect on the content you are about to present. Also, you may find it helpful to review the introductory material in Chapters 1 through 4 before beginning the lessons. The star icon (see margin), used throughout all lessons, signifies that these chapters offer additional explanation or information pertinent to the lesson content or administrative guidelines, which can help you implement the lesson.

For this lesson, consider how the behavioral expectations for participating in the curriculum align with your classroom behavior expectations. Note that special consideration is given to the fact that students will share personal information and thus it will be treated as confidential within the group. Consider how you might remind students to be respectful to one another when they share. You also may wish to review the list of emotions in Supplement 1.6 and consider how you experience and perceive emotions. Are there some emotions with which you feel more, or less, comfortable? Consider potential roadblocks you may face in presenting this information, or concerns that may arise, and identify colleagues with whom you can collaborate and any resources available to you at your site.

Introduction

1 MIN.

In this section and the sections that follow, sample scripts are provided. You may use the scripts, or your own words, during instruction. For this first section, talk to students about the fact that they are starting a new program called Strong Teens. Give examples on the topics that will be covered, and indicate that the skills they learn will help them be socially and emotionally stronger in their lives, including after high school. Ask students to briefly identify areas in which they would like to grow and learn how to be resilient. If your students participated in Strong Kids—Grades 3–5 and/or Strong Kids—Grades 6–8 in the past, Chapter 4 provides information on the ways in which Strong Teens—Grades 9–12 is similar to and different from the preceding levels of the curriculum.

Sample Script

Today, we will begin a new program called Strong Teens. Strong Teens is about learning ways we can be healthy with our minds and bodies and in our relationships with other people, even when we are faced with challenges or go through difficult times. If any of you were part of the Strong Kids curriculum when you were in elementary school or middle school, some of these lessons may seem familiar to you, but you may notice that Strong Teens helps you think about the topics from a more mature perspective. We’ll learn how to understand our emotions and other people’s emotions, ways to solve problems, how to set goals, and how to think in a way that helps us and makes us stronger. We will meet [e.g., once per week] for [e.g., 45 minutes]. This program will help you learn skills that you will practice in order to be socially and emotionally healthy throughout your life. What do you think you might need to be socially and emotionally strong?

Optional Pre...