Guidance Lessons
What it is and how your child benefits...
Teachers can and do implement social and emotional learning while they are keeping up with rigorous academic standards. However, they can occasionally request that the counselor teach a specific lesson related to concerns they have in the classroom. This partnership allows for deeper connections to the material and repeated exposure through fun and meaningful lessons. It gives me as the counselor a chance to connect to a larger group of the kids I serve, and it gives the teacher a chance to learn new strategies and techniques along side the kids
Types of Lessons
Skills Streaming. Adapted from Skills Streaming, Inc., these lessons cover classroom survival skills, such as active listening and following directions as well as coping with stress and anxiety. Teachers can pick lessons based on their classroom needs. (grades 3-5)
Zones of Regulation. The Zones is a systematic, cognitive behavior approach used to teach self-regulation by categorizing all the different ways we feel and states of alertness we experience into four concrete zones. The Zones curriculum provides strategies to teach students to become more aware of, and independent in controlling their emotions and impulses, managing their sensory needs, and improving their ability to problem solve conflicts. (grades K-3)
Social Thinking. The process of uncovering hidden rules and understanding the difference between expected and unexpected behaviors will help children succeed in the classroom and in their peer relationships. This curriculum helps children interpret the deeper meaning behind what others do in the world and how to use effective communication to achieve their social goals. (grades K-3)
Assertive Kids. There are many well-developed, researched based curriculum tools that empower kids to be safe, kind, and self-aware. I have a series of lessons designed to build confidence in each child's ability to self-advocate and contribute to a positive school climate. (grades K-5)
Growth Mindset Promotion. Helping kids develop resiliency through targeted activities that emphasize the power of "yet," the importance of growing through our mistakes, and sharing research that shows that the mind is a muscle, capable of change. (grades 3-6)
Emotional Intelligence. An individual's ability to recognize and regulate their own emotions and have insights into the motivations and experiences of others leads to successful life experiences. While there are many models of emotional intelligence - some driven by traits others by abilities -- it is generally agreed that the following domains can be effectively explored with young people to help strengthen their EI: self-awareness, emotional regulation, self-management, social awareness, social skills, and responsible decision-making models. By practicing key social skills, we can strengthen emotional intelligence (grades 3-6)
Executive Functioning. Executive functions refer to the brain processes needed to sustain problem-solving toward a goal. Executive functions are organized into three domains: working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility. Highly developed executive functions are positively correlated with academic success, maintenance of healthy relationships, and overall well-being. (grades 5-6)
Mindful Classrooms. Mindfulness is the practice of focusing ones attention on the here and now so that conscious effort can be made to be present and intentional in actions, thoughts, and feelings. (grades K-6)
Digital Citizenship. Covers eight different themes related to becoming a digital citizen (grades 3-6)
Resilience Methods for Substance Abuse Prevention. Involves trusted reliable information on the various illicit substances, explorations into reasons for drug and alcohol use, skills streaming for avoiding peer pressure, stress and anxiety management techniques. Hearing voices from the community (local teens and young adults, young people in recovery, drug and alcohol counselors, court and law enforcement officials, etc.) is a critical component of a successful program. (grades 5-6)