Whether you’re starting the year in the classroom or remotely, here are some tips for engaging your students as they complete social and emotional curriculum. Knowing exactly what to say can be tough – we’ve been there!
Here are our Do’s/Asks/Do not’s built upon 25+ years of real-world experience working with teens.
Do:
- Praise their efforts
- Use specifics from their writing to support them
- Encourage them to spend time on themselves
- Let them know that they are worth it, they are worth their own time.
- Let them know they are brave
- Tell them you appreciate their stories
- Tell them you value their perspective
- Tell them you learned new things about them
- Use empathy
- Keep in mind that many of your students have never had conversations like this and this may be uncomfortable for them
- Keep in mind cultural differences and respect the boundaries of their beliefs and family practices
- Understand they are doing the best they can- every student makes decisions because of the things they are going through, many of these things we cannot begin to understand
Ask:
- Ask them how the module went for them
- Ask them what they enjoyed
- Ask them what they learned about themselves
- Ask them to select the highlights of the course that made the biggest impact
- Ask them for their ideas beyond the courses’ completion
- Ask them if they learned something new about someone they care for
- Ask them if something surprised them
- Ask them if they need support
Do Not:
- Use BASE Education as a punishment – it is a tool to learn
- Criticize their responses- this is hard stuff for many of them
- Give suggestions for their answers
- Judge their answers
- Challenge their truth
- Make them take a module if they do not want to
