October 4, 2012

Students continued with the communication unit. Today, they learned about and compared a hammer to destructive and constructive communication techniques. A class note page was provided to the students to write notes on.

October 3, 2012

We started on the Communication unit today and started with learning the differences between child-like, parent-like and adult-like communication styles. They also watched three clips from "The Emperor's New Groove" and had to identify the three types of communication shown in the movie clips.

October 2, 2012

Students had a mid-term test today on the Independent Living Skills unit. We discussed and reviewed for this test yesterday and what they would be tested on and needed to study. We will start the communication unit tomorrow.

October 1, 2012

Students spent class playing Plinko and reviewing for their Teen Living Mid-term test, which will be tomorrow!

September 28, 2012

Students learned about positive ways to cope with/deal with stress.

September 27, 2012

We discussed poor coping mechanisms people use to try and deal with or runaway from the stress in their life. We will continue with positive stress reducers on Friday.

September 26, 2012

Students learned about stress, distress, eustress and stress reducers. They took a questionnaire to rate how much stress they have and we discussed how everyone handles stress differently. We also discussed biofeedback and handed out biodots to use to see how they are reacting to the daily stress they have in their lives.

September 25, 2012

Students started learning about stress, stressors, and stress reducers today. We shared examples of stressors. They also learned about distress, eustress and stress reducers. They took a questionnaire to rate how much stress they have and we discussed how everyone handles stress differently. We also discussed biofeedback and handed out biodots to use to see how they are reacting to the daily stress they have in their lives.

Sepetember 24, 2012

Students watched a presentation from our guest speaker from La Caille today. She discussed and demonstrated proper etiquette procedures students would use on dates and when dining out.

September 21, 2012

We talked about three communication styles: aggressive, passive and assertive. Students identified the styles by statements made by or descriptions about the three styles. Then in groups, they role-played one of the three styles to understand what they look like.

September 20, 2012

Students discussed what makes them angry and learned the differences between hot, cold and warm anger and compared these emotions to balloons. They also read the book "When Sophie gets angry" and talked about what they can do to control their anger. There was a paper that went with this, but the students didn't turn this in.

September 19, 2012

Students learned how different colors can effect people's moods and emotions. They were then given an activity called "Written all over your face" to help them distinguish between emotions and facial expressions. They had the rest of class to work on it and the answers and prizes were given at the end of class for those who had the most correct.

September 10-11, 2012

I was out with the flu, so students had subs for both of these days. As long as they turned in their assignment the subs gave them, they will get participation points. Students who were absent do not need to make up the assignment.

September 18, 2012

We discussed positive and negative ways teens show their emotions, both verbally and non-verbally. Their journal entries were also due today.

September 17, 2012

We read the book "What are you so grumpy about" and discussed the seven basic emotions. Then we discussed and wrote about how these emotions are portrayed in the books they are reading and the TV and Movies they watch.

September 14, 2012

Students finished discussing personalities by completing another couple of activities that help describe their personalities.

September 13, 2012

Students discussed what different factors have made up/influenced their personality. They were then shown common personality tests people have created. Today, students learned about astrology signs, the Chinese zodiac and A/B type personalities.

September 12, 2012

Students finished watching select clips from "Charlie and the Chocolate factory" to identify each of the values each golden ticket winner had. We continued and discussed common values each member of society has and talked about setting priorities. The students then answered a series of questions to rank their values in order of priority from the most important to the least. We also discussed how our values and priorities effect the goals we set and if we will be able to reach those goals or not. We are more likely to achieve goals that we value or that we see as a high priority.