October 3, 2013

Students continued with the communication unit. We continued learning about destructive types of communication and focused on gossip and swearing.

October 2, 2013

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 1, 2013

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.

September 30, 2013

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. This test is worth 50 points on their grade.

September 27, 2013

Students spent class playing a review game for their Teen Living Mid-term test, which will be tomorrow!

September 26, 2013

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 25, 2013

Today, students learned about stress reducers. I provided a number of different stress reducers and the class shared ways they prefer to reduce their stress. We also discussed their upcoming mid-term test on Monday.

September 24, 2013

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.

September 23, 2013

Students discussed poor ways people use to numb stress and we focused on depression and suicide. The students watched an educational video on the effects of suicide and how people can identify warning signs from friends and family.

September 20, 2013

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 19, 2013

Students finished the video on Teen Anger and turned in the questions from the video. We then learned about the consequences of uncontrolled emotions and behavior.

September 18, 2013

Today we discussed emotions, feelings and the affects these feelings have on us and others around us. We studied how our surroundings, especially the music we listen to, can effect our moods. Students listened to clips from different types of music and had to explain how each made them feel.

September 17, 2013

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. We also started a video on Teen Anger and will finish it tomorrow.

September 16, 2013

We read the book "What are you so grumpy about" and discussed the six 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 and how the colors we see effect out emotions.

September 13, 2013

Students finished discussing personalities by completing another couple of activities that help describe their personalities. They also had to compare a car to their personality and had to turn it in.

September 12, 2013

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 10-11, 2013

Students learned about goals, long-term and short-term and why goals are important. 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. They watched a video clip and answered a series of questions about their future goals.

September 9, 2013

We continued on values today 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.