5/6 Grade Character Class

      I hope attaching this link to the 5/6 homework pages will help publicize the school counselor's blog.  There have been requests to share information about character classes I facilitate in 5th and 6th grade.  I anticipate that more visibility will support communication to parents.

      For the most part, character class has been operating similar to class meetings.  In fourth grade, I spend significant amount of time teaching conflict resolution skills to students attending Riverdale.  Now in fifth grade and sixth grade I can encourage students to use these skills to effectively manage conflicts that occur in real life.  I am thrilled to give students this added supervised practice in the safe environment of class meetings.  In addition, using this class meeting format has allowed ample opportunity to support the acquisition of empathy skills.  My previous log dated Jan. 5th specifies detail regarding empathic development.  In my opinion, learning conflict resolution and empathy skills are critical in today's world.

     There has been some time to bring in hands-on learning activites that enhance the development of life skills, i.e. communication, decision-making, goal setting, and cooperation.  These activity ideas are primarily taken from Cooperative Learning, by Dr. Spencer Kagan; Tribes, by Jeanne Gibbs; and, Activities that Teach, by Tom Jackson.  However, other experiential learning sources have supported my efforts to conduct effective classes that build essential concepts and skills for lifelong success as well. 

     My intent for these weekly meetings is to build inclusion, to increase understanding of influence, and to promote positive growth as a community of learners.  I commit to updating this site on a regular basis.

Happy New Year

   In Character classes throughout the fall, the fifth and sixth grade students have had opportunities to discuss and review different reactions to emotional inducing stimuli.  The purpose is for the students to grasp that empathy is a skill, and it can be learned.  John Medina, author of Brain Rules, suggests kids with role models (parents, adults) who show empathic responses to intense situations is imperative for children to develop essential executive functioning skills.

   Medina uses four different types of reactions to demonstrate how people can potentially react to someone else's difficult situations.  A person can be dismissive by treating the event like "no big deal" which minimizes the other person's reaction.  The second type of reaction is identified as disapproving, i.e. saying "be a man" which suggests there is something wrong with the person for feeling sad, hurt or depressed.  The third ineffective reaction to dealing with someone else's difficulty is by using a neglectful response, i.e. ignoring the intense emotions.  The ideal response is a sustained empathy.  The response allows other people to communicate their feelings and express them without ridicule, minimization or disgust.

     The students in character classes have been learning to observe someone else's experience, identify their reaction, and make themselves available to listen with empathy.  All adults in children's lives can support the development of this essential skill.  Current brain research highlights the importance of this ability.  John Medina suggests it is the most important skill "that will help your child get into Harvard."