Power of Social Skills in Character Development
Helping Diverse Learners Succeed

This book gives you 80 powerful, classroom-tested lesson plans. A complete program for helping your students gain self-esteem and improve relationships with peers, teachers and adults outside of school.

Imagine a classroom in which your students.

• know how to give and take constructive criticism
• interrupt conversations only when it is appropriate to do so
• evaluate their personal strengths and weaknesses
• set their own goals for self improvement
• handle conflicts in a mature and responsible way
• show respect for each other - and for you as their teacher - in all their actions

These are social skills all students need - in school and in life.

Their success depends on it!

When students learn to respect themselves, they also learn to respect others, providing a solid foundation for improvement in social skills, as well as in the growth of their character!

Students must demonstrate not only academic ability but also social competence as they develop to become involved members of society. This guide for teachers, parents, and other professionals addresses the necessity for teaching students social competence as they also learn their core academic material. The program starts with solid lessons in self-esteem and character development. Students learn to respect themselves by developing habits of honesty, responsibility, and self-control. With improved self-esteem comes a willingness to accept constructive criticism, the courage to set personal goals, and the desire to treat others as they would like to be treated, this creating a solid foundation for social development. Eighty lessons and reproducible activity handouts, all within seven units, make up this resource. These units are:

1. "Self-Awareness";
2. "Communication Skills";
3. "Relationships," subdivided into: "Family and Friends," and "Dating and Romantic Relationships";
4. "Criticism and Attitudes";
5. "Stress Making and Goal Setting."

An appendix contains alternative classroom activities: Social Skill of the Month, Attribute of the Month and Character Calendar, Acknowledgment Notes, and My Personal Time Capsule. The book concludes with a list of additional resources and organizations.

*Portions of Abstract provided by ERIC Clearinghous on Education Manageme

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