Our Blog

SEL & Leadership Club - Sad Songs Playlist

 

Do you tend to feel sad when it is a rainy day ☔️? It has been raining and snowing a lot in New York City recently. Our students from SEL & Leadership Club have created a list of sad songs for you, a perfect playlist to match your moods --

Lovely- Billie Eilish & Khalid

 

Grenade- Bruno Mars

 

It's You- Ali Gate

 

Medicine- Queen Naija

 

Wide Awake- Katy Perry

 

Let You Down- NF

 

Headstone- Defeater

 

Princesses Don't Cry- Carys

 

Fly Me to The Moon- Frank Sinatra

 

Too Good at Goodbyes- Sam Smith

No Idea- Don Toliver

 

Someone You Loved- Lewis Capaldi

 

Angel of Darkness- Nightcore

 

Wrecking Ball- Miley Cyrus

If you want to feel happy again after going through the sad songs, don't worry, we have a happy playlist prepared for you as well - Check it out in this blog post .
 - 12/22/2019 - Fiona Zheng
Heart feature image 1

Self Care Club Update

The first session of Self Care Club went perfectly. Twenty students came, and they thoroughly enjoyed making the glitter jars. The students were from different grades, so everyone was able to meet someone new through the activity. Students learned how to make glitter jars and how to use it mindfully. After the first session, many more students have expressed interest. The next session will be held on Friday, January 10, 2020, in room 223, beginning at 2:30 pm. The theme of the next session will be on how to use journaling and coloring in an effective way to help teens mentally and emotionally. Below are pictures of the first Self Care Club session. 

 - 12/20/2019 - Stephanie Polanco
Rainbow Brush Strokes Love Instagram Post

Free Journaling a Poem with Your Emotions

In the SEL & Leadership Pilot program, students journal every morning at the beginning of the session. Usually students are provided with a prompt to journal. From time to time, students will do free journaling. The free journaling is an exercise for students to fully release their thoughts and feelings, a way to express themselves.

 

One of our students wrote a beautiful poem during their free journaling time, fully captured her current emotions. It's such a beautiful poem and we would love to share it with you.

2 Weeks ago I confessed

my love 2 weeks ago. I am

still calm

still not moving on

still trying 2 find myself

In a world where all is lost

still loving

above all

his love hasn't come

But my love still stands strong

Because

This is my

LOVE

 - 12/04/2019 - Fiona Zheng
IMG_1078

Building a Strengths Garden

We do not always remember to appreciate the special people in our lives. Last week, in our SEL & Leadership Club, we invited our students to think about one special person and pay attention to the strengths they share with or have positive impacts on them.

As a group, students build a strengths garden to show their appreciation to the special people and let them how amazing they are! 

 - 12/03/2019 - Fiona Zheng
Heart feature image 1

HS 223 Self Care Club

Self-Care club is about teaching high school students ways to take care of themselves and their minds. The purpose of starting the club is that students are not aware of how they can take of themselves and understand their emotions. The club will be kicked off Friday, December 13, 2019, in room 223 from 2:30 to 4:15. Students should join the club because everyone should learn how to take care of themselves mentally. In a setting where you are trying to be a successful student people forget that they are just more than a student but a human first. 

 

Written by Stephanie Polanco

 - 11/26/2019 - Stephanie Polanco
CASEL

Unpacking the CASEL Framework in SEL & Leadership Pilot Program

The NYC DOE Supportive Environment Framework for Great Schools shares a common vision of fostering students’ social and emotional development to create more equitable learning environments and outcomes. Our SEL & Leadership Pilot Program is closely aligned with CASEL’s integrated framework. This blog post unpacks how the pilot program’s curriculum framework and activities respond to each competency in the CASEL’s framework. 

 

The CASEL framework has five competencies: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, relationship skills and responsible decision-making.

1. Self-awareness

Activities we used to develop this competency in students this Fall:

 

2. Self-management

 

Activities we have used to develop this competency in students this Fall:

 

3. Responsible Decision-making

Activities we used to develop this competency in students this Fall:

 

4. Relationship Skills

Activities we used to develop this competency in students this Fall:

 

5. Social Awareness

Activities we have used to develop this competency in students:

 

As shown, we have built in more activities in the first three competencies (Self-Awareness, Self-Management and Responsible Decision-Making) so far because "Know Yourself As a Leader" and "Choose Yourself To Be a Leader" are two core themes of our curriculum in this Fall. By knowing yourself better, you understand your emotional patterns and strengths. You are aware of the insights given by your emotions and strengths and you learn how to make wise choices based on them.

We will be designing more activities aligned with the last two competencies in the Spring as we dive deeper into "Choose Yourself To Be a Leader" and march into our last but not least theme - "Give Yourself As a Leader". Stay tuned for new updates from our upcoming blog posts or follow us on Instagram and Twitter!

 - 11/26/2019 - Fiona Zheng
happy ball

SEL & Leadership Club HAPPY Music List

MS 223 students from the SEL & Leadership Club created a music play list based on different emotions. We would like to share their HAPPY music play list with you below:

  1. High Hopes by Panic at the Disco
  2. Hall of Fame by The Script feat. Will.i.am
  3. Kronos Dance by Primitivio
  4. Happy by Pharrell Williams
  5. Baby Shark by Pinkfong
  6. A Million Dreams by Ziv Zaifman, Hugh Jackman, and Michelle Williams
  7. La Vaca by Mala Fe
  8. Cliche by MXMTOON
  9. Happier by Marshmello & Bastille
  10. Lost in Japan by Shawn Mendes
  11. We Found Love by Rihanna
  12. Mine (clean version) by Bazzi
  13. Girl on Fire by Alicia Keys

 

  1. High Hopes by Panic at the Disco
20191101_082631

Finding Your Talents

Research shows that when people identify their talents and develop those talents into strengths, they can optimize their potential and find their path to live a thriving and engaged life. Recognizing strengths is also a key element of achieving "Self-Awareness," one of the core competencies in the CASEL Framework. Our Social Emotional Learning and Leadership Pilot Program chose the Brain Talent Cards from 6 Seconds to help MS 223 students find their talents and strengths

So how does the brain combine logic and emotion to process information and create effective action? It is simply a formula of brain/heart(mind) + body(actions) working together. By using the Brain Talent Cards, we help students identify, understand their talents and strengths and encourage them to leverage their unique capabilities.

There are three color sets of cards in the Brain Talent Cards: Blue cards are about FOCUS – getting rational and emotional data. Red cards are about DECISIONS – assessing options by careful evaluation and making innovative decisions. Green Cards are about DRIVE – moving forward, both for practical action and for long-term motivation. Students learn their brain talents through playing the cards.

By learning more about their brain preferences and talents, students can improve planning, effectiveness, and problem-solving at school and home. The talent cards can be further combined with the Brain Profile Inventory. In the coming weeks, we will dive deeper together with students into this topic and help them increase their self-awareness and further understand and utilize their strengths.

 

Learn more about other SEL & Leadership Curriculum pilot activities focused on developing Self-Awareness in middle school students: SEL & Leadership Program Binder Excerpt Self Awareness.

 - 11/16/2019 - Fiona Zheng

Recent Comments

    Categories

    Copyright 2023  Areté Education © All Rights Reserved