🎥Please watch my class video so that you have correct expectations for this class.🎥

🎦Please be aware that keeping your camera enabled is a requirement for this course. If temporary circumstances require that a student needs to attend a single meeting without video enabled, please contact me and I may make an exception. (Students will still be required to check in on video at the beginning of class as this is OS safety policy.)🎦

This class has 33 topics, each covering a different social skill/concept.  The class has 6 categories: Communication, social expectations, fitting in, friendship, family, caring.  There may be lessons added to a particular section as requested by students. Some lessons may also be taught in two parts if there is a lot of discussion and questions around the topic. Because of this student-lead facet of this course, sections will not be on the same schedule. Please see the google sheet linked below to see where each section is in the curriculum.  Teaching strategies will vary based on topic and class size. That said, techniques will include: role-play, art, videos, writing/worksheets, games, etc. 
If role-play is involved in classes, it will follow Outschool's policies. It will be made very clear what behaviors are preferable. Students who are uncomfortable with role-play will not be required to participate.

Most lessons will have 3 parts: 

1. An introduction 
2. The lesson/lesson discussion (Topic information is listed in detail below).
3. Free socialization time at the end of the class.  During this time, we may have a discussion, play a Blooket, play a drawing game, play would you rather, etc. 

💥💥PLEASE BE AWARE THAT NOT EVERY LESSON IS "SKILL" BASED. MANY LESSONS COVER CONCEPTS LIKE SPORTSMANSHIP OR PERSONALITY DEVELOPMENT THAT WILL HELP MAKE YOUR STUDENT A MORE SOCIALLY AWARE HUMAN :) 💥💥


💥💥The sections are in different points in the curriculum in an effort to accommodate the needs of a wide variety of students. The address to my ongoing course schedule is below. This will allow you to see where each section is in the curriculum. Each section follows the order noted below. When I reach the "last lesson" (6.5) I will just "start over" the next week (1.1) unless otherwise noted on my schedule.💥💥

💻 https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/u/6/d/e/2PACX-1vRxG9YC5nZaIkaHcEg3q16AHCCXtnw92atCJqVypJpTDZlJxrwa_IDApucvo5c1W13AbXAUZA1553vT/pubhtml?gid=0&single=true 
 
💵GENERAL REFUND POLICY:  When students miss a group class, they are able to watch a video of the missed class and are encouraged to contact me with any questions. As such, I typically do not give refunds for missed classes. Additionally, I keep my prices on the low end of (or below) what OS recommends.   I do have a far more lenient refund policy for 1:1 classes because there is no video to watch and because these courses are much more expensive.

I know that this is sometimes frustrating to families. That is not my goal. My goal is to keep my prices affordable overall.☺️


🗣️COMMUNICATION TOPICS (9):

1.1. Body Language  - I will present a pourpoint and cover the basics of body language. I will include a “cheat sheet" resource in the classroom.

1.2.  Congruent Communication - (The importance of words and body language matching.) I will post a worksheet to the classroom that we will cover in class and consider examples of body language that do and do not match words/actions.

1.3. Recognizing personal space boundaries  I will present a short PowerPoint that includes a video showing the importance of personal space.

1.4. Communication cues – I will present a short PowerPoint of different communication cues including subtle techniques to use when others are resistant to communicate. 

1.5. Questions to start conversations – I will review some basic communication facts and offer tips on starting and maintaining conversations with new and familiar people as well as tips for joining conversations in progress. 

1.6. First Impressions – Students will watch a humorous video to show the importance of first impressions. We will review a reference sheet of some first impression tips – some of which, students may not have thought about. 

1.7. Conversation Starters & Stoppers – I will present a PowerPoint with conversation starting tips as well as behaviors that others often find annoying in conversations. 

1.9 Communication Styles I will present a PowerPoint about the 4 communication styles and give students tips to be assertive. Several resources will be posted to the classroom to accompany this lesson

1.10. Negotiation We will discuss the usefulness of negotiation skills and role play a situation (handout provided in classroom). We will also discuss tips for dealing with confrontational people.

👌SOCIAL EXPECATIONS TOPICS (6):
 
2.1 Tech expectations – I will present some tech facts and we will discuss different tech adequate and situations. Students are strongly encouraged to bring their own questions on this topic to class. They can send them to me privately in chat or before class or bring them up during discussion

2.3 Making a good introduction – I will review a handout with the students, offering basic tips to improve their introductions with others.

2.4 Social graces – I will present a short PowerPoint and we will watch a short video on empathy. We will also play a blooket consisting of “social grace” questions. Students are encouraged to discuss any social decimas they may have during this lesson.

2.5 Consideration – We will have a discussion around the topic of consideration and look at a list of actions that considerate individuals do and don’t do. 

2.6 Win at work/school – If there are enough students present in class, I will split the students into 2 groups to do a brainstorming activity (If not, we will all stay together). The brainstorming itself may be simple for some students. Part of the purpose of this activity is the encourage students that may be shy to speak up and get to know other students in the class a bit better. All students will then return to the larger group and share. If there are only a few students in class, we will all stay together. 

2.7 Sportsmanship and being a team player – We will have a discussion about sportsmanship and will play a clue game about characteristics of good sportsmanship.

👩🏾‍🤝‍👩🏻FITTING IN TOPICS (5):

3.2 Dealing with when others don’t accept us We will go over the worksheet/skit that I attach to the class. We will discuss that rejection is a part of life and ways to handle it/lessons learned. We will watch a ted-talk about overcoming the fear of rejection and discuss.

3.3 Accepting newcomers We will discuss the idea of unconscious bias and how our own fears can get in the way of starting conversations with people who are new to us. I will present simple steps/tips for starting a conversation with someone that you’ve never talked with before. 

3.4  Personality Traits. I will share a link with the students to take an optional personality quiz. I will give a PowerPoint briefly describing some of the different personality theories. At the end of class, students will play a blooket to help identify what specific positive personality traits look like in various situations. 

3.6  Shyness/Social Anxiety I will present a PowerPoint that includes an informative video about the cycle of anxiety and provide 2 handouts with tips for overcoming anxiety. 

3.8 Discussing teen culture During this lesson, students will practice using their social skills by brining an object that they feel represents them in some way. Students will share the object and we will have a conversation about “teen culture.” Students are also given the option to give a short presentation on a teen who made a worthy contribution to society. 

👩🏿‍🤝‍👨🏼👩🏾‍🤝‍👨🏽FRIENDSHIP TOPICS (6):

4.1 Having your friend's back & offering positive support – This lesson is discussion based. We will talk about support systems, who is in our support systems, etc. What it looks like to “have someone’s back.” Bullying is also often discussed in this lesson, depending on the needs of students in the class.

4.2 Dealing with Frenemies We will review a worksheet with different characteristics of friends/enemies/frenemies. We will also talk about ways to address behaviors in our friends that we do not like. 

4.3 Understanding the far reach of your actions and words/the five love languages I will provide a link to an optional quiz for the students to take. We will discuss the 5 love languages and how this information can help us understand ourselves and others. We will also review a poem about the importance of words that I will provide to the students in the classroom.  

4.4 Consider emotions evoked by song lyrics and the messages conveyed in songs I will present a brief PowerPoint including some music facts. The students are encouraged to bring an appropriate song that they like to share with the class and discuss. 

4.5 Understanding and dealing with jealousy and other feelings in friendship – I will present a short PowerPoint about jealousy and review a worksheet that will be attached the classroom, discussing how emotions feed into each other and the need to unpack complex emotions. 

4.6 Identifying when a friend is in an emotional crisis and how to help. I will present a PowerPoint about adolescent mental health stats and review a resource (attached to the classroom) with some simple steps for supporting your friends when they are dealing with emotional difficulties. 

👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 FAMILY TOPICS (4): 

5.1 Understanding the family is a unit and members affect each other. I will present a PowerPoint about family roles. Students will be encouraged to think about their role in the family and think of ways to improve their family relationships. 

5.2 Dealing with sibling rivalry. (Teens without siblings are encouraged to join to discuss the positives and negatives of being an only-child.) We will watch and discuss a video about birth order theory. Students are strongly encouraged to share their opinions. I will also give a few general conflict resolution tips. 

5.3 How to interact with and respond to authority figures. – I will give some tips for interacting with authority and we will also discuss different communication styles and the importance of being assertive. 

5.4 Understanding and offering forgiveness of self and others – I will present a short PowerPoint on forgiveness and briefly look at a sheet that will be posted in the classroom. 

💝CARING TOPICS (3):

6.1 Positive qualities of a caring person. – We will complete a fill-in-the-blank worksheet during class (attached to the classroom) and discuss the importance of having integrity and what that practically looks like. 

6.3 Self-Care – I will give a presentation on self-care and the importance of maintaining good self-care for good relationships. I will attach resources to the classroom.

6.5 Important causes/leadership – Students are encouraged to identify and discuss causes that are important to them. We will discuss qualities of good leadership.