Gearing Up For Middle School

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Program Objectives

SESSION 1

Parent Discussion: How My Child is Growing and Changing

Lesson 1 - Brain Development and Thinking

Parents will:

  • Understand the basics of brain development.
  • Explore realistic and appropriate expectations for their middle school student’s behaviors, regarding planning, decision making and risk taking.

Lesson 2 - Social and Emotional Development

Parents will:

  • Understand their middle school student’s identity development as a primary task of adolescence.
  • Gain skills in nurturing their middle school student’s social development.

Lesson 3 - Physical Development

Parents will:

    • Understand the basics of their middle school student’s physical development.
    • Gain skills to help their middle school student develop a positive body image and healthy lifestyle. (ATOD)

    Peer Connection: How I Am Changing

    Lesson 1 - Choices

    Students will:

    • Understand choices, decision making, and consequences.
    • Gain skills in exploring choices and making decisions in school.

    Lesson 2 - Independence

    Students will:

      • Understand who they are becoming.
      • Explore and discover opportunities to pursue interests.

    Lesson 3 - Physical Development

    Students will:

      • Understand what is happening with their bodies.
      • Gain skills to develop a positive healthy body image and lifestyle.

    SESSION 2

    Parent Discussion: Partners in Education

    Lesson 4 - Academics and New Expectations

    Parents will:

      • Understand academic achievement in the middle school environment.
      • Gain skills in setting expectations, encouraging effort, and modeling the importance of education.
      • Understand the importance of meaningful parent involvement in supporting education.
      • Gain skills in promoting their student’s education through meaningful parent involvement, advocacy and positive school relationships.

    Lesson 5 - Parent Involvement with School

      • Understand the importance of meaningful parent involvement in supporting education.
      • Gain skills in promoting their student’s education through meaningful parent involvement, advocacy and positive school relationships.

    Lesson 6 - Home Environments for Learning and Success

    Parents will:

    • Understand the essential elements of a supportive learning environment that includes school and home.
    • Gain skills in establishing an environment that support learning and provides appropriate structure and resources, from home to school and back.

    Peer Connection: What is Middle School All About?

    Lesson 4 - Check out the Great Places

    Students will:

      • Understand the environment and routines of middle school.
      • Gain skills in managing the transitions to, and environment of, middle school.

    Lesson 5 - Managing Relationships

    Students will:

      • Understand changing social relationships with peers and adults.
      • Gain skills in building and managing relationships with peers, teachers, parents and other adults.

    Lesson 6 - Great Expectations

    Students will:

      • Understand increased responsibilities and expectations of middle school.
      • Gain skills in organizing, managing, and scheduling as a middle school student.

    SESSION 3

    Parent Discussion: Your Role as a Parent

    Lesson 7 - Parenting: the Middle School Years

    Parents will:

      • Explore values and strengths as a parent of middle school students and their (the parents’) own psychological development in middle adulthood.
      • Gain skills in understanding your middle school student and adapting their parenting.

    Lesson 8 - Parenting Styles

    Parents will:

    • Explore 4 common parenting styles.
    • Identify the parenting style they use most of the time
    • Gain skills in using a democratic style of parenting that is firm, fair and friendly

    Lesson 9 - Guidance and Discipline

    Parents will:

        • Explore new responsibilities of parenting their middle school student.
        • Gain skills in monitoring, connecting, communicating, resisting parental peer pressure and using consequences.

      Peer Connection: Your Role as a Student

      Lesson 7 - You as an Individual

      Students will:

        • Explore consequences of reacting to situations versus making informed choices.
        • Gain skills in thinking through their reaction to a situation, event, comment, etc.

      Lesson 8 - You as a Friend

      Students will:

        • Understand their role in making new friends.
        • Gain social skills in building relationships.

      Lesson 9 - You as a Student

      Students will:

        • Understand their role in managing their time each day.
        • Gain skills in setting goals toward better time management.
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