Through a developmentally appropriate, integrated approach, students in middle school will continue to engage in activities that promote positive social and communication skills. They will refine their ability to determine and comprehend various points of view, solidify their understanding of constructive ways to resolve problems and conflicts, and strengthen their personal and scholastic self-confidence. Academically they will increase their capacity for both self-direction and for constructive collaborative work. They will familiarize with various careers so they understand both what those careers entail and what types of learning will prepare them for those careers. Students will also increase their exposure to various cultures and communities at the local, state, national and international level.
Personal and Social Development
DSS.6-8.1
Understand Self and Others
- Discuss how thoughts, feelings, attitudes, values, and beliefs affect decision making and behavior.
- Practice using listening skills to identify and understand the feelings and perspectives of others.
- Use mistakes as opportunities to grow personally and socially, not to define self or others as a failure.
- Recognize signs of anger and practice safe, respectful anger management skills.
DSS.6-8.2
Maintain Positive Relationships
- Develop positive relationships with peers and adults.
- Acquire and use effective conflict resolution techniques.
- Demonstrate self-control by minimizing words and actions that hurt self and others.
- Model safe and effective ways to address peer pressure.
- Describe bullying and use effective practices to address it.
DSS.6-8.3
Exhibit Respectful Behavior
- Identify and respect personal boundaries and privacy needs of all self and others.
- Respect all individuals as unique and worthy regardless of differences.
- Use social and communication skills, dispositions, and character traits appropriate for various situations and audiences.
DSS.6-8.4
Decision Making and Personal Responsibility
- Make decisions, set goals and take necessary actions to attain goals.
- Analyze situations by comparing and contrasting various behaviors and choices in relation to possible short- and long-term consequences and discuss how to improve choices.
- Describe how peer pressure influences personal decisions; create and follow a plan to minimize negative peer pressure.
- Describe how peer pressure influences personal decisions; create and follow a plan to minimize negative peer pressure.
- Establish action steps to attain school, home, and civic goals.
- Apply problem solving techniques to identify and address challenges to goal attainment.
- Describe how current decisions have long term consequences and ways to achieve desired outcomes.
DSS.6-8.5
Protect Emotional and Physical Safety
- Identify and apply strategies to reduce stress and protect safety, differentiating between situations requiring self-help, peer support, adult or professional help.
- Develop and implement plans for situations such as teasing, bullying, harassment, threats, intimidation, and other violent acts or dangerous situations.
- Identify and utilize communication skills and strategies to participate in only safe and healthy activities.
- Know emergency contact information; identify and utilize school and community resources to protect personal safety.
Academic and Learning Development
DSS.6-8.6
Develop Academic Motivation
- Identify and develop competence in areas of interest.
- Apply multiple intelligence Principles to identify personal strengths and improve school focus.
- Understand the relationship between school success, academic achievement and future career success.
DSS.6-8.7
Develop Learning Skills
- Improve executive function skills (e.g., effort, paying attention, flexibility, memory, self-control, communication, focus and perseverance).
- Identify personal learning style(s) and establish habits that enhance personalized learning.
- Work collaboratively in groups or independently, as appropriate.
DSS.6-8.8
Achieve School Success
- Exhibit personal responsibility.
- Evaluate the impact of positive and negative choices on school success and implement a plan to improve outcomes.
- Apply goal setting techniques to develop self-direction and improve school performance.
- Identify and utilize school and community resources and support services when needed.
DSS.6-8.9
Prepare for Post-Secondary Success
- Identify how performance and course selections in middle school impacts high school course readiness and post-secondary choices.
- Explore requirements for success in a variety of post-secondary options and for securing scholarships.
- Analyze how personal choices negatively or positively influence high school and post-secondary options and preparedness for success.
DSS.6-8.10
Plan to Achieve Goals
- Use a variety of assessments and inventories to identify skills, interest and aptitudes for post-secondary planning.
- Use personal data and goals to establish challenging academic, personal and post-secondary plans.
- Seek co-curricular and community experiences to enhance the school experience and post-secondary readiness.
- Analyze assets and barriers to academic goal attainment and utilize school and community resources to overcome barriers and strengthen assets.
- Explore eligibility requirements and funding opportunities for various post-secondary options.
Career Development and Life Planning
DSS.6-8.11
Develop Career Awareness
- Explore how personal abilities, skills, interest, and values relate to workplace.
- Use a variety of resources and methods to explore career options.
- Examine specific job requirements and opportunities for progressions of career levels from entry level to advanced leadership and develop a personal career growth vision.
- Explore career options in relation to selecting a career cluster.
DSS.6-8.12
Develop Career and Life Plan
- Describe lifestyle dreams and possible career options and evaluate the likelihood of attaining goals.
- Begin to develop a possible career/life plan that explores educational credentials, skills and career progressions.
DSS.6-8.13
Careers and Life Success
- Explore how identified career choices impact lifestyles and opportunities.
- Practice expected workplace dispositions and behaviors.
- Explore the need for lifelong learning as situations and responsibilities change, requiring new knowledge and skills.
Global Citizenship
DSS.6-8.14
Acquire a Diverse and Knowledgeable World View
- Compare and contrast aspects of various communities and describe how these contribute to each individual’s perspective and world view.
- Analyze factors that contribute to different social and world views (e.g., ethnicity, race, culture, gender, sexual orientation, family composition, lifestyle, religion, economic status and nationality).
DSS.6-8.15
Interact Respectfully with Diverse Cultures
- Apply an inter-culturally sensitive perspective to social interactions.
- Describe global issues and events from perspectives of various individuals and groups to understand viewpoints other than one’s own.
- Investigate methods for enhancing language proficiency and the ability to communicate effectively across cultural and linguistic boundaries.
- Describe how stereotyping and prejudices impact interpersonal relationships.
DSS.6-8.16
Promote Social Justice
- Adhere to classroom and school rules and community laws to protect individual rights and property.
- Identify and discuss issues of social justice.
- Investigate programs for advocacy and promotion of social justice.
DSS.6-8.17
Assume Responsible Leadership
- Identify the qualities of successful leaders.
- Exhibit leadership to improve school and the local community.
DSS.6-8.18
Practice Financial Responsibility
- Evaluate financial choices based on one’s own needs, wants and values and how they guide spending, saving, credit and implications for the family budget.
- Create a personal budget with income from incidental funds (birthday and other gifts, allowance, chores, entrepreneurial endeavors, part-time jobs, etc.) and track spending and payments.
- Discuss concepts of consumer protection (e.g., laws, identify theft and predatory scams).
- Discuss concepts related to financial institutions (e.g., laws, banks, credit unions and check cashing services).