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Ways to Teach

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Introduction: The YSS 2-for-1 approach

YSS provides a complete social emotional learning (SEL) curriculum while also meeting the needs of most Health, Advisory or Expanded Learning Opportunities programs. Additionally, YSS supports student literacy initiatives, something few other SEL programs can boast. (To see a detailed description of the NY State ELA Standards YSS addresses for grades 6-10, click here) As such, you would be hard-pressed to find a reason NOT to implement this 2-for-1 program that meets your time-challenged needs.

While the YSS program caters to academic time constraints, students and teachers appreciate the unique structure: the rotation between the resources (website, books, lesson plans) and the daily classes (from student-led to teacher facilitated) maximize impact and reduce redundancy.

Through the website, the books, and/or the lesson plans you can construct a curriculum tailor-made to suit your needs. No need to pull additional resources from various places. YSS has it all. How does YSS suit so many different settings and needs? Here’s a brief breakdown…

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One of the main reason that I like the program is that students use all the skills from the NYS Health Skills Matrix throughout the entire course. The main focus being Self and Relationship Management. But communication, stress management, advocacy.....they're all interwoven throughout the entire program.

Carolyn Kaufman - Health Teacher, Westlake High School, Thornwood, NY

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Health Class

“I like the YSS program because it provides a unique comprehensive blend ofcontent and social-emotional life skills that are advocated by the NYS Health Education Guidelines and Skills Matrix.” – Carolyn Kaufman, Westlake High School, Health teacher

Out of all the subjects taught, one could argue that Health is the one subject that EVERY student will use for the rest of his life. Emerging statistics on obesity, diabetes, fitness, addiction, promiscuity, to name a few, highlight the critical need for students to be well-informed about their health in order to make smart decisions. While YSS provides all the content necessary to fulfill state mandated Health curriculum, YSS is an ideal Health curriculum because it lays the foundation necessary for all that information to have meaning – a sense of self. Without a strong sense of self, a student can not use that health information wisely or optimally. Thus, the books provide the foundation necessary for physical and mental health awareness.

Topics include –

Book 1: Brain and Body Development, Morals, Emotions and Psyche

Book 2: Peer Pressure, Bullying and Social Media

Book 3: Relationships, Communication Skills and Decision-Making

The website then complements the books with state mandated material.

Topics include –

Drugs, alcohol, smoking, bullying, cyber-bullying, basic hygiene, STDs, Nutrition, Body Image/Eating Disorders, addiction, puberty, reproduction, anatomy and more!

Only by having a healthy sense of self, can students use health information to be their best selves.

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Advisory

Advisory programs are frequently implemented as a way to strengthen connections between students and with at least one adult at the school. However, many teachers say, “I am supposed to teach Advisory but I have no idea what to do.” YSS provides a much needed structure for Advisory, because at its heart, the YSS material is designed to foster connections and a personal learning process for each student. The very fact that you’ve implemented the YSS program sends the message “We care about who you are.”

YSS empowers teens with voice, original thought, and invaluable skill sets while also building a sense of community. While the books work on personal self-reflections and growth, the group format promotes teamwork, communication, creative problem solving, social skills, and emotion management. The strong individual growth coupled with the focus on creating connections meets the goals that schools set for Advisory.

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Extended Learning Opportunities

We define adolescence as a time of identity building and yet we hardly provide tools to facilitate that process. YSS provides a way to support students in finding themselves that is particularly well-suited for an Expanded Learning Opportunity. The student-driven YSS process allows teens to explore material that is important to them, creating an atmosphere that motivates them to return each session. To be frank, this is a time when teens want to talk about themselves. YSS allows them to do so in a meaningful manner that aids their identity development, builds critical executive functions and facilitates social skill development in a safe and welcoming environment.

YSS is a preventative and proactive program. When teens know who they are, they feel happier, more confident and are more likely to make decisions that will keep them safe. Those decisions lower bullying rates, increase focus on academics, and solidify emotion regulation techniques. Furthermore, the face-to-face structure builds students’ identities, social skills and self-awareness. That combination promotes positive decision making skills for both the digital and real worlds.

Give your students the greatest prevention tool they will ever have: Themselves.

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LITERACY INITIATIVE

Learning to read takes confidence, resilience and the ability to recognize your strengths and weaknesses. One needs to feel confident that one is capable of reading to open a book. One then needs resilience when faced with words and content that stretch one’s ability to both recognize words and comprehend meaning. Without resilience, young readers give up at the first signs of frustration. Young readers also need to recognize their strengths and weaknesses; to know which material matches their reading level and to know when to ask for help.

YSS fosters all of these necessary skill sets: confidence, resilience and strength/weakness recognition. As such, when YSS is used as a literacy initiative, young readers are not just being supported with the techniques of reading, but with the skills necessary to develop their reading ability. This creates an upward spiral: the more confident, resilient and aware students are in regard to their reading, the more their reading develops. As they experience success in their reading, their confidence, resilience and awareness grow. This is why YSS is well-suited as a literacy initiative.

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Additional Options for Elementary and High School Years

YSS offers several other products to promote connections, social skills and emotion regulation. You may choose to introduce the YSS approach as early as 3rd grade through the use of the Your Stacs products.

These “Social Skills and Teamwork Activities Create Success” by prompting students to have meaningful dialogue, learn about manners or simply share something silly with a new friend. Elementary health teachers can also use Healthy STACS, a project based learning activity that uses an investigational approach to learning in order to spur motivation and curiosity about four health issues: diabetes, obesity, heart disease and malnutrition. Overall, Your Stacs activities pave the way for skills learned in the Your Self Series program taught in middle and high school.

Additionally, for health teachers who are particularly concerned about promiscuity among their middle school students, the Your Self Guide, “Sex: Ready, Set, No!” has been created to help students dissect their thoughts, feelings and voice around this delicate and timely topic.

After completing the three books and working through much of the content online, 10th through 12th graders often seek to solidify their self-concepts through the relevant and reflective Your Self Guide: “Reality Check” which explores not only identity development, but common mental health concerns and ways to promote positive healthy habits.

In summary, as your district gears up for SEL implementation, YSS has created products that span the elementary to high school years, targeting specific skills and self-reflections through age-appropriate materials. Combined, these products lay a solid foundation, foster social and emotional competencies, and proactively set your students on a path of success in the years ahead.