TALCOTT FINE ARTS & MUSEUM ACADEMY
ILLINOISPROGRAM(S) PARTICIPATED IN:聽Sprint 2014, Solution 2014-2015
TEAM
Olimpia Bahena, Principal
Kristen Thelen,聽5th + 6th Grade Language Arts and Social Studies Teacher.
Joan Leber,聽7th + 8th聽Grade Language Arts
ABOUT THE SCHOOL
School Type: Selective enrollment
Grades served: 9-12
Enrollment: 933
PROBLEM
Lack of social emotional intelligence skills is a problem for middle school students because聽they are distracted from their learning,聽they are unable to communicate effectively, and聽they are unable to see situations from others point of view.
HOW MIGHT WE…
Help our students build their social emotional toolkit to improve interpersonal relationships and increase concentration on academic studies?
SOLUTION
We determined that there is room for expansion in the way students are learning at school. We created a prototype where the whole school focuses on a different social/emotional learning topic every month. Teachers lead a mini-lesson on the targeted social/emotional topic during their homeroom classes to reinforce and deepen the school-wide initiatives.
