Tame the Teen partners with schools who understand that life skills are vital in helping students meet their academic goals.
As an educator, Helaina Altabef understands the importance of teacher professional development workshops that are turnkey. She creates activities that are easy to integrate into the classroom and don’t take away from instructional time.
In her experience, another receptive audience is parents who want to support their children’s academic goals, but who are also concerned about their children’s mental health.
This year, Tame the Teen is partnering with Tenafly School District to create an ongoing series for parents called “Tools and Resources for Raising Independent, Successful and Mentally-Strong Children.” The goal is to help parents see the connection between academic goals and life skills. The goal is to provide parents with tools for enriching their relationships at home and encouraging better partnerships with the school.
This same series could be condensed for a teacher professional development workshop since educators are already familiar with many of the concepts.
When there are understanding and communication between the school and parents, everyone benefits. Both parent and teacher professional development workshops are full of practical, do-able resources that help children meet academic goals without sacrificing their mental health.
A teacher professional development workshop may start with the question “What are life skills and which ones matter most?”
What life skills do parents want their children to have? Which ones do they have already? How does staff integrate these skills into a classroom?
From there, we discuss the trends of the children from the teachers who see them. We’ll address the notion of the “whole child” and understand the different variables that create successful adults. We will also discuss the traits of Generation Z, and the benefits and challenges of raising them. We’ll answer questions like, Which life skills do they need to develop? How do you meet a child where he is and understand him as a person and a learner?
From there, we address the ways to interpret behavior. How do we see beyond negative behaviors and meet the needs of the kids who are most challenging? We will address the tension of raising a child who learns differently, and we will also discuss the concept of agency, which is the ability to make choices, problem solve and be independent.
Finally, we can connect life skills and academic success.
Today, more children report higher anxiety than they did a generation ago and cite academic pressure as the number one cause. Without life skills to help them manage the pressure, many of them fall short of their potential. We will explore how can we maintain high academic standards without sacrificing mental health. What can we do outside the classroom that will result in stronger academic performance? We’ll discuss concepts like readiness and acceleration, and understand their place when it comes to making academic decisions for our kids.