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Ideal for Middle School/Junior High students and their stage of development,
the Acceptance Program is for all those students who are
part of communities saturated with clicks, rejection, and
disparaging remarks; in other words, all 5th through 8th grade students. During this one-day program,
students will be challenged to see how they affect the people around them
positively and negatively. Students will learn communication skills,
and the importance of empathy toward their peers.
Activities
Key Punch – A team activity where students are challenged to work faster
and better. Through this activity students discover that they can always
improve by evaluating past experiences and acknowledging short-comings.
Power Words – Students experience directly the
effects of what they say to others. They learn they
can have a positive or negative physical effect of people
depending on the words chosen to say.
Communication Skills – Students learn two communication
skills that help them effectively express their ideas
and feelings. When they find themselves in arguments,
students will be able to clear up problems while maintaining
relationships.
Card Ranking – In this activity students are arbitrarily
given cards from a standard playing deck. They are
then told that those cards represent their value in the
context of the activity. This then leads to a discussion
about how people judge and label other people, and how
others label us. Students are given a new perspective
on how to be more accepting of people in their community.
Strength Acknowledgements – At the end of the day,
after students have learned about the importance of speaking
positively of others and not judging them, they are given
the opportunity to acknowledge the other people on their
teams for things they have done well or positive things
about who they are.
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