
Parents of high school children should be aware of the importance of life skills that can be incorporated into their lessons.
This article explains how to incorporate life skills into a lesson, and how to practice life skills yourself.
Read on for some tips and ideas.
1.
Introduce the topic: Life skills teach students how to be a responsible, creative, and resilient person.
The skills also encourage students to become critical thinkers and question authority.
The best way to introduce the topic is to ask students what they are doing each day and what they think about the topic.
Then, students can introduce the topics by reading a sentence or two from a life skill book.
In this way, students have a solid foundation for the lesson and can apply the life skills lessons to real life.
For example, a lesson on the importance and benefits of using sunscreen can be introduced by reading the article on sun protection, and then using sunscreen as an example.
The lesson can then be repeated until students understand how to use sunscreen effectively.
For more information on introducing life skills topics to students, visit the life skill curriculum section of the life school website.
2.
Use words to get them to talk about life: Life skill teachers can use words and pictures to get students to talk.
For examples of using pictures to help students think about life, check out the article about how to teach a lesson by using pictures and videos.
For other examples of teaching pictures and using words, see the Life Skills and the Imagination section of this resource guide.
3.
Make it fun: Life lessons teach students to think in new ways.
For this reason, it is important that the students’ lives and their daily lives are connected to each other.
For some examples of connecting life skills activities to real-life life, see Life Skills: A Guide to Teaching Life Skills to Your Kids.
4.
Use a time-based format: If students can relate to the life lessons, they will feel more engaged and excited about their learning.
For these reasons, it may be helpful to use a time period, such as the beginning of the week, that focuses on the lesson.
For an example of using time-periods to get life skills students to be engaged, check the Life Skill and Imagination sections of this resources guide.
5.
Emphasize how students learn from their parents: It is important for students to feel that they can use life skills and life skills teaching to learn from and relate to their parents.
This can be achieved by using examples of the students themselves.
For students who are interested in life skills or life skills education, you can use these resources to learn how to develop a relationship with their parents and learn about their life skills.
For life skills teachers, this can be done through a group discussion or online courses.
For parents who are not interested in the topic, you might be able to use these methods to learn about life skills themselves.
6.
Offer a time limit for the class: If the life class is taking place during the school day, it can be helpful for students who need more time to complete the lesson, or who are using computers.
For instance, students who work from home could work for an extended period of time, and they would have to complete a class.
In such situations, students would need to be prepared to work for longer hours than normal, or use the computers for a limited amount of time.
Students who are enrolled in a class that is being taught in the school should also be prepared for work-related interruptions, such a a phone call from parents or students.
If students need to work from the classroom, they should be prepared with some extra time and equipment that could be used during the class.
For additional information on teaching life skills from home, check Life Skills with Kids: An Educational Resource Guide.
7.
Include information about how children can help their parents teach life lessons: This may be especially important if students are planning to attend a life skills school in the future.
For the most part, parents will provide the class information as part of the lesson plan, and students should have access to that information if they choose to do so.
However, it’s also important for parents to provide the students with information about their own families’ lives that can help students to understand how they can apply their own life skills for their own lives.
8.
Encourage students to use technology and online resources: Life teachers can be great at teaching children how to do things from a computer, but it is also important that they are available to help with the actual learning process.
If you’re teaching from a digital device, students need a way to find you and connect with you online.
For children to learn more about life and how they should use life skill learning, they need to find their own way to learn and apply life skills skills.
9.
Empower students to participate in life skill activities online