BACK TO SCHOOL WITH SELF-CONTROL
77% of students are bullied physically, verbally and mentally. (ABC News)
Pre-K students are expelled at more than 3 times the rate of K-12 students. (Yale University Study Center)
Every 9 seconds in America a student becomes a dropout. (American Youth Policy Forum)
This is a crisis and an epidemic. What can educators, parents, guardians and children do? Jon Oliver, author and founder of Lesson One: The ABCs of Life, provides a remedy to alleviate this dangerous epidemic.
“All children must learn empathy, self-control and stress reduction, just as they learn reading and math,” Oliver says. “All children must be provided with ways to feel connected, to get rid of stress and persist despite the many challenges they face socially and academically.”
Endorsed by Bill Cosby and Marian Wright Edelman of the Children’s Defense Fund (among others), Lesson One is a breakthrough initiative that provides homes, schools and communities with a culture-wide, community-wide intervention that not only focuses on bullying, violence or academia, but teaches tangible skills of stress reduction, resiliency, and self-control.
The implementation of social and academic skills integrated in the everyday curriculum, as easy as reading and math, is imperative. When talking about skills children need for social success, teachers must make sure children thoroughly understand their meaning. For example, if teachers tell their students over and over to use self-control, how do they know that the children understand what they are saying? The “quick-fix” solution of suspensions and expulsions are not alleviating the problem but adding to it. Students aren’t offered a solution for their behavior. They do not receive the help or guidance that they would need to amend their ways. Jon Oliver allows anyone who interacts with people of all ages a key skill in social and academic socialization.
One of the current initiatives in education called “Response to Intervention and Instruction” (R.T.I.I.) focuses on the whole child and a universal approach to social and academic learning. When more and more schools embrace such a philosophy it can be assured that today’s children will be equipped to survive and succeed as they grow into adulthood. R.T.I.I. is making great strides and clearly showing the incorporation of the exercises and tools of Lesson One as a natural part of the school day. This leads to a greater amount of time dedicated to teaching academics. One study reports that 77% of teachers state that they would be more effective if they didn’t have to spend so much time dealing with disruptive students.
“Jon Oliver's entire career has been an expression of his passion for helping children and adults learn the practical skills necessary for happy, healthy, and productive lives,” reveals Alvin F. Poussant, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School. “Lesson One is a model for the entire nation. I’ve seen it; it works.”
Lesson One consults nationally and works with teachers, parents/guardians and children to foster social and academic success. For more information see www.lessonone.org or contact Jon Oliver at 617-869-3838 for demonstrations, interviews or in-studio appearances.
Tags: