Peer Support 1
Published on March 1st, 2021
Welcome to Peer Support 1!
I will be updating this page weekly with an overview for the upcoming week. I know this year is unprescedented, but I hope it will be a great one that we spend together. Please don't hesitate to contact me with any questions.
3/1/21-3/5/21
Overview
- We'll be wrapping up the last activity on feelings vocabulary on Monday
- The rest of the week will be focused on learning summarizing as another active listening skill, practicing in listening triads, and determining a natural listening sequence.
- Friday will be our weekly check-in, as usual.
2/22/21-2/26/21
Overview
- We'll be joining Peer Support 2 quite a bit this week. Monday, we'll meet to go over the content for a Peer Support recruitment video. Tuesday, we'll be joing Teen Line's presentation on Helathy Relationships, and Wednesday, we'll be joining PS2 for the last 20 minutes of class for committee meetings.
- We'll be contonuing activities on feelings vocabulary this week and get to the summarizing skill of active listening if time allows.
- Friday will be our weekly check-in, as usual.
2/16/21-2/19/21
Overview
- Tuesday of this week is an asynchronous day for the English department. Student will check in with an attendance question and work on an activity focused on improving feelings vocabulary,
- On block day, we will review the Fine Tuning activity from the week before and continue to develop feelings vocabulary through some activities.
- Friday will be our weekly check-in, as usual.
2/8/21-2/11/21
Overview
- We'll begin this week with a listening triads practice where students will practice their active listening skills, then reflect on their strengths and weaknesses.
- We'll then move on to a exercise to fine tune the skills they have gained so far where students will read sections from a dialogue, determine the issue with the helper's response, and craft a better one.
- There is no school this Friday or next Monday due to President's Day.
2/1/21-2/5/21
Overview
- We'll begin this week with an oral practice determining and responding to incongruent messages.
- The rest of the week will be spent on notes on using questions during active listening with an activity to practice this skill.
- Friday will be our weekly check-in, as usual.
1/25/21-1/29/21
Overview
- This week, we'll begin practicing using the active listening skills in Listening Triad where students will take turns being the listener, speaker, and observer.
- We'll also begin looking at incongruent messages (when the verbal and non-verbal messges don't match) and discuss how to address them.
- For the last 20 minutes of block, students will be joining Peer Support 2 in new committees.
- Friday will be our weekly check-in, as usual.
1/19/21-1/22/21
Overview
- This week, we'll be completing the reflecting feelings practice we started last week and begin to look at how to use the skills of paraphrasing and reflecting feelings together.
- Friday will be our weekly check-in, as usual.
1/11/21-1/15/21
Overview
- This week, we'll be focusing on the reflecting feelings skill of actve listening. We'll go over the basics of this skill and complete activities in order to practice this skill.
- On Wednesday, we'll be joing Peer Support 2 for the last 20 minutes of class, so Peer Support 1 students may continue to provide input on Peer Support activities in their committees.
- Friday will be our weekly check-in, as usual.
1/5/21-1/8/21
Overview
- This week, we'll begin our next unit that focuses on active listening skills. We will cover SOLER (attending skills) and paraphrasing.
- We'll end the week with our usual Friday Check-In.
11/16/20-11/20/20
Overview
- This week, we'll be covering Humanistic psychology with the work of Maslow and Rogers.
- On block day, we'll be meeting with the Peer Support 2 committees for the third time. Peer Support 1 students will be introduced to new committees this week.
10/26/20-10/30/20
Overview
- At the beginning of this week, students continue working in groups on proposals about how to increase cohesivenss on our campus. We'll also decide if and when these proposals will be presented to others who have the power to take action on these proposals.
- We'll then transition into the next unit that focuses on theoretical perspectives of psychology and wellness models. We'll begin this unit with a focus on the ethics of helping roles to set up the expectations of being a Peer Helper.
10/19/20-10/23/20
Overview
- This week, we'll be wrapping up unit 2 by exploring the value that groups provide and how to enhance the cohesiveness of those groups.
- In the second half of the week, students will be working in groups on proposals about how to increase cohesivenss on our campus.
10/12/20-10/16/20
Overview
- We will begin this week by completing the Four I's of Oppression exercise where students will explore the effect(s) of power on their chosen groups within our society.
- On block day, students will be meeting with Peer Support 2 to begin getting to know the kinds of projects they work on and provide feedback on those ongoing projects.
- We've largely focused on the negative effects groups on one another, but the last lecture of this unit will focus on the value groups present to human beings, and we'll explore ways to increase that value on our campus.
- Fridays from this point forward will be focused on checking in with students about their weeks with an emphasis on their well-being.
10/5/20-10/9/20
Overview
- We will begin this week by completing our notes/discussion on prejudice and discrimination, then move onto understanding the role of power in our society through the Four I's of Oppression exercise.
- Fridays from this point forward will be focused on checking in with students about their weeks with an emphasis on their well-being.
9/28/20-10/2/20
Overview
- We'll this week by discussing the Cultural Competency Continuum, and the students will eventually complete a self-reflection about where they are on this continuum.
- We'll then move onto a discussion with notes on understanding prejudice and discrimination.
9/21/20-9/25/20
Overview
- We'll this week by discussing Hidalgo's Three Levels of Culture.
- Students will use the above notes to define their own culture as well as that of La Canada and discuss the implications of living in a multicultural environment.
9/14/20-9/18/20
Overview
- We'll begin this week finishing up the Fallout Shelter exercise thet explores when personal values come in conflict with group decisions.
- Students will also get their first graded journal back with the rubric to better understand the grading and expectations for the journals.
- We'll wrap up our discussion on values with a handout where students will be asked to clarify their values in different aspects of their lives.
- Towards the end of the week, we'll begin focusing larger group dynamincs by focusing on understanding culture and its functions.
9/8/20-9/11/20
Overview
- We'll beging the week by exploring Jonathan Haidt's answer to the question we've been exploring: where does morality come from?
- This will lead us into an exercise to explore what happens when our personal values come in conflict with group decisions.
8/31/20-9/4/20
Overview
- We'll beging the week by having students continue to explore and understand their values and the extent to which our value affect our behavior.
- This will allow us to transition into exploring different theories of where morality comes from starting with Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development and Carol Gilligan's challenge of his theory.
8/24-29/20
Overview
- This week, we'll continue the conversation about how our experiences affect how we perceive the world around us, and therefore have an effect of how we communicate with others.
- This will lead us into a few exercises that will focus on us becoming more self-aware about our experiences and how they affect those around us.
8/17-21/20
Overview
- Building rapport, connection, and trust is deeply important to the success of this program, so we will be spending much of the first week (and really the whole year) focusing on this.
- I will go over all of the most important information you need in order to be successful in this class.
- In the second half of the week, we will begin discussing perception - what it means and how it affects people's interactions with one another. This is the beginning of the first unit that focuses on understanding yourself and your values in order to better help those around you.