Breaking the Silence

During this lesson we will invite a police officer to speak to the classroom about the 40 Developmental Assets. This is a program intended for youth that teaches them how to be resilient in their lives. It is important for students to have the appropriate skills to be resilient so that they will be more able to withstand or be able to recover quicker from difficult conditions.  We hope that the skills they learn in this program will carry on with them until high school and will make them more equipped to deal with bullies if needed, in an effective manner.

 

The 40 Developmental Assets program is divided into external assets and internal assets. The Search Institute has identified the following assets as building blocks of healthy development that help young children grow up healthy, caring, and responsible (2015)

The External Assets include the following categories: Support, Empowerment, Boundaries and Expectations, and Constructive Use of Time.

The Internal Assets include the following categories: Commitment to learning, positive values, social competencies, and positive identity.

 

After the police offer has gone briefly gone over the 40 Developmental Assets we will split the students into 8 groups and have them pick one of the categories and go into more depth on one of the points inside that category. For example, if a group chooses the Positive Identity category, a point under that category is Self-Esteem. We want that group to research about self-esteem and how we can improve this within ourselves to live a happier and healthier life.

 

References

Search Institute. (2015). 40 Developmental assets for adolescents. Retrieved from http://www.search-institute.org/content/40-developmental-assets-adolescents-ages-12-18