Session Topics & Dates

Dates with session numbers and topics will be posted in advance of Character Strong days here. Reminders will be sent out in the weekly parent emails when this site is updated.

Character Strong Session 1: Thursday, September 21, 2023

6^th, 7^th, and 8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “Welcome to Session 1! This session helps set the stage for the "What", the "How", and the "Why" for this year. It helps create clarity for both the educator and students which sets the program up for success.”

Students Will: Be Introduced to the Program

What it is- how sessions are structured with activities, discussions or videos, and challenges called Character Dares.
How it works-digitally and with explanation of ice breaker activities
Why it matters- studies show increasing anxiety amongst students in school, students reporting disconnect from school community.
Goals of the program-increase and support well-being and mental health, increase the feeling of safety and belonging in school, increase how much we care about and engage in school and world.

Character Strong Session 2: Friday, October 6, 2023

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 2 sessions about building community. Connecting with peers and building friendships and relationships are important for our sense of belonging and can lay a good foundation for creating a sense of safety and community in our classroom.”

Students Will:

Identify traits of a positive community versus a toxic community.
Identify through discussion what a positive community should feel like.

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 2 sessions about building community. The goal is to begin to develop relationships and create a sense of safety and community in our classroom space.”

Students Will:

Share what they are excited about for the school year.
Complete activities to get to know group more.
What a “Table Talk Video” where students discuss the topic for the lesson
- Students in video talk about positive vs toxic communities
- Students in video talk about how understanding similarities and differences can be part of building a healthy community.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1^st of 2 sessions about building community. The goal is to begin to develop relationships and start creating a sense of safety and community in our classroom space.”

Students Will:

Practice names of individuals in the group.
Complete get to know you activities.
Watch a Character Strong Video where people share what community means to them.

Character Strong Session 3: Wednesday, October 18, 2023

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 2 sessions that utilize videos to bring student voices forward with the goal of helping quell worries our students might have at the beginning of middle school. This session is about fitting in and belonging at school.”

Students Will:

Identify areas of personal strength.
Discuss myths you thought were true of middle school, but are not.
Hear from students through a video about concerns they had about fitting in at middle school.
Identify in groups reasons 6^th graders worry about school.

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 2nd of 2 sessions in our community-building series. It is focused on getting to know each other better and learning more about each other interests and insights.”

Students Will:

Continue getting to know their group with ice breakers.
Learn things about their groups members.
Begin discussing how understanding others leads to respecting others.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This session is dedicated to developing Community Agreements. This process is designed to bring many voices forward to make sure everyone has an opportunity to reflect on and discuss how we want to treat each other. These agreements are meant to help the class to become a safe place where people can be genuine without fear of mistreatment. The agreements are designed to serve as guidelines we can refer to throughout the year.”

Student Will:

Discuss what a community agreement is, and what it requires.
Review an example of a community agreement for middle schoolers.
Evaluate if specific community agreements make individuals feel supported and respected.

Character Strong Session 4: Friday, November 17, 2023

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This session will set up the first CharacterDare, which will be a consistent part of every session for the rest of the year. The CharacterDares are designed to help us practice putting values and character into action. The CharacterDare process includes a review of the challenge from the previous session, along with an introduction to a new challenge. Grades 6, 7, and 8 will all have the same challenge corresponding to this week's session. We will return to the conversation about character and values in a session called Values Exploration. Remember: CharacterDares are invitations, not demands! The power is in the conversation.”

Student Will:

Discuss the difference between personality and character.
Discuss what you prefer as a person, compared to what you practice as an individual.
Learn about the Character Dare. The first dare is: Meet 1 new person every day for a week.

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This session is dedicated to developing Community Agreements. This process is designed to bring many voices forward to make sure everyone has an opportunity to reflect on and discuss how we want to treat each other. These Agreements are meant to help the class to become a safe place where people can be genuine without fear of mistreatment. The Agreements are designed to serve as guidelines we can refer to throughout the year.”

Students Will:

Discuss what a community agreement is, and what it requires.
Review an example of a community agreement for middle schoolers.
Evaluate if specific community agreements make individuals feel supported and respected.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This session sets up the first CharacterDare, which will be a consistent part of every session for the rest of the year. The CharacterDares are designed to help us practice putting values and character into action. The CharacterDare process includes reviewing the challenge from the previous session, along with an introduction to a new challenge. Every grade level has the same challenge corresponding to that week's session. We will return to the conversation about character and values in a 3-part series titled "What Do We Value?" Remember: CharacterDares are invitations, not demands! The power is in the conversation.”

Students Will:

Discuss the difference between a dare and a request.
Discuss risks and evaluate risk scenarios.
Watch a video that compares practicing your values and characters like exercises or workouts.
Learn about the Character Dare. The first dare is: Meet 1 new person every day for a week.

Character Strong Session 5: Thursday, December 7, 2023

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This session is dedicated to developing Community Agreements. The process is designed to bring many voices forward to ensure that everyone has an opportunity to reflect on and discuss how we want to treat each other. These Agreements are meant to help the class become a safe place where people can be genuine without fear of mistreatment. The Agreements will serve as guidelines we can refer to throughout the year.”

Students Will:

Discuss what a community agreement is, and what it requires.
Review an example of a community agreement for middle schoolers.
Discuss ways to disagree while respecting others.
Rephrase statements in positively worded agreements.

7^th Grade:

Students Will:

Share habits they have.
Discuss their routines and creating positive habits.
Watch a video called “What do we value?”
Learn about the Character Dare. The first dare is: Meet 1 new person every day for a week.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 4 sessions where we look ahead and start to envision plans for our futures. In this session, we envision our hopes for our futures, then harness the wisdom of these imagined positive future selves to think about healthy ways to live our lives today. In this session we will go through the full CharacterDare process: 1st, reflect on the previous Dare, and 2nd, introduce them to the new Dare. Remember: Dares are invitations, not demands! The power is in the conversation.”

Students Will:

Think about their future self, what it looks like, and what may be important to your future self.
Write a letter to their future self.

Character Strong Session 6: Tuesday, December 19, 2023

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “The theme of this year is "Belonging" and this is the 1st of 2 sessions with the goal of helping us make connections and build relationships. In this session’s activity, we make plans to get to know 4 adults in the school.”

Students Will:

Discuss adults in the building they connect with.
Identify a core of 4 adults they can go to when they need help.

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 3 sessions related to values. Thinking about and identifying values, we personally feel are important, can help us make good decisions and can guide our actions in positive directions. In this session, we explore our individual values, including where they come from and ways we can put them into action. In this session, we will go through the full CharacterDare process: first, reflect on the previous CharacterDare, and second, introduce them to the new CharacterDare. Remember: these challenges are invitations, not demands! The power is in the conversation.”

Students Will:

Create a value tree to display things they value as a group, share if they like.
Reflect on their past Character Dare.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 3rd of 4 sessions where we look ahead and plan for our futures. Thinking about what we have already accomplished can help guide our actions in positive directions. In this session, we think about personal values that influenced us in elementary school, experiences we've had in middle school, and how remembering and acting on our individual values can help us have the kind of high school experience we hope for.”

Students Will:

Watch a video about sharing your “15 Second Story.”
Think about their life as a book, and discuss the next chapter.
Write challenges they predict in the next chapter of their live.

Character Strong Session 7: Wednesday, January 10, 2024
6^th Grade:
Context from Character Strong: “: This is the 1st of 3 sessions focused on exploring values. Getting clear on our own personal values can help us make decisions and act in ways that align with our sense of self and what we think is important. In this session, we explore the topic of values by reflecting on the qualities we value in other people.”

Students Will:

Discuss traits they admire in others.
Discuss things they value in others.
Share perspectives on values and traits with others.

7th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 2nd of 3 sessions focused on values. This session applies learning from the last session related to values and offers some perspective on how we might have the same (or different) values for various reasons.”

Students Will:

Share with a partner about someone they respect.
Discuss how values turn into actions.
Brainstorm actions that will result in acting out your values.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 4th of 4 sessions where we look ahead and plan for our futures. In this session we continue thinking about high school, what we hope for, obstacles we might face to achieving those wishes, and ways we might overcome those obstacles.”

Students Will:

Reflect on their strengths and areas to improve on in the future.
Think about ways to get involved in high school and balance their life.
Discuss Mental well-being, issues, students face, as well as obstacles and solutions in those areas.

Character Strong Session 10: Friday, February 23, 2024

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is a session on becoming better listeners. Listening is an important skill that improves peer relationships and is important for perspective-taking, conflict resolution, and group work. In this session, we practice listening closely with a partner and reflect on what was hard (or easy) about it.”

Students Will:

Watch a video about what active listening means to others.
Play a game to model inactive listening, and active listening.
Discuss importance of listening

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 2nd of 5 sessions focused on understanding (two sessions) and regulating (three sessions) emotions. Across this session and the last, we learn some basic brain science to help us understand where our emotions come from. In this session, we continue learning about how our brains create emotions quickly and automatically. This can help us to gain a helpful perspective on both our own and others' strong emotions.”

Students Will:

Discuss how individuals have different feelings towards the same event.
Discuss feeling of regret.
Create a skit to act out an emotion for others to guess.
Watch a video about empathy.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 3rd of 3 sessions on values and habits. In this session, we focus on how our values, goals, and habits are all connected.”

Students Will:

Learn how habits are formed, and how better habits help accomplish goals.
Identify values, goals, and habits.
Discuss the relationship between values, goals, and habits.
Think about an area of the school they could improve.

Character Strong Session 11: Monday, March 4, 2024

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 2 sessions on perspective-taking. Perspective-taking is important for peer relationships and supports friendship, respect, and conflict resolution, including across student differences. In this session, we work in groups to practice trying to understand the perspective of other people.”

Students Will:

Read various everyday scenarios written from a perspective unlikely to be their own.
- A teacher’s perspective trying to engage an inattentive student.
- A friend asking for social advice.
Form small groups and create plans to give advice.
Debrief on how it felt and what was learned taking a different perspective.

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “Following 2 sessions on emotion understanding, the 3rd session in this series of 5 focuses on emotion regulation. In this session, we learn about regulating our own strong emotions by Naming them and improving our ability to use this approach by practicing distinguishing between different intensities of emotion to help us find the right name for what we are experiencing.”

Students Will:

Learn the difference in perspective of “I feel” compared to “I am.”
Discuss various emotions and identify a variety of feelings.
Practice “name it to tame it” to identify feelings and how that helps control emotions.

8th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 2 sessions on understanding emotions. Our brains create our emotions by rapidly and automatically assessing what's going on around us and inside us and whether it is good or bad for us. We will all learn about this process in this session and the next. Understanding that emotions are natural, automatic, and arise very quickly can help us improve how we view ourselves and others when strong emotions arise and helps lay the foundation for learning emotion regulation skills.”

Students Will:

Learn the source of emotions and how to manage emotions.
Discuss making snap judgements and responding appropriately.
Discuss meeting new people in the school.

Character Strong Session 12: Wednesday, March 27, 2024

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 2 sessions on conflict resolution. In this session, we will pick one of our personal values that could serve as motivation to work on resolving conflicts and then will work together to know when a conflict is one that should be/could be resolved or not.”

Students Will:

Discuss positive and negative approaches to conflict resolution.
Learn aspects and components of conflict resolution.
Practice with scenarios using positive conflict resolution.

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 4th of 5 sessions related to emotion understanding and emotion regulation. Handling powerful emotions requires learning strategies for calming down and we learn two and revisit one learned in a previous session.”

Students Will:

Share emotions they felt today.
Learn grounding techniques.
Practice grounding techniques.

8th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 2nd of 2 sessions on understanding emotions. In this session, we continue learning about how our emotions are natural and happen automatically. Understanding some of the science of emotions can help us improve how we view ourselves and others when strong emotions arise and help lay the foundation for learning emotion regulation skills.”

Students Will:

Learn how emotions can impact decisions made.
Discuss connections between decisions, emotions, and values.
Continue discussing snap judgements and emotional reactions.

Character Strong Session 13: Wednesday, April 10, 2024

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is a session on friendship. In this session we will practice asking quality questions, exercise active listening, and learn something new about at least one person. Having a sense of connectedness and belonging at school boosts student well-being and supports school engagement.”

Students Will:

Continue the practice of active listening.
Create list of tips for making friends.
Practice finding information out about their peers.

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 2 sessions on stress and coping. Increasing numbers of adolescents struggle with stress. In this session, we focus on understanding stress and learning ways to cope with stress.”

Students Will

Hear songs written about kindness.
Learn about stress and impact on individuals.
Discuss and learn coping strategies for stress.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 4 sessions on emotion regulation. Early adolescents experience their emotions especially powerfully and we can all struggle sometimes to handle powerful emotions well. In this session, we learn about how our emotions can sometimes cause us to do things we later regret. Exploring this can help motivate us to learn emotion regulation strategies.”

Students Will:

Learn strategies to manage emotions.
Continue discussion on how emotions impact individuals.
Specifically discuss managing strong emotions and practice strategies.

Character Strong Session 14: Thursday, April 18, 2024

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 2 emotion-focused sessions that build on earlier emotion sessions in this grade. In this session, we work to understand the different ways people can notice and feel emotions in their bodies. Being able to notice physical sensations related to emotions can help us catch them early and use emotion regulation strategies before emotions get too intense.”

Students Will:

Learn how the body reacts to different emotions.
Discuss how different emotions may feel different for different people.
Discuss positive and negative reactions to emotions.

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 2 sessions related to honesty. In this session, we will work to understand what honesty can look like daily or weekly in our lives. We will then create an ongoing commitment to bring honesty to life in their school.”

Students Will:

Discuss honesty requires consistency.
Share their understanding of trust and how it shows up in their lives.
Discuss scenarios on trust and dishonesty.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 1st of 6 sessions on building our skills for working in teams. The goals are to identify what unique traits we bring to a team and showcase them through the art we create.”

Students Will:

Identify unique strengths they possess and how that can support a team effort.
Discuss how teams work best and techniques for successful team work.
Discuss the impact diversity has on a team.

Character Strong Session 15: Monday, May 20, 2024

6^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 3rd of 3 sessions on friendship. A certain amount of conflict is inevitable in relationships. In this session, we work on practicing ways to resolve conflicts with our friends.”

Students Will:

Learn ways to resolve conflicts.
View common scenarios of problems between friends.
Act as “Conflict Directors” to discuss and debrief scenarios.

7^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 2nd of 2 sessions on honesty. In this session, we will discuss the obstacles to practicing honesty. Then we will create 30-second ads that offer strategies for practicing honesty even when it's hard.”

Students Will:

Summarize definitions of honesty.
Create an ad to advertise and encourage practicing honesty.
Discuss obstacles in being honest.

8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This is the 3rd of 6 sessions on teamwork. This session is focused on the importance of ensuring that all the members of a team all able to give input to maximize the benefits of working in a group.”

Students Will:

Continue examining teamwork and how respect and inclusion lead to a better team.
Discuss the importance of sharing perspectives and allowing room for those to be shared.
Create a bucket list of things to do before the end of the year.

Character Strong Session 16: Friday, May 31, 2024

6^th, 7^th and 8^th Grade:

Context from Character Strong: “This session focuses on thinking back and reflecting on things we’ve learned and ways we’ve grown through a process called a Sankofa Session. This reflection process is important for us to cement the learning as we look to the past to inform our future.”

Students Will:

Share about their thoughts and feelings from Character Strong this year.
Learn what a Sankofa Session is (practice of reflection and growing).
Students will participate in a Sankofa Session.

Wilson Middle School