Guest Post by Darri Stephens
Did you know that you can bring Olympians (virtually) into your classroom to teach students social and emotional skills?
Classroom Champions, a nonprofit that has built a reputation for pairing classrooms with Olympic and Paralympic athlete mentors over the past 10 years, recently launched its SEL Foundations Curriculum. The K-8 curriculum includes a suite of digital content featuring world-class athletes — including two-time Olympic gold medalist Christian Taylor and Paralympic Silver Medalist Sophia Herzog, as well as NHL, NFL, and NCAA athletes — who lend their own experiences and mentorship to students through Mindful Minutes and thematic videos during each unit of study.
The curriculum, which is available for purchase by single classrooms or can be scaled across a school or district, is comprised of eight thematic units: Goal Setting, Emotions, Community, Perseverance, Teamwork, Feedback, Healthy Living, and Leadership. Each unit contains four, 30-minute lesson plans that you can weave in once a week, monthly — or however is best for your schedule. Each unit features one of eight athlete mentor’s personal stories. These stories, told by the athlete mentors themselves in an authentic way, illustrates how the unit’s theme can be applied in the real world. The athlete mentors speak of their successes as well as their failures to underscore how we all need to dream big in life. The lessons’ cross-curricular connections support day-to-day integration of SEL competencies. The core and supplemental materials have been modified to include tips for social distancing and distance learning environments.
Every Student Deserves a Champion
An enhanced virtual Mentorship+ subscription pairs an individual athlete with a school or classroom, allowing athletes and students to develop an authentic relationship throughout the eight units, including video chats and messaging with the dedicated athlete mentor throughout the entire school year. The SEL Foundations Curriculum starts at $149 for one year of teacher access.
Today, Classroom Champions announced they are giving away a set of two (2) SEL Foundations Curriculum teacher memberships for one lucky school. Click here to enter to win by 11:59pm ET on Sept. 20, 2020. The winner will be chosen randomly by Classroom Champions.
