Happy
New Year!
We
hope you all had a wonderful holiday and that 2002 is off to an invigorating
start. MindOH! and the MindOH! Foundation are entering the New Year with two
primary activities - the production of MindOH!'s Life Skills Series and
the launch of the Character's Cool Contest.
Life Skills Series
We are enthusiastic to share with you that MindOH!'s Life Skills Series is in production and will be available February 2002. The Life Skills Series not only complements the Discipline Series, it also provides ALL students with techniques to develop healthy life habits, make positive choices, and enhance communication skills. The Series consists of three goal-oriented modules:
·
It's
Up to You: The Power of Choice
helps
students realize that they can take control of their lives by making wiser choices.
The module presents a model called the Waterfall of Cause and Effect. This model
teaches students to be more aware of how their thoughts affect their feelings,
their feelings affect their actions, and their actions lead to results. The
module also emphasizes taking responsibility for one's choices and the results
they produce.
·
Aspire
to Achieve: Making Goals Happen
walks the student through a goal-setting exercise and discusses important steps
for achieving a specific goal. The module presents the Four Steps to Success, a
model that shows students how to build a plan of action utilizing a specific
character trait to help reach a chosen goal.
·
Defusing
Disagreements: Listen to Understand
presents a conflict resolution technique called The Big Three Questions. It
teaches students how to defuse tension during a disagreement and gain
more personal power by being the first person to listen actively and
respectfully. A Real Media vignette illustrates two students in a disagreement:
it compares and contrasts a typical and ineffective scenario with a positive
scenario where the parties use The Big Three Questions and turn a disagreement
into mutual understanding.
Character's
Cool Contest
The
MindOH! Foundation continues to find opportunities to promote character
education. The Character's Cool Contest, which launched the first of January,
has already received more than 600 entries from middle school students in 29
states. The Foundation has also received numerous additional donations for the
contest making it possible to give away even more prizes! Please encourage
middle schools in your area and individual students you might know to enter at
http://www.mindohfoundation.org/contest.
We
have high expectations for achieving our goals this year - lots of exciting
plans! Your support is critical as we take the company and the foundation to the
next level. Whether it's sharing the good news about our accomplishments to
colleagues and friends, forwarding our e-newsletter, or simply offering a word
of encouragement, we appreciate your efforts. Together, we can truly make a
difference in the future of the young people in our communities.
Sincerely,
The
MindOH! and MindOH! Foundation teams